adapted from http://www.bravina.com/public-speaking-anxiety/overcoming-public-speaking-anxiety.html
Know your material
Practice
Breathe
Focus on your objective
Don't apologize for being nervous
Practice in front of a familiar audience beforehand
Get acquainted with the location and audio/lighting equipment before your audience arrives
Hydrate with a few sips of water
Warm up your voice
Do a run-through immediately before your performance
Focus on individual audience members, not the audience
Focus on how your stage fright anxiety is your body's natural response to help you execute your performance
Play a role; become the character in your song
Visualize
Prior to singing, imagine the execution of your performance in its entirety: Envision yourself exuding complete confidence as you walk to the microphone and initiate your performance. See yourself singing slowly and steadily, making eye contact with individual audience members as you move from one audience member to another. Picture your audience to be warm and receptive. Anticipate problem areas and/or mistakes (it's okay, they are inevitable) and imagine yourself moving through them gracefully and without incident. This simple exercise will trick your mind (and your stage fright anxiety) into believing that you have no fear of singing publicly.
Avoid specific substances
Do not drink caffeine before your performance. Your adrenaline level will increase automatically prior to singing in response to your stage fright; you don't need additional stimulants. In addition, dairy products should be avoided immediately prior to singing to prevent dry mouth. Also, a glass of wine isn't advisable as it will also cause dry mouth and make you feel lethargic and not alert.
Address each physical symptom of stage fright individually
Do not lock your knees. Move around. Staying loose is crucial for overcoming stage fright.
Dry mouth is a common symptom of stage fright sufferers. Make sure you avoid specific foods and drinks prior to singing. Always make sure your have access to water during your performance to alleviate dry mouth.
Trembling and/ or clammy hands are also a common reaction to singing publicly.
Many afflicted with stage fright experience a weak or quivering voice. As a result, most singers will speed up their rate of singing when they feel their voice start to falter. But this is exactly the opposite reaction you should take; instead, breathe regularly and smile. Smiling has proven to have profound effects on your physiology. In addition, smiling also has an equally impactful influence on your audience.
Stage fright can result in undue perspiration for the speaker. Avoid clothing colors and materials that will easily show perspiration such as gray, light blue, etc. Simple black and white clothing will be least likely to show signs of perspiration.
Most importantly, for all stage fright symptoms: The number one observer and possibly only witness of your public anxiety is you. You may feel that your hands are trembling, and they may be, but how often do you look at someone's hands when they sing? You may feel that your voice is weaker than usual, but people who don't hear you every day will not notice this slight change in inflection.
vocal health . . .
When your vocal folds sing a pitch that is called "middle C,"... they vibrate against each other about 256 times for every second you sustain that pitch.¹ A common way that vocal folds protect themselves when they must collide millions of times with force is to redden and swell up. After many days of such collisions, vocal fold nodules or polyps may develop. Vocal fold swelling means that the areas where the vocal folds meet and collide are no longer smooth and straight. They are now microscopically lumpy, and microscopic-sized gaps occur when the folds meet, through which air leaks.² When that happens, we call the sound quality "hoarse, "or "raspy".
To prevent voice injury and fatigue:
Warm up and stretch
Just as in any other sports activity, warm up and stretch your voice with vocalise exercises before singing. Singing is an athletic event.
Hydrate
Drink 7-10 eight ounce glasses of water per day. Hydration increases mucous flow, which lubricates your vocal folds.
Bite the sides of your tongue
Biting the sides of your tongue stimulates mucous secretion.
Quit smoking
Smoking any substance dehydrates and irritates vocal folds by depositing toxins on them.³
Do not sing with a sore throat
Give your voice time to heal. Singing with a sore throat further injures your voice.
Rest
Balance the amount of time you sing with the amount of time you rest your voice
Techniques
breathing . . .
There are four ways to breathe.
Imagine your chest as a room with a ceiling, floor, and walls.
Ceiling breathing
Raise and lower your upper chest or shoulders. Ceiling breathing is the least efficient way to breathe for singing. It often occurs during stage fright. It may result in neck tension, which impedes singing.
Wall Breathing
Expand and contract the walls of your rib cage (chest). You can feel this type of breath by putting your hands on the sides of your lower rib cage. Raise your rib cage up and out, and then release the air.
Floor breathing
Without breathing, contract your abdominal muscles (the ones in front of your stomach), then let them go.
Now do that several times.
Next, when you contract your abdominal muscles, made a "ssssshhhhhh" sound for several seconds.
Then make a series of these sounds: "sshhh__sshhh__sshhh__sshhh,"etc.
Do that again and notice what you do to get ready for each "sshhh" sound.
What do you do just before each "sshhh" sound? ⁴
Notice your abdominal muscles relax and air enters your lungs. This is floor breathing. Your 'floor' is your diaphragm muscle. Below your diaphragm are your stomach, liver, and intestines. Attached above your diaphragm are your lungs. At rest, your diaphragm rises up into your rib cage. When contracted, your diaphragm lowers toward the base of your rib cage, lengthening and inflating your lungs with air. Additionally, your stomach, liver, and intestines moved outward and downward, expanding your abdominal cavity. The diaphragm and abdominal muscles have to work together to achieve floor breathing.
Midsection Breathing
Combine wall and floor breathing. Midsection breathing is considered the most efficient breathing for singing.
It gives you the greatest amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange, because more blood is in the lower area of your lungs than in the upper
area. ⁵
posture . . .
Singing begins with coordination and efficiency.
I will teach you how to sing using only the necessary muscles, and release the muscles that are unnecessary.
Additionally, I will show you how to use the appropriate amount of energy and air--not too much and not too little--in order to sing efficiently.
In order to be an efficient, coordinated singer . . .
Your weight needs to be evenly distributed and your hips in a neutral position.
Your center of gravity needs to be balanced so that your abdominal and neck muscles are not tense.
Your spine should be aligned and your neck elongated.
Your rib cage should be elevated and open and not collapsed.
If your weight is unevenly distributed, hips are tilted, center of gravity is too forward or backward, abdominal and neck muscles are tensed, spine and neck are compressed, and rib cage is collapsed, then the muscles you use for breathing and to vibrate air cannot be engaged efficiently, and your full vocal capability cannot be released.
Let me assist you in realizing your vocal potential.
stage fright . . .
To sing, you need to be aware of the specific anatomy that produces and shapes your sound.
Larynx (voice box aka *VOZ BOX)
The larynx is suspended within your neck and contains your vocal folds. The base of the larynx is attached to the top of your windpipe. Air is sent up through your vocal folds, causing them to ripple and collide into each other. Because of a coordination of muscles in and around your larynx, you are able to maneuver your vocal folds in many subtle ways to produce pitch changes, loudness energy changes, and voice quality changes.⁶
Jaw
Opening and closing your jaw alters the space inside your mouth.
Lips
Rounding your lips versus spreading the corners of your lips backward changes the shape of your mouth opening.
Soft Palate
Gently place your finger on the roof of your mouth behind your teeth. Touch the hard ridged roof of your mouth. Now carefully move your finger backwards and feel the soft tissue at the back of the roof of your mouth. This is your soft palate. Raising your soft palate closes the passageway from your throat into your nasal cavity. Your soft palate automatically lowers for nasal sounds /m/, /n/ and /ng/ and raises for all other sounds.
Tongue
By changing the shape of your tongue, you can alter the density and shape of your mouth and throat. The tongue is the most profound articulator.
Pharynx (throat tube)
The pharynx can be lengthened or shortened. Muscles can squeeze the pharynx, making it smaller. The base of the tongue can enlarge the pharynx as well.
By balancing your freedom and energy while singing, I will teach you how to recognize what physically efficient singing feels and sounds like.
Only an experienced private vocal coach can give you individualized feedback and create an awareness within you to transform you into a conscientious singer.
1 Something New to Sing About, p. 13
2 Something New to Sing About, p. 21
3 Something New to Sing About, p. 22
4 Something New to Sing About, p. 10
5 Something New to Sing About, p. 11
6 Something New to Sing About, p. 13