Unique Original Articles » Stage Fright Has a Physical Cause

People who perform in front of audiences can have extreme challenges. For some, it’s just minor anxieties but for others, stage fright can be debilitating – or at least very uncomfortable.
There is plenty to worry about: dry mouth and shaking hands for one thing. And what about that problematic passage, what about forgetting entire chunks, what about making it soar? And what happens if you have to deal with all of these worries when we're facing an important audition or if we’re playing or singing before musicians with intimidating credentials?
When stage fright takes hold, fear seizes our muscles, tendons and ligaments – and music cannot flow when the body tightens. That fear response is being fueled by our anxious thoughts and inner beliefs, many of which are buried deep in our brains, since 90 percent of our thoughts are unconscious.
We remember our past problems (“I know I’ll blow this again”) and wonder about our talents and capacities; in the middle of a song or a sonata, we realize that we may be rejected; or we may never reach the stage because we think we have to be perfect and bowl people over in order to even perform.
And have I mentioned the fear of success?
To sum things up, this can be a great deal to deal with.
performing artists and they can see the same issues in their students. You nurture your students musically and emotionally. You may have experienced them performing seamlessly in practice sessions. And yet, you continue to watch some of them botch their performances because of anxieties they feel helpless to conquer. And you may find this is the case for you too.
Many of the most accomplished performers in the world [often experience bouts of stage fright, but this is little consolation to performers or students who doubt their own capabilities. Some stop giving concerts and some quit because the anxiety has gotten the best of them. It's one thing to learn the music, but how do you deal with the nerves?
One remedy that is becoming widely used among musicians is EFT – Emotional Freedom Technique. EFT was introduced in 1995 by Gary Craig, a Stanford engineering graduate who was struck by psychological research showing that, despite treatment, people with performance anxiety did not show serious improvement.
Based on the ancient principles of acupuncture, EFT is a simple tapping process that realigns the body’s energy system. The process is easy to learn, can be used over a limitless array of situations and can be done anywhere.
Conventional treatment tend to focus only on memories or other mental processes, ignoring the energy system of the body. The premise behind EFT is that the cause of all negative emotions is an arrested flow in the body’s energy system. When a person worries about his or her performance, this fear creates physical tension that interferes with the production of the best sound. Our conscious and unconscious thoughts create a very strong biological drive, determining whether a performance "sings", is “good enough” or just plain goes south. This is easy to see in symptoms like “butterflies” in the stomach, sweaty palms, the throat becoming dry, fingers getting tense and anxiety creating memory lapses. There is a myriad of physical results that come from holding limiting beliefs, powerfully affecting the beauty and strength of one’s sound.
I became interested in this specialty because of my own debilitating performance anxiety as a vocalist. I’d been a singer my whole life, had a beautiful "instrument", but was too nervous to use it joyfully in front of others. When people asked me to perform at weddings and other events, I didn’t know whether to be grateful and happy or say "sorry, I can't". Often when performing, my knees shook, and my voice and pitch did too. EFT made it possible for me to perform and I was enthusiastic to train in it and help others learn to use it.
Here’s a personal example to illustrate some of the aspects a performer can tap on weeks ahead of a performance and/or right before a performance:
I was asked to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" at a National Basketball Association exhibition game. I wrote a list of the fears that I had, along with anticipated concerns. “What if . . .”
1. I forget the words
2. The microphone malfunctions
3. I get scared because I’m all alone in the middle of a giant event center
4. I get fearful because this will be my biggest audience ever
5. I go sharp on the high notes
6. It’s not beautiful
I proceeded to use the EFT tapping method on each individual fear. When the worry about having a memory lapse subsided, I moved on to clear the next worry. I can joyfully tell you that nothing works as well as EFT to clear these performance issues entirely out of one’s body and mind. Even though the microphone did not work at the beginning, I was able to remain calm. I started again, and the mike was working. Without tapping, this could have easily thrown me for a loop, given the nature of this performance.
I have had the honor of helping many performing artists conquer their own fears and anxieties. For example, a professional trumpet player, who was anxious over missing his high notes, played them easily after clearing his blockage in one EFT session. In preparation for a New York City audition, a highly talented opera singer used EFT to clear the paralysis that had always kept her from practicing before important auditions. After applying EFT, she began a day of easy and satisfying practicing. "I wanted to sing!" she told me. "The act of practicing felt natural and easy.”
A little tweaking of our thought processes can make a huge difference in how we bring our music out into the world. Let the performances begin!


Bernadette Hunter is a licensed professional counselor and an experienced vocalist.
For further information on how to use the EFT process to reduce performance anxiety, please visit me at http://www.powerful-performance.com or please call 303-300-6733. If your group is in the Denver area, you may also contact me for a free demonstration of the method.


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