Everyone who has ever performed on stage has felt nervous in their professional life. Whether it’s performing an instrument or singing solo, stage fright is a condition that affects anyone. One big step to overcoming stage fright is by preparing every day for the performance.

• Don’t procrastinate and wait until the last minute to prepare for your performance.
• Practice your piece and your performance as often as you can until you have it memorized. Even if you’ll be provided with sheet music, it’s recommended that you memorize your piece so you know it backwards and forwards, greatly reducing your nerves.
• Remember that you will perform the way you practice, so if your practice methods are bad, then it will reflect in your performance. This means that if you practice while having bad posture, breathing, body language and similar, then this will carry over to your actual performance.
• Record your performance. If you have a smartphone, chances are that you can record your piece on video or even just with a sound recording app. Once you want to take your recordings to the next level, you can then purchase a dedicated digital recording device for better clarity.
• Critique your performance fairly. Once your piece is recorded, replay it and make notes covering the areas for improvement. One easy way to do this is by following your recording by reading your sheet music. Take note of the dynamics, pitch, tempo and notes!
• Once you’ve noted your areas for improvement, go back to your performance and fix only the parts where you struggled with. Repeat those parts by themselves multiple times until you can play them accurately.
• After evaluating your performance and improving it as much as you can, conduct a mock performance by asking a trusted relative or friend to watch you perform your piece. Ask them to watch out for things like pauses, tempo, dynamics or stuttering, among others.
• When you’ve finished performing, ask for their honest opinions, such as what they liked and what could be improved. Make sure to not feel offended if they find parts that require improvement!
• Review your audience’s notes and go through your performance again. Modify as needed and practice your heart out!