Overcoming Performance AnxietyI never get a solo in The ChorusBecause my fear of making a mistake Is louder than my voice. All you hear is what I'm feeling Not the song I'm trying to sing. Performance anxiety. I'm a sufferer In its myriad forms. Nothing I tried seemed to work. No cure for anxiety. As soon as you look at it, It settles in disrupts everything. Today, I discovered quite by accident, Emancipation. I'd been invited to do a small solo. Just one line really. I studied it hard, Still worried I'd mess it up. The director suggested, I sing it out louder And then it happened. I wasn't singing the song any more. The song was singing me. Now I get it! Become curious about the song. Get to know it as a living thing A thing with a spirit Not a performance to perfect. When you and the song Know each other as friends, There is no fear. Hand in hand You and the song sing each other. |
| 27 August 2015 | |
| by Bill Cattey |