Music is an important part of life. It brings joy to important occasions and makes ordinary ones more meaningful. Can you imagine attending a wedding, graduation, or even a ballgame without any music? What about daily chores and driving in the car? Many find that daily tasks are much more enjoyable when set to a soundtrack of favorite tunes.
Learning to make music for enjoyment is a gift that is uniquely human. And it’s a big part of many children and adults’ daily lives. However, there’s a big difference between learning to make music for yourself and learning to perform music for other people. It’s a mistake to think that if you simply practice enough and know your song or piece well enough, that’s all you need to do to prepare for a successful performance. Getting up onstage in front of family, friends, peers, teachers, and strangers can be challenging and stressful, which most people realize after doing it even one time. Preparing for differences between playing for yourself and playing for other people can help.
There are many ways that people prepare to perform, whether the performance involves music, speech, or movement, and they don’t all work for all people. Some people find that even the knowledge that almost everyone has some degree of nervousness when they’re in the spotlight can help. Others use various strategies, like deep breathing, focusing on a specific person in the audience, mental visualization, and plain old distraction to help them. Having opportunities to practice-perform—say for other students, friends, family—can help to prepare students for having people watch them intently while they play or sing, and get them used to going from the beginning to end of a selection without stopping. And if they have a chance to do this in the actual performance venue, even better. For some children, the lack of familiarity with the performance space can be unnerving.
Research has shown us that from our earliest performances as young children, many people feel stressed when putting on a ‘show’ for others. Acknowledging that stress and offering tips for succeeding in spite of it is important, rather than brushing it off as nothing to worry about. “You’ll be fine”, “Just practice”, and “Don’t worry” aren’t particularly helpful tips for anyone, and they don’t respect the way that the performer is actually feeling. For children who are learning about performing, being heard and guided through the process can help to develop life-long coping strategies for stressful situations.
Hannabelle’s Butterflies is a great resource to help children learn about performing, how to prepare, and how to navigate performance nerves in realistic ways. In fact, Hannabelle was borne from research on what real children have to say about performing. And the strategies may help the young-at-heart with their performances, too.