How do you deal with your nerves?
How do you deal with your nerves?
#0How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:22pmI'm opening a show tonight and, natural, I am having bits of nervousness. Just wondering, how do some of you deal with your nerves? Any rituals?
cheezedoodle
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/15/05
#1re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:24pmI used to throw up on every opening night. Not really a controlled "how do you handle" but none the less effective.
#3re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:29pm
If i were selfish i wouldn't share this, but...
Get a book or two by Dr. Don Greene. "Fight Your Fear and Win" or "Audition Success." He's a performance psycholigist on faculty at Julliard.
He has techniques to help you channel the nerves into positive, outbound energy.
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
#4re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:44pmI sit in a room that day, and I yell for a quick second so I don't hurt my voice. Then usually I try and concentrate for a while, maybe get together with fellow cast members and play a concentration game or too, it usually helps me. What show are you opening?
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#5re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:45pmNobody just drinks any more?
#6re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 4:47pmLol, Robbie. We're opening HONK!. I'm Ugly, the ugly duckling and protagonist.
SorryGrateful
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/10/05
#7re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 5:02pmThat sounds so cute! Break a wing!
Cruel_Sandwich
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/30/05
#8re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 5:04pmWe just did Honk. I was JayBird. It was awesome.
colleen_lee
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/05
#9re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:34pm
I don't generally get nervous for performances, but sometimes I'll freak out when it comes to something really important (auditioning for scholarships, my program, etc. when I was in college) and I'll start having a panic attack, in which case I pop a beta-blocker.
If it's just mild nervous energy, I'll hop/run/dance around like a dumbass and just try and keep my mind occupied with something else.
#10re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:40pmattivan. good stuff.
Ugly is beautiful
"My brother plays a drag queen... and I'm surprised he looks as good as he does in drag." - Adam Rapp
"thanks, abba. now i'll forever have an image of you as a tattoed hardcore straightedge grrl savaging people in the mosh pit." - papalovesmambo
"Yeah Abba. All the filthy crap you spew out there on those boards. I for one, am equally shocked. :-P" - AnnaK
#11re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:47pmOur whole cast does the "Hokey Pokey" before a show to calm our nerves. We also do something called shakedown where we shake one arm for 16 counts the next arm for 16 counts one leg for 16 then the other for 16. Then we do the same thing but only do 8 counts, then 4, then 2, then 1. We also link hands and chant "Wether the weather be cold, wether the weather be hot. We'll be together whatever the weather wether we like it or not". I know it sounds cheesy/stupid, but it really calms us down and makes us happy.
#12re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:50pm
Have a great time tonight.
Let us know how it goes!
#13re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 10:14pm
When we opened Bye Bye Birdie last month, we played a few games before the show as a cast to kind of get into the show and release some of our nervous energy.
One of my favorites was Pass the Energy. The entire cast stood in a circle and one person did and action and a noise. The whole cast one by one would repeat the action/noise to the person next to them and it would go all the way around the circle. It's really similar to Telephone I guess only with movement, because you have to do whatever the person right before you did.
Also, we used to say "Act enthusiastic and you'll feel enthusiastic!" about 5 times, each time growing with more energy and enthusiasm!
#14re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 11:06pm
Thanks to everyone's advice. I ended up doing a lot of pacing, a lot of mild singing of calming songs, and the cast played a game of Concentration (the snapping game for those of you who are familiar).
The show went really well. The audience loved it and everyone was very complimentary. I nailed everything I was nervous about and got a huge applause during curtain call. All in all a good time.
#15re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 4/13/06 at 11:07pm
Thanks to everyone's advice. I ended up doing a lot of pacing, a lot of mild singing of calming songs, and the cast played a game of Concentration (the snapping game for those of you who are familiar).
The show went really well. The audience loved it and everyone was very complimentary. I nailed everything I was nervous about and got a huge applause during curtain call. All in all a good time.
brdwybound2- I just did Bye Bye Birdie. I was performing that while in rehearsels for HONK! Such a great show, I played Hugo. How was your experience?
nygrl23
Broadway Star Joined: 4/18/07
#16re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 12:06am
Bumping an old thread--I was curious about beta blockers. I've heard that they can really help ease performance anxiety. Can a GP prescribe them? Do you need a physical before you can get a prescription?
#17re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 3:25pm
how do i deal with my nerves?
well, i hold the deck with my left nerve ... then i take my other nerve and gently toss each top card in the direction of the players ... piece of cake.
vmlinnie
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/06
#18re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 3:46pm
I don't get nervous at all when in a show, or auditioning. It's not a good thing, because lack of nerves leads to complacency. I think I learned that lesson though.
However, if i'm in a music exam, I get nervous, and it's not good to have your breathing go all shallow and shaky in you when you're trying to play clarinet!
deep-delving, dark, deliberate you would say
browsing on spire and bogland; but today
our sky-blue slates are steaming in the sun,
our yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay
like racehorses. We contemplate at last
shining windows, a future forbidden to no one.
Derek Mahon
"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets."
Arthur Miller
worrell4077
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/04
#19re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 9:09pmAlot of times what I'll do is do some form of exercise whether it be go for a run or go to the gym. It's great for clearing your head of any thoughts you might be having.
#20re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 9:14pm
even though i spelled it wrong the first time, i'm going to say it again... ATIVAN 
Ugly is beautiful
"My brother plays a drag queen... and I'm surprised he looks as good as he does in drag." - Adam Rapp
"thanks, abba. now i'll forever have an image of you as a tattoed hardcore straightedge grrl savaging people in the mosh pit." - papalovesmambo
"Yeah Abba. All the filthy crap you spew out there on those boards. I for one, am equally shocked. :-P" - AnnaK
#21re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 9:21pmAm I the only one who actually performs BETTER when nervous?
#22re: How do you deal with your nerves?
Posted: 11/24/07 at 9:57pm
Oh gosh.. I used to get SO terribly nervous that I would freeze up when I had to perform. Over the years of having to perform in college, I learned to deal with my nerves better. I've found that making sure EVERYTHING is in order and ready to go ahead of time allowing me to RELAX the days of performances and not have to rush is a HUGE help. I try to really keep things tranquil the days I am performing. Sometimes I'll have a soothing bath to help calm me. I make sure to give myself plenty of time to get ready, so there is no last minute rushing around to heighten my sense of anxiety. Right before I perform, I will usually "meditate"/do breathing exercises to help calm myself and focus.
Do I still get nervous?.. HECK YEAH! But I have it more in control, than IT having control of ME as in the past. I do think having a touch of (in control) nerves can be a great thing, as it keeps you on your toes and striving to do your best..
I did go through a phase where I would drink an alcoholic beverage right before performing (usually a jazz or pop/rock gig), and while this did help to loosen me up, it can hurt you in the long run with your technique and precision. I'd never do that for musical theater or opera, and i'm trying to break myself of that habit for other types of gigs as well..
Vid of me singing "Wishing You Were Somehow..." POTO
"Hard to see the light now. Just don't let it go. Things will come out right now. We can make it so. Someone is on your side... NO ONE is alone!"
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