Veronica Start

I think it’s safe to say that every singer is acquainted with occasional or chronic feelings of dread and flashes of fear when we're called to the stage. In fact, about 75% of the population experiences some form of anxiety or nervousness before performing in front of an audience. Even famous performers admit to facing performance anxiety, yet they still manage to deliver outstanding performances. Maybe it’s because they’ve experienced their symptoms will dissipate after the first song or two. It's apparent that superstars have discovered their unique way of managing stage fright but will their way work for you?

As the old saying goes: feel the fear and do it anyway. Well, that’s easy enough to say…but how do we ‘do it anyway'? How do we develop the confidence to overcome the emotional and physical feelings that overwhelm us? It's important to remember that stage fright is a temporary state, created by our nervous system, perceptions and memories. In this article, we'll explore the science of this fear activation and provide all the tools you’ll need to gain control over all aspects of stage fright.

What's happening in my body?

“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti” - Eminem (Lose Yourself)

We usually associate stage fright with symptoms such as sweaty palms, dry mouth, muscle twitches, and a pounding heartbeat. Another symptom of stage fright is ‘choking’, which can cause your performance to be interrupted or even cause you to run away! In extreme circumstances, this type of reaction can cause fainting or passing out. This is  similar to performance anxiety in sports, where the pressure to perform exceeds your perceived ability, and you end up "choking" under the stress.

All of these symptoms are from the activation of your sympathetic or mobilized nervous system, also known as the "fight or flight" response. This mobilized nervous system is designed to keep us safe in dangerous situations, however, in this modern world, it can be quite concerning to experience this level of fear when there are no obvious threats around us. Since this function will remain at this stage of evolution for our lifetime, we can learn to work with it and gain control by identifying and addressing the factors that trigger the system's activation.

As an example, a common trigger for stage fright is when we see the audience waiting for us expectantly. Even thinking about it in advance can make your heart start pounding. It may feel like your reaction is irrational because it happens so suddenly and seemingly “without us”.  And, it IS happening without us. It is autonomic. 

The physical reactions you experience are all through your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which is a regulatory system that controls all the involuntary processes in your body, such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and sexual arousal.

So, how is the ANS activated in the first place? It all starts in your brain and your mind.

What's happening in my brain?

The brain is a physical organ and our physical health, personal histories and experiences will have different effects on our brain's ability to respond to stress and perform at its best.

It’s well-documented that the influx of information and demands in our daily lives affects our state of mental health, contributing to general overwhelm, anxiety, and fatigue. Our brains weren’t designed for the fast-paced, technology-driven world we live in. At least they haven’t evolved that far…yet.

The good news is that our brains have an ability known as neuroplasticity. This means our brain's structure, functions, and connections can evolve and rewire. This ability can decline as we get older but with awareness, self-care and training, we can put in the work to help support our brains to learn new patterns.

It takes time for new connections to develop so it’s important to rest and allow our brains to catch up on repairs and adjustments. This is why good sleep hygiene is essential for brain health, general health, and of course, great singing!

Keeping the brain in mind

“What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind.” - George Berkeley

The brain is the mechanical organ in charge of delivering emotions, movements, and bodily functions, but it's the mind that is the intangible master of reasoning, morality and understanding. Nested within the invisible mind are the conscious functions that govern our ability to think, feel and engage in physical activity. While the mind controls the manifested physical brain, both must be of good quality for our overall cognitive and physical health.

Neurologists have come to the understanding that our neural connections form networks and circuits in the brain that are essential to the existence of the mind. You can read more about this complex topic in the research article: A Neurologist Looks at Mind and Brain: “The Enchanted Loom".

How we detect stage fright 

Let's go back to the Anatomic Nervous System (ANS) which is the cause of your stage fright symptoms. This surveillance system (the ANS) continuously discerns levels of risk from your environment and works with your subconscious mind’s archived memories. This means that when certain situations are interpreted as a risk or threat, a link will be made to a memory of a time when you did not feel safe. Like a super-hero librarian, “Captain Neuroception” is scanning the environment, scanning people, processing data, and coordinating your protection at all times.

According to Polyvagal Theory, our environments and our interactions with others are sensed in our body through something called neuroception. Neuroception can be compared to a surveillance system linked to our subconscious mind, constantly working to regulate the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). You can learn more about Polyvagal Theory in the video below.

Again, this part of our nervous system was developed very early in our human evolution to help us survive, hunt and run from predators. Unfortunately, our superhero librarian doesn’t know that dinosaurs are extinct, and it continues to connect unpleasant memories to present danger, pumping adrenalin into our system to help us run away. The problem is that this system will send adrenaline to run or fight whether the threat is real or imagined. An important factor to remember is that our level of vigilance is directly proportional to the scale and intensity of events in our ‘archive of harm’.

 All of these archived memories are stored in the other part of the mind that's not in your focus or awareness - the subconscious.

The archive of harm

The ‘archive of harm' is a metaphor to describe your historic record of disappointments, tragedies, and interrupted expectations of how we think life should have worked out. Let’s say that a shocking or negative event was not processed, healed or witnessed safely at the time it occurred. 'Captain Neuroception’ will file the experience into the Archive of Harm so it can be retrieved later. In other words, when events occur that are shocking, negative, or even dismissed, those events will be stored in your body which is the memory of the subconscious mind. 

When we’ve experienced longer-term ‘shocking events’ or trauma, these can make our nervous systems particularly hyper-vigilant. Sometimes, current events will have reminders or even nuances of archived ‘harm’ experiences which will cause our minds and bodies to go into fight or flight mode. This means that there will be times when our reactions are not proportionate to our present reality.

The trauma spectrum

Trauma exists on a wide spectrum ranging from repeated insults that hurt our feelings to a car accident or long-term abusive experiences. Some negative experiences are so intense and serious, they become buried deep in the unconscious archives. These are deep and complex issues for qualified mental health professionals to help us with.

Thankfully, most of us will not need therapy to get a sense of command over stage fright.  We must understand that we are not flawed, dysfunctional or wrong by having these thoughts, memories, feelings, and reactions. In truth, your stage fright can be a healthy sign that your nervous system is working effectively to protect you from potential harm.

So how do we come out of an anxious state and disentangle ourselves when we are overwhelmed with feeling so much emotion and physical discomfort? We will need to engage our conscious mind, the part of us that observes reality and the world around us.

The fearful child

Let’s think about how we help children when they are fearful of a monster under their bed. We help them calm down by first, validating and soothing them, providing comfort to alleviate fears. We carefully introduce an environment of safety in a simple way that they can understand. Once the child feels safe - and only then - can we begin to introduce the world of logic, action, and consequences. When the child feels safe - and only then - they will be calm enough to believe you when you tell them that the monster under the bed is not real.

This same methodology applies to our grown-up selves when our inner child (in our subconscious) is activated. As a form of self-care, we need to use our adult self to nurture our sense of soothed safety to regulate our nervous system.

This is the same relationship our conscious mind (adult) can have with our subconscious mind (child). Thinking of it this way is a method of cognitive diffusion, where we can learn to distinguish ourselves into parts. Instead of just accepting your feelings and impulses as truth, you can have an internal conversation or a “check-in” to put your conscious mind in charge and gain executive control.

So, now we’re beginning to see how we can put some of this knowledge into practice. The first part of overcoming stage fright is to bring your subconscious symptoms (our child self) into compassionate focus so we can create a more relaxed and open state of safety. The second part will be using our conscious logic (our adult self) to address all the unknown factors that may be contributing to our fears. But what if the adult part of you is confused and needs answers, too? What if you're a bad babysitter?

The confused adult

While the ‘adult’ (conscious) part of you understands real concerns, actions, and consequences, our conscious minds can also become overwhelmed with thoughts that shut us down and feel helpless which upsets the 'child' you need to calm.  Your body is reacting AND your mind is racing around - what a mess!  This is why we need to create a plan to address both the subconscious AND the conscious mind. 

The conscious mind functions like a problem-solving computer, so when there is a challenge of some kind,  it will automatically begin doing its job of seeking, assessing and assuming. The conscious mind is calmed by answers to problems, by solutions - so, part of stage fright can actually be addressed in the form of a thorough preparation plan. In other words, to find peace, we need to take positive action to map out all the unknown territory that our brain is trying to protect us from.

It could be that you already know the answers to many of the questions in your head and your mind is just getting a little disorganized and cluttered. The simple act of writing out our thoughts in a logical way will help to calm your nerves. It sounds like a simple solution - and it is. Thorough preparation is a form of self-care called due diligence.

Due that diligence

There are a lot of details involved to prepare for a performance and this can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re less experienced. Due diligence is all about thoughtfully and carefully checking all the issues that matter. We simply can’t afford to be over-confident in all the details, especially if you are nervous. Neglecting to perform your due diligence will also result in a guilty conscience, leading to more fear and loss of control. And many of us have learned the hard way that inaction can have real consequences. So let’s face these fears straight on because the ‘conscious questions’ are usually simple to solve!

For any musical or performance-related task, we can usually categorize our concerns into 3 areas: Music, Abilities, and Environment.

Music:  Do I know these songs well? Do I have the right repertoire? Who is the accompanist? Are there rehearsals?

Abilities:  Is this song within my range and abilities as they stand right now? Who can I talk to about it? Do I have time to practice? What's expected of me?

Environment:  Who is the audience? What's the venue like? What is the sound equipment like? Who can I talk to about it?

One column of your planning document will be the questions and the next column will be the research and actions you need to take to answer your questions. 

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Your personal performance plan

Now, let’s put this information all together so you can design your personal performance plan!  Again, your rational (real) anxiety or worry comes from your conscious mind and the irrational (imagined) anxiety or worry comes from your subconscious mind. The goal is to anticipate and address all these needs in advance in addition to preparing some grounding anchors to calm you while you’re on stage. 

To make this easy-peasy, I've created a mind-map to visualize all of this information….and if you need step-by-step planning help, you can also purchase the MasteringStage Fright Toolkit.

The next time those fearful feelings start to build, just refer to your performance plan and refine as needed. This will take some organization at first but it will become much more intuitive as you gain more experience! 

Yes, you are human and you will still experience flashes of doubt, worry, and stress but with due diligence, those stage fright triggers will diminish in duration and intensity because they are no longer a mystery. Remember: whenever you can name it, you can tame it. With self-care and practice, you CAN remove the power that stage-fright has over you! 

- Veronica Start 

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