How to Relax Before Singing on Stage

We all get scared if we are performing in a play, standing up on stage or doing a monologue in front of tons of people. Singing on stage (or even trying out for American Idol!) is no different, except that you need to steady your breathing even more to ensure that you can hit those notes perfectly without sounding strained or tense. Here are some suggestions to help you.

Steps

1. Make sure there are people you know out in the crowd. Look at them the whole time - they are your support team.
2. Focus on a fixed point. If you don't have a support team, or you can't bear to look at anyone at all, choose a point just above the audience's heads and focus on it. There may be a clock, a piece of ceiling ornament or a colored hanging - anything that is in a fixed spot that is roughly in the middle of the audience will help you to focus and still make it appear that you are looking out into the audience.
3. Take deep breaths before you sing. Don't shortchange yourself on breathing; always follow the breathing exercises that you have been taught in singing lessons. Make sure that your breathing comes from deep down in your diaphragm.
4. Calm yourself. Use visualisation techniques or counting backwards to calm down. Examples include:
* Try saying the alphabet backwards in your head - this takes so much concentration effort, that you forget your nerves.
* Close your eyes and pretend you are in the shower.
* If you start swinging your arms, or other distracting body movement, wiggle your toes in your shoes. No one can see it!
5. Block everyone out of your mind. Just concentrate on your part and the words and enjoy the flow of the music through you.
6. Enjoy the occasion. You have worked hard to get this far and now it's time to show what you are capable of doing.

Tips

* If you totally mess up, just remember to act like it didn't even happen! Or, use humor to defuse the situation and make a joke about your nerves or the glare of the light. To pull this off well though, it pays to look up little humorous lines on comedy sites before you're up there on stage so that you have some good lines ready at hand should anything go amiss. And you can always promise people a second song to make up for it...
* Put your heart into your singing; your feelings and expressions will flow through. Trying to feel the emotion of the words of the song is also a good method to move yourself away from any nervousness and self-doubt that you may be experiencing.
* Some people use "substances" to help them relax, that works or sometimes it helps to just have a really relaxing day before the show.


Warnings

* Practice makes perfect; don't expect to stand up and sing on stage successfully without it. Singing is hard work and 99% of singing success comes from off-stage preparation. If you cut corners in the preparation, it will show on stage.
* Be realistic about your vocal range. Don't try to push it into ranges where it doesn't go; it sounds dreadful very quickly and your audience will react negatively. Everyone can sing; it is just a case of finding the range and sticking with it. And some people are destined to be back-up vocalists rather than the lead. If this is you, accept it with grace and realize that without back-up vocalists, lead singers would never sound as brilliant as they do.