The Mind of a Performer

[Duo no Tsuin]

Ugly wall paper Duo, that's a little harsh. I'm sure your better than that...

Like lickable Wall Paper in Willie Wonka

you taste like Schnausberry....

O.o  Oh man... if anyone reads that statement.... I'm dead...

(Halo's probably already read it... dang him.... Don't say it!!)



I hate being treated like I'm dumb. (I know I am, but still...) Just... ugh. I hate that. There are plenty of times that I want to do dumb things back to the jerks. (shouldn't)

Nah, nothing can be worse than my drama/jr high memories. Come on.... he'd give me stuff that should have been FUN.... and I just.... made it dull.

Okay, here it is... my teacher gave me an improv/monologue thing.... something about joining the FBI (possibly Xfiles related... because it was big at the time). And I just... make it the dullest thing in the WORLD (loved that show back then, hence the dissappointment)... about taking a test and 'um' waiting for my results.... -_-   

Jeez, I SO could have turned that into something reDICulous like about getting mixed up in some government coverup (the smoking man whee) before my test results could even come back!!

But NO... I had to freeze up. Yeesh.


Well.... truth is, whenever I got INTO some kind of presentation or something (usually I'd be super quiet/boring).... people would just start laughing.

Like in highschool when I was doing a presentation on the egyptian calendar. I was talking about how the egyptians used the dog star as a guide... and the whole class just started laughing!! So, I stopped and asked them point blank what was wrong. The teacher just said... "you seem REALLY into it."

*sigh*  Why is that bad??? I hated those jerks.

It's no wonder I don't like talking to anyone ... I expect them to start laughing in my face for no reason.


Uhhh.... did I have a point??


Oh yeah. I kind of want to get into VO, but... I know I won't be anygood. (Plus, I don't feel like moving to where the work is. (for anime) SO... acting classes wouldn't be completely rediculous. Just... not high on my priority list.

[Hikaru-San]

i feel very nervous especially going up by urself and performing infront of a judge for the first time.

[Ameria-chan]

I know how that was. At my first solo and ensemble competition in middle school, I was about ready to start pulling my hair out from nervousness. XD

By the way, welcome to the forums Hikaru-San! Please introduce yourself in the Introductions forum so that we may all greet you properly! ^^

[composer390]

I always look out at the crowd, and then look at teh ceiling, and then close my eyes for a brief moment, and take a deep breath. Then, I just begin to play, quite simply; I mean, I know I know the music, and we all know that when you think too hard about where to go next or what to do next, that we have a "brainfart" and choke a little bit, so I just try to let my fingers guide my mind (if that makes any sense.)

[thejohncheng]

i feel very nervous especially going up by urself and performing infront of a judge for the first time.

The first time I went in front of a judge I performed two songs perfectly!  Too bad one of the songs got disqualified because the composer was american.  I then had to try to memorize another song in 20 minutes, and that didn't go too well.  I didn't rank very high because of it, and I was only 11.  That was the first time I played in front of a judge.  Needless to say I didn't feel very well all day.  I wanted to start a fight with all the judges, and I bet I could've taken them too!  Regardless, it was still a learning experience.

[JL_Toshee]

I haven't really performed much, but whenever the spotlight is on me, the thing that is going through my mind is this:  Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking cross the floooooooooooooor!  Put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walking out the door!  *in song*

I always dreaded playing in front of judges, so that's why I quit band; that and I don't like to compete.  But I always get nervous going in front of people, like public speaking....what I always try to do is keep my mind on what I am speaking about/performing and ignore the people in front of me.....I always feel much better and I am definitely not a people person!

[Lady Hoshino]

When I was in school, I had my share of nerves as well.  Whenever I would play in an orchestra, I would always get a little nervous, but playing in a group always made it less stressful for me at concerts.  Though one of my music teachers told me that it was ok to feel like that.  "If you don't feel nervous at all, it's because you don't care," she would say. 

Though for me I was much more nervous when I played in front of a group of judges.  Whenever I did that I would just focus on my music and pretend that the judges were not there.  I did my best just to focus on my music, even if I was shaking. 

I would always have to deal with what they would say afterwards.  Most of the time it was just written down and handed to me later.  I did have one incident in the 9th grade where the only judge in the room outright told me what he did not like about my performance (I had prepared myself a little since I saw others come out of the room upset).  Let's just say that I was not pleased at first, but reading his written comments later made me motivate myself to do better the follwing year.  When those things happen, you just learn from their criticisms and move on.  That is what helped me to improve on my playing and keep doing so today.   

[thejohncheng]

I would always have to deal with what they would say afterwards.  Most of the time it was just written down and handed to me later.  I did have one incident in the 9th grade where the only judge in the room outright told me what he did not like about my performance (I had prepared myself a little since I saw others come out of the room upset).  Let's just say that I was not pleased at first, but reading his written comments later made me motivate myself to do better the follwing year.  When those things happen, you just learn from their criticisms and move on.  That is what helped me to improve on my playing and keep doing so today.   

That's a pretty motivating story.  What a jerk of a judge!  Oh well, alot of amazing musicians tend to be arrogant, not all, but alot.  Did you come back next year and show him up?

[Lady Hoshino]

That's a pretty motivating story. What a jerk of a judge! Oh well, alot of amazing musicians tend to be arrogant, not all, but alot. Did you come back next year and show him up?

No, I had a different judge the following year--and she enjoyed my solo! But if I had the same judge, I would have done my best anyways.  As to what he may have thought, I'll never know.

I know what you mean by arrongant musicians.  Sometimes you don't know if they're being helpful or trying to bring you down.  If it's constructive, I try to learn from it.  If it's not, then I put it out of my mind.  I've since learned that letting their non-constructive opinions bother me accomplishes nothing.  Nowadays, I just play for fun and myself--and that's what matters to me. 

[thejohncheng]

I've since learned that letting their non-constructive opinions bother me accomplishes nothing.  Nowadays, I just play for fun and myself--and that's what matters to me. 

Wow, you sound so mature, like our guitar player.  I like to play for people, I mean I enjoy the music too, but I really enjoy it when I can see other people reacting positively to it.  Is it the same for other people?

[wolfmaiden14]

Hehe. I remember my first school solo. I was sooooo nervous! I'm naturally shy, and I was even worse when I was little, as nervous and shaky as I was, I was just happy to finally get to sing in front of people and felt so lucky to have gotten the solo.

My first "performance" wasn't really until I finally got the gall to sing in the high-school talent show. My friend Jason played the piano, and I sang to Jewel's "Foolish Games."

All that was really going through my mind was how nice it was to be on stage, and how beautifully Jason was playing. Hahaha. I guess I'm only nervous beforehand, once I'm up there it just melts away because I'm so happy.

Cheng - I definitely think it's the same for others! It's always nice to see the crowd loving what you do and knowing you put a smile on their face. And they're energy always seems to find itself into you!

[Zack]

hmm...performance...takes me back a while
(back in my day if a person wanted to perform they had to make their own instruments and
soapboxes to stand on!) LOLOL
In a casual performance, performing should be a fun experience-if you screw up, roll with it...make it
a comedy act. If youre singing karaeoke and you cant sing for beans, and you KNOW you cant sing for beans,
get up there and let the whole audience know how much you suck, and I GUARANTEE the audience will love it.
(unless theyre a bunch of hard@$$ed. crusty old white guys- in which case, what are they doing at karaeoke?)
The moral? Have fun. It doesnt matter if youre nervous-everyone is....Ive sang in front of ful house theaters before at
least 50 times, karaeoke countless times, and i still get nervous every time i get up on stage. But I make sure every time
i present myself before an audience that i make more than music, I make a show. If i forget the words, I fall down like an
idiot, make fun of myself, and keep singing.Never run away-always keep going.

[Shattered_Mirror01]

I performed two songs for a competition this year in front of judges, and it was my first time ever singing for a judge in any kind of competition. My parents and my choir director were in the room and I absolutely REFUSED to look at them, otherwise I would have laughed.... which was kind of hard since they were almost directly in my line of vision. I stared at the little spot right above the judges heads, which helped a lot. The only thing was I was so nervous I sped up the song a little, but you couldn't tell unless you'd heard it a million times.

Afterwards, I felt like I had to sit down. Especially since as I left the room, this guy came up to me and asked me if I was a junior. I said no and left cuz he kind of scared me, and then this girl Sarah (who, incidentally, is a junior) came up to me and she freaked out.

"Do you know who that was?!"

"Er....no.... should I?"

"That was the choir director for this college! He wanted to know if you were close to graduating so he could recruit you!"

....I almost fell over. My pianist and my choir director confirmed that, and, well... there's my first performance story. Major, anyway.