Unshakable Confidence

Hello everyone

Well here we go with the first blog to address the situations of a performer, whether you are a singer, actor, dancer, speaker or musician even sports people.

Confidence is probably the biggest issue we can face as people who perform publicly. Be it a room with a handful of people or a stadium over-packed to the brim of the public waiting for you to deliver a performance they will never forget.

I don’t know about you, but either of those scenarios goes straight to my stomach, not because I lack confidence but because of the fear of the unknown, a venture not yet explored – for every performance has a new audience, is a brand new experience for all concerned. Even though you may go out on stage and perform a particular show a hundred times you can still feel jittery until you get out there and start. A lot of people take this to mean a lack of confidence or nervousness but it is really adrenaline, and as I will explain soon, adrenaline doesn’t have to hinder your performance. In fact, in most cases, it helps.

So this feeling of nervous anticipation, only becomes an issue if YOU the performer have not done your homework.

For example:

• How well do you know your craft?
• Do you prepare properly for an audition?
• Can you handle your voice in all situations?
• Are you fit enough to be a dancer?
• Have you worked the choreography into every cell of your body?
• Have you done the same with your songs and dialogue or speeches?
• Have you studied your character?
• Did you learn your lines AND all your cues?
  

  
  

How Do You Get Confidence?

There are 2 types of confidence. The first one comes from ignorance. This is when the belief in yourself exceeds your abilities:- BEWARE OF THIS. This is to be avoided at all cost.

The second type comes from knowing your craft (knowledge) THIS is what you’re after. Many people dream of being performers or even ‘Stars’, but are you prepared to do the work?

A Great Example

A Young singer by the name of Graeme Foot who performed in a workshop version for us in our new musical “Shlobaglob” is a fantastic example of ‘what to do’. He was not happy with just being a singer in one genre so he has learned different styles. He sings OPERA (currently performing with the 10 Tenors in Europe) AND he can sing popular or musical styles with great proficiency. He also takes movement classes and acting lessons to boot.

The thing is, he recognises his weaknesses and works on them till they become strengths. This young man is in great demand. He also sees that the more he can do well, the more people will want him for different things.

If you want to meet one of the nicest people in showbiz with an air of confidence, Graeme’s the one. His confidence is not one of arrogance. I comes from being assured of what he can do.

People like Graeme are always pushing their Comfort Zones, which is basically going beyond what you know, into the world you don’t, and trying to perfect that, but I will cover that another time.

Are Nerves A Good Thing?

There are two kinds of “nerves”. The first is the result of a lack of confidence in your ability. This can be a healthy thing, as long as you focus more on what you want to achieve and where you want to go, than on what you perceive to be your shortcomings! A little humility keeps us all in check and reminds us that we can try that bit harder to do a better job and improve all the time. However, we believe that if someone has the desire to perform, then they have something to offer – somewhere, some time. For certain individuals that will be an international career. For others, it may be performing for local events. And some may just need more time to be ready. So if you’re reading this blog, it’s time to start building your confidence!

The second is ‘performance nerves’. We mentioned that feeling of being jittery before a gig, and that it is caused by adrenaline. Have you ever considered that adrenaline is just a chemical in your body. IT doesn’t know whether it’s bad or good. In fact, it is there to HELP you. So we advise people to consider this feeling as one of EXCITEMENT, rather than NERVES. In this way, you invite your mind to expect the adrenaline to be beneficial to your performance, and it will be.

There are 2 main ways to gain confidence

1. Practice
2. Experience
   

Obviously the latter one comes with time. The more we do, the more confidence in our ability, hence the better we become, BUT first must come the PRACTISE

Preparation, whether it be for an audition or a show is essential. The more we can put into this, the less of the nervousness (lack of confidence in our ability to perform the task) is reduced considerably. This may seem obvious, but in our years of performing, teaching and directing, we have noticed that many people who don’t feel confident, simply have not INTERNALISED the material they are preparing properly. We will cover this in detail in a later post. But for now, just make sure you prepare as much as possible for every performance.

Without this element there is no hope of the experience making any difference at all - and that time goes to waste.

IF you are someone who really struggles with nerves, or even stage fright, there are some wonderfully helpful techniques and therapies which you might like to explore.

Look out for these in later postings!

So! - increasing the quality of your abilities (practise) and your execution of them over time (experience) is what builds more confidence, eventually this will become

‘UNSHAKABLE’.

Visit us again soon.

Next we will discuss ‘Comfort Zones’ - why we MUST break them constantly, and how to do just that!

Till next time

See you behind the footlights

Philip & Kate

MTW Music Theatre Workshop

http://musictheatreworkshop.blogspot.com