craigb

jamesg1213
A lot of words being typed here, but Drew has the short answer. Know your stuff.
 

The guy apparently went to Julliard and is now a PhD in Psychology.

 

I'm trying to get into MIT to work on my music theory degree...

You can actually get a pretty good music degree at MIT...

jamesg1213
A lot of words being typed here, but Drew has the short answer. Know your stuff.
 

The guy apparently went to Julliard and is now a PhD in Psychology.

 

Knowing your stuff is definitely the first part of it, not the whole thing though. OP was asking for some good reading materials that address the subject. The blog is full of pretty helpful information.

Hi,
 
Mag, from my days directing for the stage, I can tell you that too much of that anxiety is in your head a lot more than otherwise, and later you find ... ohhh ... it was alright!
 
My recommendations are nearly all the same as those above, with one exception. As a director, on the outside, you can see things that otherwise you folks playing (or acting) can not see from an audience's perspective, and there are some things that you can do to test that, and see how you react to it, and how you work in between.
 
So what did I do? George and Martha are arguing and a nut walks in with a vacuum cleaner. You have to maintain your concentration and not lose your spot, and yet, you have to handle the event. Easy enough ... Martha goes into a tirade about George's obsession with the maid ... (something like that) ... and after the vacuum is done with her 15 seconds, George throws the continuing line out, and generally, ADJUSTING, the mood is all that is required and this is not hard, if all the players (or actors) are listening to each other, and know how to get back in sync ... which can be discussed previously ... since you have no idea what the event will be! You can decided to say that the guitar does 4 to 6 beats in a particular scale, and that at the end, everyone is on par and tune.
 
Things like this, however, test your nerve ... because some folks panic and STOP. Do not EVER stop, and simply try to bring the others back, and the person in the group that is the best listener should be the one doing it, and the others should follow, and you can take turns doing this.
 
Eventually, after 4 or 5 times of this, you learn to trust your partner. At that point, you know it's not about "anxiety" as much as it is about LISTENING.
 
So, if you ask me, for a suggestion and clue? ... there you have it. How well you are tuned to the folks, instead of your instrument and notes (which is already memorized, etc, etc), you concentrate on making them better ... and the rest ... the more you do, the better will all of you sound and be!
 
Now take a break and go have a beer, or a smoke ... and smile. Then come back and rehearse again, and get someone to do anything else they want at any time, and try it again. Do not (ever!) duplicate the same event ... always try something different! And you will find, that listening, is the clue ... not anything else, because right then, you know what you have to do already!
 
Easy! So very easy!
 
BTW, I have never failed with a "beginning" actor or newby on stage, and would not fail either with a band, that was willing to learn and have fun! But the willingness ... is the issue, when folks end up thinking some stupid poop like ... that's not rock or jazz or some other BS! You miss the point totally! And it has nothing to do with the kind of music you are playing, btw ... that's "outside" the 4th wall!

Imagine the audience is in their underwear. 
 
If that still leaves you nervous, imagine the audience is in Queen Elizabeth's underwear.

jamesg1213
A lot of words being typed here, but Drew has the short answer. Know your stuff.

The guy apparently went to Julliard and is now a PhD in Psychology.

 

 
Theater, film and the performing arts is not for everyone. There is an internal side that you have to learn to work on, and if you don't, you are not going to be there very long. There is another side, and it is called the Hollywood side, but soon enough it will be diseased enough ... that it will be hard to maintain and stay there anymore! There are just as many failed actors and musicians in Hollywood as there are bums in southern California!
 
Julliard, is no different than any other performing school. They can teach you the notes and music, but can not teach you something on the inside that is a feeling that you have that needs to be nurtured and developed, that is often messed up with instructors that think they know what that secret is ... there is no secret ... you are dealing with a person, and you do not fudge with the person's mind and body in these situations ... PERIOD!
 

slartabartfast
Imagine the audience is in their underwear.
If that still leaves you nervous, imagine the audience is in Queen Elizabeth's underwear.

 
I don't recommend funny stuff any less than unfunny. Why? Your head is already full of things and thoughts, that adding another one is not going to help. Basically, one needs to relax, empty their mind, and allow the natural flow of the piece and words they know to work through ... or notes if it is music.
 
Again, it is all about the interplay and relationship between each other and it's easy to tell which folks/musicians are good enough to have this, and which are just in it for something else ... it is also becomes easy to tell which ones simply don't have it ... if you really want to look, since their concentration is ridiculously bad! Oh yeah, they know the notes ... what else? 

Avoid caffeine especially if you are playing to a large audience.

Moshkito

jamesg1213
A lot of words being typed here, but Drew has the short answer. Know your stuff.

The guy apparently went to Julliard and is now a PhD in Psychology.

 

 
Theater, film and the performing arts is not for everyone. There is an internal side that you have to learn to work on, and if you don't, you are not going to be there very long. There is another side, and it is called the Hollywood side, but soon enough it will be diseased enough ... that it will be hard to maintain and stay there anymore! There are just as many failed actors and musicians in Hollywood as there are bums in southern California!
 
Julliard, is no different than any other performing school. They can teach you the notes and music, but can not teach you something on the inside that is a feeling that you have that needs to be nurtured and developed, that is often messed up with instructors that think they know what that secret is ... there is no secret ... you are dealing with a person, and you do not fudge with the person's mind and body in these situations ... PERIOD!

I think the point of my message has been lost. Performance psychology has become a very serious discipline over the past 20-30 years. One shouldn't simply dismiss the research and propose a one-size-fits-all solution, especially since, as you say, we are dealing with a person. That is not to say there isn't something intangible when dealing with music. But I would assume most good teachers, especially ones at Julliard, know that. But there are also some very real benefits to be had from the research of performance psychologists. It's both art and science. Good instructors never just teach you the notes and the music, at least not the ones I've come across. They encourage you to find the history behind the piece, the life of the composer. They encourage you to find your connection with the music and of course they teach you the tools to better express your connection with that music. In the end, it does come down to how hard the student wants to work, and that's something you can't teach. But to say that we cannot work on the mind in similar ways we work on our fingers, our diaphragms, our postures etc... is not true. There is no secret, there is no absolute truth. But there are certainly many aspects of performance practices that performance psychology has been able to contribute to.
 
The OP asked for books and reading materials. The short answer is to just tell him to do it enough times and he'll get more comfortable with it. That can certainly be true. But there are more nuanced approaches that can certainly help. Visualization anyone? That's my point. It doesn't have to be complicated, but there should be an awareness of these legitimate approaches.

Amine Belkhouche
...
The OP asked for books and reading materials. The short answer is to just tell him to do it enough times and he'll get more comfortable with it. That can certainly be true. But there are more nuanced approaches that can certainly help. Visualization anyone? That's my point. It doesn't have to be complicated, but there should be an awareness of these legitimate approaches.

 
Just goes to show you, how some folks can not tell the difference between the truth/falsity and a ducking book! You, immediately assume, that I have nothing to say because I am not famous and do not have a book or a Juillard BS degree behind me!
 
Just shows your how much you do not know about the subject, that you think some invisible author in Amazon with a degree from Merdestink U is more important. You do not know the difference between a good comment and helpful information about stage fright and stage directing, of which I have a lot of experience, and further, you can only think of putting someone down ... when you are not patient and able enough to read something and find out if it is good or not! or helpful or not!
 
Of course there is no right or wrong. Why? Simple ... it is an experiential thing and if you do not know what you are doing, you are not going to last in any business related to that art .. plain and simple!
 
These are issues that can only be taught with a "director" that has experience in these matters, and is not likely to be learned by reading a book ... you do not have the advantage of the outsider to see in, to help you. And this is one of the biggest issues with rock/jazz/classical music, in that these folks know their music, but the rest is dead ... and the music dies before the end. There are a thousand movies (specially French films!) about that ... but you would not be interested because you can only go for the top ten and the famous suckers that convinced you they are good, because you can not tell the difference!
 
See if you can watch a film called "The Tightrope", about Peter Brook and his group, and it has live music, also! I'm as close of a person to help you achieve this, as you will ever find, but your EGO will never accept it or admit it! And you will make sure that no one will believe me, because they also don't know any better, and further ... are not interested!
 
Everything I told you is a lie, including that, you idiot! ... when you know better, and can tell the difference let me know!

Moshkito
 
Of course there is no right or wrong. Why? Simple ... it is an experiential thing and if you do not know what you are doing, you are not going to last in any business related to that art .. plain and simple!
 
 

How can you know what you're doing is right, if there's no right or wrong? That would mean anything you're doing, is both right, and wrong, right?

To answer your question.... I don't think you can get that out of a book.  The way to become comfortable in front of an audience is to simply enjoy what you're doing and feed off the audience's energy. One good way to be comfortable on the stage is to have good reliable gear and know the songs well.   I would avoid all natural and artificial stimulants and pharmaceuticals.  Drink water and go on straight and sober.... don't forget to pee before you go on stage. 

What you give to them in energy, they will give back to you more....and so it goes.
 
As for me, I haven't played in front of an audience for some time, but I know I enjoyed it then and if I was to play again in a live situation, I would be looking forward to it as soon as I found out about it.  For me, the bummer starts when the stage lights go out after the show.

I even enjoy speaking in front of people.... guess I;m a bit weird.