Stage fright, what?
Just to be clear on all levels, I do not suffer stage fright. I never have. I love performing and the attention from it. I love making music. I've been told my diva behavior is at times not bass-ly. Whatever. I am a product off all my musical experiences, and besides bass that includes singing and oboe and percussion.
A friend of mine who plays guitar even asked me about a week or perhaps two ago how to deal with stage fright, and I didn't have anything to tell her. I just don't feel it. Yes, I do get that nervous anticipation. That's completely normal. But once I'm playing, I'm fine.
The thing is, last weekend I was in a music store trying out a new bass. I started playing this Bach piece (electric bass arrangement of Bouree I from the 3rd (solo) cello suite). I sounded good, and as I had only the A section memorized, I decided to learn the B section in the week ahead and play it for my teacher today, which I did do.
This piece wasn't anything that I could just read and play it all from notation. I had to commit this to memory, as I have had to do with other Bach and/or keyboard percussion pieces I've learned. For different reasons, it's somewhat necessary.
So I was driving to my lesson today, and I realized I had growing nervousness in the pit of my stomach. It was kind of freaky. I was also over-thinking, wondering whether I play the piece as the lesson started or surprise him with it as the last piece before I walk out. Then I decided to stop thinking about it entirely because it would all play out as it would and completely differently from anything I'd imagine.
So the lesson starts, and we do some rhythm and endurance drills, which were my things to work on two weeks ago. Then he asked me what I'd worked on this week, and I played the Bach (so in the middle of the lesson, not on either end).
Now here's the part that freaks me out: I was so nervous playing for my teacher that I was shaking. It wasn't just any normal kind of shaking, either, it was fine motor shaking. The fingers of my left hand were being very spazzy. I was looking at my hands at some of the more difficult passages, and my fingers almost didn't want to cooperate. They did, but there was that nervous hesitation.
It just baffled me that I got that way. I told him afterward how nervous I'd been--this guy who knows how I can play, as heard me for well over a year now as my teacher. I even mentioned it to my mom when speaking to her later, and she said it was probably because I wanted him to be proud of me. That's true enough. I was proud of having learned the piece and wanted him to be proud with me. Still... nervousness on the level that my fingers were shaking? Odd.
A friend of mine who plays guitar even asked me about a week or perhaps two ago how to deal with stage fright, and I didn't have anything to tell her. I just don't feel it. Yes, I do get that nervous anticipation. That's completely normal. But once I'm playing, I'm fine.
The thing is, last weekend I was in a music store trying out a new bass. I started playing this Bach piece (electric bass arrangement of Bouree I from the 3rd (solo) cello suite). I sounded good, and as I had only the A section memorized, I decided to learn the B section in the week ahead and play it for my teacher today, which I did do.
This piece wasn't anything that I could just read and play it all from notation. I had to commit this to memory, as I have had to do with other Bach and/or keyboard percussion pieces I've learned. For different reasons, it's somewhat necessary.
So I was driving to my lesson today, and I realized I had growing nervousness in the pit of my stomach. It was kind of freaky. I was also over-thinking, wondering whether I play the piece as the lesson started or surprise him with it as the last piece before I walk out. Then I decided to stop thinking about it entirely because it would all play out as it would and completely differently from anything I'd imagine.
So the lesson starts, and we do some rhythm and endurance drills, which were my things to work on two weeks ago. Then he asked me what I'd worked on this week, and I played the Bach (so in the middle of the lesson, not on either end).
Now here's the part that freaks me out: I was so nervous playing for my teacher that I was shaking. It wasn't just any normal kind of shaking, either, it was fine motor shaking. The fingers of my left hand were being very spazzy. I was looking at my hands at some of the more difficult passages, and my fingers almost didn't want to cooperate. They did, but there was that nervous hesitation.
It just baffled me that I got that way. I told him afterward how nervous I'd been--this guy who knows how I can play, as heard me for well over a year now as my teacher. I even mentioned it to my mom when speaking to her later, and she said it was probably because I wanted him to be proud of me. That's true enough. I was proud of having learned the piece and wanted him to be proud with me. Still... nervousness on the level that my fingers were shaking? Odd.