Can singing lessons reduce stage fright?

This post is prompted by a recent event - District Auditions 2017.  While most of my students did very well (results will be posted soon), I had two students who were greatly affected by stage fright and did not sing as well as they were capable of. 

To fight stage fright, you have to understand both the physical and mental aspects of singing.  Singing for an audience typically produces a "fight or flight instinct."  The singer's heart rate increases, knees lock or wobble, palms gets sweaty etc...We have all been there!

Dealing with the physical manifestations of stage fright is relatively easy.  Once you know how you react, you can plan for it.  Just the act of planning and anticipating your nerves reduces the gut reaction to singing in public.  In voice lessons, we talk about how to approach some of these symptoms by breathing and stretching exercises, positive visualization and other techniques.

The tricky, and life-long project, is the mental aspect of stage fright.  Stage fright is ultimately rooted in a fear of rejection.  I've never met who a singer who didn't care how an audience or judge would react to their singing.  In fact, caring about how others' react is necessary to being a good singer; why would you put the hours upon hours of practice in if you didn't care if people enjoyed your singing?  If we are really honest with ourselves, stage fright is a completely RATIONAL fear.  Wanting to be accepted and liked for your singing is completely normal. 

In voice lessons, the goal is not to eliminate this social anxiety but redirect and calm it.
Here's how we go about this:

• Realize that the audience and judges WANT you to succeed.  Nothing is more wonderful than hearing a great singer you never knew about!  As a judge, it makes my job easy - give top marks and enjoy the performance!
• With voice lessons, your self-esteem and confidence in your singing will grow as you realize you have a beautiful and capable voice.  Even though the fear of rejection will be there, you will also know you have something wonderful to offer.
• Know that one rejection does not determine your value as a person or singer.  No matter how good you become, you will never please everyone.  Focus on your fans and supporters who already love you.
• When you sing, sing for yourself, not others.  one of my favorite strategies is to create a goal for myself other than impressing the judges.  That goal could be musical -  sing the high notes with superb ease and legato.  Or it could be performance-related - execute the punch line at measure 30.  Instead of seeing the audition as a win-lose proposition of whether or not I get the job, I create goals and objectives that are solely based on my ability as a singer.
  
• Make the audition just a part of your daily schedule.  Treat it as just part of your daily routine as opposed to the highlight of the day.  One thing I do after every audition is have an event right after to attend, such as see a friend at Starbucks, go to a rehearsal etc...By making the audition just part of your day as opposed to the central focus, you place less mental weight on the audition.

DWS