Arts & Entertainment, Music

Performance Anxiety

Christina Aguilera

Lesson time 08:25 min

Every singer gets performance anxiety, including Christina. Learn how to deal with your nerves and center yourself before a show.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Before going on stage • Safety nets • Outlets

Preview

People find different outlets to calm their nerves and to help themselves just kind of slow down for a second and focus on the moment. I think the best way that I've realized how to stop myself from torturing myself before a performance and beating myself up and being too critical or allowing my physical nerves to just sort of take over my body and almost freeze me up to the point where I feel like I want to vomit or something. It's a real thing-- anxiety-- and wanting to do such a great job to the point where you just hurt yourself. But there's an interesting thing that I find occurs when you're about to perform. You have all those butterflies. You have all those nerves, but the beauty that I find and what's so odd is that as soon as I hit the stage and I begin to sing and connect with that audience, the nerves definitely dissipate, and I just become one with what I'm doing. And it's just about giving and receiving from the audience, giving it back, receiving from the audience. It's a beautiful thing that happens, and it's kind of unexplainable, but it's just about letting go. And it's such a place to be able to release all that anxiety and all that build up. So in a positive way the adrenaline builds and it builds and it builds to a place where as long as you're not going to let it defeat you, store it up and then-- bam-- let it out there once you're on that stage and give out the light that's inside of you. Before hitting the stage I think it's good to get the positives of being able to take those nerves and those butterflies and all those emotions that come with, oh my gosh, I want to do a great job. I want to kill this performance. I want to own it. I want to touch the audience. I want to move people, and not being so nervous about that that it hinders and freezes you up. Before I get on stage, I'm extremely quiet. I have to sort of be centered and find my center and my breath and try to calm myself, because your adrenaline is going before you hit the stage, you hear the audience and the anticipation, like it's nerve-wracking. There's not a show I still don't get nervous for. You want to take all that in and take it to that place in your soul, in your heart that your dream of doing this stems from. When I'm on stage as a performer, because I am somebody that loves to let go and be in the moment and just sing from my heart, sometimes there is a potential that I'm going to just zone out and live in that moment. And sometimes just, as I always say it's a mental game, sometimes I do as a safety net love to have a teleprompter-- the words right in front of me. There's no shame in having reminders for yourself. Sometimes I tape a sheet on the floor that has the song set-list order. Go easy on yourself. Use any tricks that you can to remember sometimes your lyrics. I like a prompter. I know the words to my songs, but hey, you know, like having th...

About the Instructor

Christina Aguilera teaches you how to expand your range, find your voice, and master the techniques that have earned her five Grammy Awards. In her first-ever online singing class, you’ll learn warm-up exercises, breath control, vibrato, her signature growls, and hear Christina break down her biggest hits. You’ve never had vocal lessons like this before.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Christina Aguilera

Christina teaches you her unique vocal techniques in over 3.5 hours of voice lessons and exercises.

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