Performance fear has stopped many people for too many years from singing. It has definitely got worse over the last number of years, with the rise of big TV shows highlighting the perfect voice and how we should be expected to sing. Also added to the fact, that we in families sing less and less. In generations gone by in Ireland, we sang in what we call ‘Sean-nos’ to tell stories as a daily activity. Songs were made to accompany the work inside and outside the home, to express the many emotions – love and sadness of daily existence, to record local and other historical events and to often mark the loss of family and friends whether by death or by emigration. It was a normalised thing to sing solo. We have now separated the idea of singing solo to be something someone else does and not ourselves. We have detached ourselves from a normalised view singing solo for too long and you can change this TODAY!
Tip no 3- Simply Sing!
Our tip this week is pretty simple you might think, but it is extremely brave and the most effective fear breaker. Singing solo for most people is absolutely terrifying, but the more you don’t do it, the harder it get’s to bypass the fear of actually singing. FEAR IS A VERY CLEVER THING. The more time you say to fear ‘ok I’ll give into you and listen to everything you are saying’, the more you will begin to believe that what fear is saying is true. As I mentioned in our last blog, yes we are always going to have fear when performing but it will get less the more we sing. My tip for you this week, is to start singing every day whenever you think of it, simply sing. Next time you have an opportunity to sing in front of people, just say YES and do it. I know this is an extremely courageous thing to do, but you can do it. The more you say yes to singing solo, the more the fear will begin to diminish.
Chris Short in the photo above had a terrible fear of singing solo for many many years. He came to Simply Sing and attended a couple of sessions. One week he came in and said ‘ I am going to do an Open Mic every day for a year’. He did that and now he is flying. He recently got shortlisted to sing with Nathan Carter. He is gigging all over Ireland and he has launched his own EP. Well done Chris.
If you would like more help to conquer your performance fear, check out our upcoming courses and one2one sessions. We would also love to hear from our members if they found this tip useful, please email us at hello@simplysing.ie
