minstrel: Stage Fright etc.

[CAB]

                      Stage Fright etc.                            9/3/98

HI, I just couldn't resist adding a couple of pieces of advice.

I started preforming/competing in bardic at SCA events about 2 years ago (BTW
I perform song without accompaniment.) and by nature, I tend to get very
nervous in front of crowds.  But I love to sing so I perform. =)

1) When I first started performing bardic, I found a couple of things to be
true (at least in the parts of the known world where I live) you will almost
never perform in an optimal location.  ie: there will be extraneous noise, or
it will be dark, or your audience will be too big or raudy, etc. For instance,
one bardic competition I was in, was right next to the list field.  Right in
the middle of my piece, the heralds started calling out the pairings for the
next round, about 15 feet from where I was singing.  I could hardly hear
myself sing because the herald was so loud, not to mention distracting.

What I did to overcome this, is that I started practicing my pieces in
environments which were full of distractions. I have a very long commute to
work.  I find that if I can keep a piece going during rush hour traffic, I can
keep a piece going anywhere.  I also sing while I do costuming.  Basically, I
would suggest that you find an activity that takes a lot of your concentration
and then try to do your bardic pieces "in the background".  It is hard at
first, but it makes it easy to perform your pieces with normal SCA event
distractions.

2) Another point I would make is that everyone makes mistakes.  When I first
started learning bardic pieces, I was afraid to perform for fear of making a
mistake. Then I really started to watch bards that I respected.  And I
suddenly noticed that every bard makes mistakes.  The good ones just pick up
and keep going.  Now I know that, while I would like to never make mistakes,
mistakes are still inevitable.

3) As mistakes are inevitable, practice making and correcting for mistakes. 
Which means, if you are practicing along and you make a mistake, do not stop
and correct the mistake.  Instead, practice moving through the mistake. 
Filling in a word for the word you can't remember, skipping a line or verse,
re-doing a line or verse or whatever.

4) I think one of the most frustrating things to me when hearing a bardic
piece is someone who starts a pieces, gets lost and then just sits down and
never finishes.  I was at a bardic circle preforming a piece that I can do in
my sleep, when I forgot the first line to the next verse.  The part of the
audience that could see my face could tell that I didn't have any idea what
came next.  But I did know the 2nd line of the next verse.  So after about 5
seconds of panic, I just skipped the first line and started with the 2nd line
of that verse.  After I finished and sat down, I had both people who know me
and people I didn't know, come up to me and tell me how great they thought it
was that I had stayed calm, remembered the line and went on with the song. 
Even one of the people in the audience who knows the words to the sond, didn't
realize that I skipped a line.  The moral is exactly what everyone else has
been saying - when in doubt - keep preforming. Your audience doesn't want a
perfect piece, they just want to be entertained. =)

5) The last piece of advice that I would give is this.  If you are a new bard,
find another new bard or bards and get together on a regular basis and perform
for one another. You won't be as nervous with someone else who is just
starting out.  And I find that the more I perform, the easier it is.  (I am
still nervous, but at least now I don't come off the stage physically shaking
=)

Crystal


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