Thought I'd give us our own club: The following is quoted from an exchange in another thread. Anyone else feel like this? Anyone got past this stage? Any advice to the novices? : :

I wouldn't say I'm reluctant to perform, but I'm certainly more confident on the clarinet than either the piano or the sax. I definitely perform more on the clarinet, so I suppose it's just the practice, and I'm quite confident on the piano, though less so than the clarinet. Having only just taken up the sax, I was very nervous when I was given a solo in my first week at jazz band, and in the performance I had nerves which I've only ever had before when singing a solo in the school play. With the clarinet, I just get up and play to other people all of the time, and I'm becoming more confident with the piano too.

Advice to people who don't like performing, I think it comes with more practise. I've been doing music festivals since I was 8, so I've never really had a confidence problem, but I can definitely see how adult learners would find it harder to perform, if they have never really performed before.

thankyou for your comment Kingsley13 : I guess what we have all had in common here was a confidence to perform on another instrument but a strong reluctance to do the same on Piano. So is that just down to practise? (Maybe experience is a better choice of word?) I performed on Bass clarinet (not solo) after only playing it for 2 days - no nerves. And unaccompanied clarinet solos - again No nerves! But ask me to do the same on piano and I go all aquiver Even just playing at home to a supportive pianist friend I get really nervous, my fingers shake and it all goes wrong. Playing for my teacher could be somewhat similar. Sometimes on my own at home I do best - is the secret all in relaxing? But you can't relax when nervous.

For me, it does appear to be a tension thing. I tense up at the thought of playing, can't play therefore get more tense therefore getting even harder to play. With trumpet although I do get nervous (I don't think I ever had an exam where too much vibrato wasn't mentioned ) but it never really inhibited my playing to this extent. Again I'm surrounded by supportive people, I love my lessons (in fact my teacher's wife said the other day she is sure there is too much hilarity in the lessons ) so what on earth is going on in our heads???

Same here! We recently had to perform to our GCSE Music class - I was playing the piano - and I made lots of mistakes, because it was a hard piece. After each mistake I just got more and more tense, my hands were shaking and I'm sure they could hear my heart and my breathing!

I even get worried about playing the keyboard at church, even though there are other instruments playing too. However, next September the usual pianist is off to uni so I suppose I'll have to get used to it. (I feel sorry for the congregation...)

Kingsley, re: music festivals - which instrument(s) do you prefer playing in them? I assume it's clarinet. I ask because last year I did my first one, on piano (which is my first instrument) and failed miserably, in that I was still shaking for the rest of the day! However, this year I'm thinking of entering on the clarinet - I think it might be easier because I can work with the accompanist, and the nerves, as Juniper said, could just sound like vibrato! *looks hopeful* What are your thoughts?

I've done them on the piano since I was 8 and the clarinet since I was about 10.

It's strange that I've been playing the clarinet for less time than the piano, yet I feel more confident on the clarinet. I guess I feel that the clarinet is more of a performing instrument, and I think that I'm better performing on the clarinet. I get a lot more opportunity to play the clarinet in an actual performance than I do on the piano.

You had better let me in too! Actualy I do want to perform but seem to suffer from the same afflictions on the piano as you all. Is it a piano thing?

Must be. There are a number of ghastly things I would rather do than perform on the piano.

Could be that I'm picking up some kind of vibe because if I start to play, people leave the room - I'm not that bad!
My old mother used to say "you've never had a sense of rhythm have you?" and "why do you have to play such boring music?"

Pupils and one family member have been kind enough to exclaim and wish they could play like me but it doesn't happen often enough to out weigh the negatives.

I think the breathing control required to play the clarinet somehow helps with the nerves - you can't exactly tense up and hold your breath or breath too rapidly etc when playing clarinet. It somehow breathes out the nerves - taking deep breaths is actully relaxing - try it and see - so maybe the trick is to take some deep breaths before we sit at the piano, take some more as we raise our hands and keep doing so as we play what do you think?

As for performing on clari - It's a doddle Ok I'm being flippant but for me it really is such opposite extremes. I tend to be nervous before hand on clari but less so in the actual performance.

By the way my little boy told me tonight my playing (of piano) was "Beautiful!" (Sorry - I can't loan him out Mel2 )

There's a real point to this discussion for me - I'm about to sign myself up to play a solo at the Headingley event (notice this smilie is now not as it was every time anyone previously suggested I perform) and I actually want to do it AND make a good job of it. I'd just HATE it if I really messed up. So I really want to get past the nerves/shaking hands etc. I'm not the best piano player ever (far from it!!) so why do I feel that making a mistake would be the end of the world? I need to accept that a performance with only 1 or 2 mistakes in it would actually be ok. Wouldn't it ?

The thing is, if I make a mistake on clari, I just accept it and carry on playing - it's just not a big deal. However, make a mistake on piano and I fall apart and don't even know where I am in the music any more - ridiculous! I think you may have hit the nail on the head with the breathing, though. Are those of us who struggle most with piano over our first instruments woodwind or brass players, I wonder?

Someone, a long time ago, said that the question to ask yourself if worried about making mistakes in front of an audience is; 'If it all goes wrong, can I live with the consequences?'. The answer is, of course, yes. Therefore, go for it. Certainly, at Forum events everyone is so supportive of each other that it really does help concentration and control of nerves. What's a few mistakes amongst friends?

I can relate to the fact that the piano is the most scary instrument. I have been playing - off and on - since I was five. I started playing cello at a late age five years ago. From the very first I have not been nearly as worried about performing on the cello as the piano, and it's not just because the cello is a single line instrument - it has other challlenges that the piano does not have. I think that for me the piano comes with baggage from the past and with greater expectations of ability, which makes me more nervous when performing.

I do tense up and hold my breath when playing the oboe. For this reason I find it marginally easier to play the piano in public - at least a note (not necessarily the right one) will sound on the piano whereas on the oboe I have had the experience of nothing coming out at all (Or notes which are hopelessly flat).

There are a surprising number of us who feel the same regarding this. Lets hope there's strength in numbers. I've handed my form in for headingley now and on it I've put down to do a piano solo. Please all wish me luck. I'm following a tip from Oldnotes - I'm going to play the piece once (maybe twice) a day everyday between now and January 2nd and hopefully I'll pull it off

Good luck although with that amount of prep I'm sure you won't need luck Will be thinking of you. Right, I've definitely got to get my debut sorted now

I think we should ALL have a "debut" and support each other through it what do you reckon folks??

I'm not exactly a reluctant performer because I quite enjoy it, especially on clarinet, but I do find piano performing much more difficult. I think it's partly because unlike on clarinet where your fingers always go on the same keys, with piano you have to make sure your fingers are on the right keys to start off with. I remember seeing a post a while ago from a really experienced teacher who said that sometimes when she's performing, she sits at the piano and for a moment can't think where middle C is. I'm not sure whether it's comforting that even the most experienced pianists have blank moments, or scary that we might never grow out of it!

I think the double stave has a lot to do with it for me - there's so much to take in, and particularly if you go wrong or lose your place, whereas on clarinet, I'm generally pretty good now at picking up the thread if I go wrong. Perhaps the clue is when I say "pretty good NOW" - I haven't always been good at picking up on clarinet, it's just come with practice. So hopefully the more familiar I get with the double-clef, the easier it will get. I'm expecting it to take years



I don't know if you're thinking of something different, but clarijo and I were talking after the recital today about having a sort-of "mock rehearsal" at the college before the Leeds concert, to enable people to familiarise themselves with the environment and the piano so that it's not quite so scary on the day. I was planning to start a thread about it tomorrow probably, but if you've got some different ideas as well, I'm up for anything really (although depending on what it is, not necessarily on piano!)

I would join this, but the thing is... the more I play in front of other people, the more I want to?


I don't think it's "showing off", but more a matter of proving my worth and making sure that I can do it?

I agree, Solari,

I was the most pertified performer in public when I first started out on piano (again, I don't experience the same level of trauma when performing on first instrument - violin.....how strange is this?). But the more I do it (and pull it off, which is important), the more I want to do it. It is a masochistic way of saying to yourself, as much as to anyone else, ' ...look, its not so bad really, I can do this...'

But when it goes wrong on piano....oh my goodness....the shakes......off the rails......big time....awful feeling

denmark

And you are a natural Sol!

I want to perform but unfortunately my fingers and body have a different view on it when I am in public. I am now managing to play at home in front of friends and family, but still get so nervous when in front of others. The fact that I have moved on from being totally nervous with my teacher, with my friends and family - the next stop has to be that I can play in front of others.

Over the last couple of months I have had some opportunities to do this and with the London grand gathering coming up I have another chance. I am determined to beat it, and I reckon once I have that beat that I will then hopefully be able to have another go at an exam without falling to pieces.

So yes please you can add me, I am not really a reluctant performer as I too want to do it, but nerves prevent me from doing so as I know I can.

ET

There are plenty of other people in the same boat, or suffering even more! One lady at my pupil's concert was visibly shaking all the way through but she managed to get through her pieces which was great!

The playdays are definitely a nice way of testing the water and even though you may have been trembling on the inside last time, you still looked pretty composed to me! The playdays will also get a lot easier to play at as well, I suspect, as there will be a lot of familiar faces each time.

I still think I will be having palpitations at the exam!

I'm hoping I'll be the same.... I love performing on clarinet it's such a buzz!! but and it's a big BUT on piano I've got to get past the nerves first.


Skylark: I just meant that my debut would be Headingley maybe others would choose another venue/event forum or otherwise and this thread might just help us to be brave enough to take the plunge. It was you playing at Headingley last year that has inspired me. At first I thought "wow! That's brave!!" but maybe performing as a total beginner is a good move - if it all goes wrong you have good reason but when you are supposed to be a bit further along in the journey maybe people expect more of you? I'm not that much further on really. I've had a few years worth of lessons but with breaks in them and they have for the present stopped. I'm supposed to be around Grade 5 but have not taken any exams and apart from playing for my teacher and some close family members/friends who've witnessed my practised I just don't play in front of anyone. I don't think I need a pre-event visit to the college as it'll be the people not the venue that will make me most nervous. We will get a chance to try the piano at some point in the morning won't we?

I'm just wondering - is this actually reluctance to perform - or is it more wanting to be able to perform, but with a barrier that feels insurmountable?

I recognise the contents of the thread only too well - in times past I'd be terrified of anyone other than perhaps my husband or kids hearing me perform anything, be that on the piano, on recorders, and most certainly singing: but on recorders in particular, I'd long wanted to be able to get over that hurdle and get across in playing what I could feel in the music. I'd noticed that I could do a little bit of this if I was on my own, but always played worse if I was aware of an audience.

I don't know what the answers are, except that getting the chance to play and get the right sort of feedback is definitely a big part of what makes it all worthwhile (and makes it gradually become more of a pleasure and less of a pain). I'd agree that having the supportive environment of an adult learners' concert can make a difference, and an enthusiastic teacher and/or partner is also so important. The only real encouragement I can give though is this - as someone who was most definitely in that camp, and who still feels a bit shy about performing, but has got one heck of a lot better about it: it's perfectly possible for that awful dread to lift .

Yes - that was what I was trying to say in my post, but it didn't really work! I do want to perform because if I do it enough, it will become easier.

What I find odd with me is that I am desperate to play in front of people and show them what I have achieved so its not a case of not wanting to play but when I put those fingers to the keys that's when the fear kicks in!

It's in a sense like a stage fright!

I wonder why though, many of you feel that the piano is scarier? I would have thought that it is the fear of performing rather than the instrument. If many of you don't feel as nervous on the Clarinet is it because you are not playing solo perhaps? Is that the difference? This has intrigued me!

It's just taking that first step really which in a way I have done by saying I'll play at Headingley In days gone by I would not even have considered it on piano so all forum friends it's because you have bullied coaxed me into it. I think it's fear of failure. I know I do well on my clari and get positive feedback when I perform. I just don't have this sort of confidence or any experience of performing on piano. I lost a lot (if not all) of my confidence in my own ability to play ANYTHING on piano due to some not so positive experiences with my teacher earlier this year, thus forming a vicious circle of feeling "can't do!" so wouldn't do and so on... If I knew I could play piano well then I'd be happy to perform on it but becasuse I don't I'm not if this makes sense.



It is like stage fright!! Although I'm not "Desperate" to play in front of others.... I would like to be able to though. I actually did play a very simple hymn in school assembly a number of years ago (As teacher not pupil) I did ok (ish) but was so nervous and had shaky fingers etc it kind of put me off doing it again.

I still get this feeling at home on my own piano when I know someone is actively listening to me play rather than just being in the room. The feeling is much less pronounced with my family though.

I play clarinet solo (i.e. without accompaniment) so that's not the issue now although I wonder if maybe because I didn't play solo but played with bands etc or duetted with my sister or friend until later on clarinet if it was a gentle outing into performing rather than as the piano feels like a baptism of fire. However, thinking about it I did play some (simple) solos at middle school when I'd only just started playing so maybe this is not true after all.....

I also think a lot is down to the fact that pianists (piano players) have to play whatever instrument is there at the concert venue whereas a clarinettist will take their own familiar old faithful along with them. I once found myself in a situation where I was due to play quite a large clarinet solo when someone knocked over my clarinet and damaged the keywork. I was faced with the very strong possibility of having to play the solo on a borrowed clarinet with little time to familiarise myself with it. A similar intensity of fear/panic to that which I feel thinking about performing on piano set in

Actually talking all this out has strangely made me feel less panicked about performing on piano. I guess I know now that a lot of others feel exactly the same and it's not just me. Makes mefeel more comfortable with it somehow.

I have decided that I AM going to do this - whatever the potential for a huge mess up

To help myself succeed: I have chosen a piece I can almost play perfectly already.

I'm going to go over it every day even if I do nothing else on piano between now and January,

When I feel I can play it I'm going to play for as many people as possible in my home environment - hopefully to quell some nerves.

Then I'll try to get familiar with the touch of the piano sometime before the concert (maybe that morning)
(Mine needs quite a strong touch and I feel like I'm bashing away hamfistedly on some pianos as a result)

and Go for it!

And hope!

Great to hear it

I've been thinking a lot about this over a weekend of gigs and tried to work out why it seems more scary on piano. I've come to the following thoughts. One of the reasons that has already been discussed is familiarity. I'm pretty certain the trumpet will do what I want it to whereas I'm never sure with the piano. Another is I have grown up hearing some amazing pianists. In comparison I feel like a some sort of ape that's been sat in front of a piano! I know I am learning and I'm not going to sound amazing...... (yet!).... but it's just a fear of sounding/looking like an idiot.

I think one of the other problems is just a general lack of confidence. After Saturday night's gig I got some amazing compliments and just didn't know how to take it and ended up blushing and murmuring my thanks so maybe it's just that I have just learnt how to hide my lack of confidence on the trumpet rather than getting rid of it altogether

Anyway, glad you are going to go for it, have a great time

Dawn, when you play your piece each day, don't just think of it as practise. Pretend that this is your performance with an audience. I find that this helps me and as it gets closer to 'the day', when the right notes are in the right order at the right speed, I concentrate on the dynamics. The playing through then becomes a rehearsal, rather than practise, and more and more frequently I find myself thinking - yes, if I can repeat that for the examiner/audience, I'll be happy.

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"I also think a lot is down to the fact that pianists (piano players) have to play whatever instrument is there at the concert venue whereas a clarinettist will take their own familiar old faithful along with them. "

And not just a strange piano but the seating too, I can never get the stool right, height position etc, whereas at home, it is in its pace where I know I can play.

I am beginning to get a phobia about piano stools!

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[quote name='anacrusis' post='895536' date='Nov 16 2009, 01:37 AM']

"I also think a lot is down to the fact that pianists (piano players) have to play whatever instrument is there at the concert venue whereas a clarinettist will take their own familiar old faithful along with them. "

And not just a strange piano but the seating too, I can never get the stool right, height position etc, whereas at home, it is in its pace where I know I can play.

I am beginning to get a phobia about piano stools!
[/quote]

Yes a good point... I'll blame it all on the instrument! But yes that makes sense because when I look at the keyboard of a piano that's not mine, even though it is essentially a set of white and black keys, same as mine, there seems to be something unfamiliar about it and that's when the fear sets in, especially when playing at speed, I seem to no longer know what key is which!

I have to make an admission, that I tried out some beta Blockers the other day (got some from the doctor, who is a pianist himself, which I have just found out and he totally understood my need for them!). They really stop the shakes which is half the battle. The next part is the self belief that needs to be conquered!

Reading through the posts, I think there may well be something about piano which is harder; and for me, at least, it isn't to do with having learned as an adult versus as a child. I learned piano for 8 years as a child and had horrible performance nerves on the few occasions I could steel myself to perform at all. I still remember one occasion where I got halfway through a piece in a school eisteddfod (I grew up in Wales) and my mind went completely, overwhelmingly blank, and I couldn't remember how to play what came next, even though the music was on the music desk right in front of me. Cue long, looooong embarrassing pause before I got restarted.... .

In contrast, whilst I am still pretty nervous about performing on sax, I feel more comfortable about it than I ever did in respect of piano, and that's after having been learning for less than a year. For me, I think it has partly to do with only having to worry about one line of notes, and one clef. However, we have just taken delivery of our new piano and since it is so gorgeous to play, I may yet decide to brush up my piano playing and some day get over the whole "playing piano in public" thing - who knows? But definitely not in time for Headingley, so instead I shall concentrate on projecting positive vibes at DawnF and others who have been brave enough to give it a go!!

I do! nerves and all





Oh no!!! Don't give me something else to worry about It's true though. If the stool is positioned even a little bit off it confuses me. Also I wonder if the fact that my piano is about a half octave short of the standard keyboard alters my perception a bit as well



Thankyou

Aw, thank you! I wanted to play as soon as possible after starting to learn so that it didn't become a Big Thing in my mind when I got to a reasonable level. I did a solo, a duet and accompanying - all very short - but just enough to get over the first hurdle. I really enjoyed accompanying and I'd love to do more of that when I'm more advanced.



Yes, definitely There are lots of practice rooms at the college, mostly with piano. The rehearsals of small ensembles, duets and orchestral solos take place in the practice rooms, leaving the piano in the concert room free for the piano soloists to get used to the instrument.




Funnily enough I much prefer playing solo to ensemble playing - with ensemble playing, I'm very conscious that I might mess it up for everyone else if I go wrong whereas with solo, it's only yourself you might mess it up for. And with ensemble playing, you're very often not playing the melody which I think makes it more difficult because often you have loads of rests to count, or you have to come in on the off-beat, or you just have a series of one-note-per-bar and depending on the note, it can be difficult to get out). I get particularly worried if my part suddenly becomes the lead part - will I miss coming in or will I come in on a squeak And then there's the rhythm - if you get it slightly wrong as a soloist, very few people are likely to notice but if you get the rhythm wrong in an ensemble, you're letting down all your fellow performers I'm slightly more comfortable in an ensemble where the parts are doubled-up (thank you, nova and musicstand at recent concerts ) but I definitely prefer solo - less to go wrong!



My digital piano has a 76-key keyboard. I don't need the missing octave at the moment but it does alter my perspective. My teacher commented a couple of weeks ago that in a particular piece, I was reaching for a lower octave than I needed - only momentarily and then I played the right notes, but it was sufficient for him to notice. It's because the notes I needed are at the bottom of my keyboard, so I reach for the bottom even when playing a full keyboard acoustic piano. It's not a major problem at the moment, but it just shows how we get used to certain keyboards.

My teacher suggested doing a duet instead of a solo due to nerves but I thought that it would be far worse. i.e. pressure of having to keep up with the teacher and if I made a mistake joining back in!

So I can see your point! So in a way you would think piano would be less scary.

there are not many things I dislike in this world more than performance.



when I was about 13 my (middle) school did a music trip to the local primary to show them what all the orchestral instruments sounded like. I was picked for the clarinet and chose to play one of my grade 4 pieces - "Memory" from Cats. I got about halfway through, fainted and broke my clarinet.

not good

I seek Skylark's point of being worried about letting others down when playing in ensembles but playing duets with a teacher is completely different. A good teacher will be able to cope with anything you might or might not do and still make the end result sound musical (if not exactly what was written on the page ). Mine has in in the past, played bits of my line with me (or instead of me) when it was a vital bit of the tune, repeated a bar several times (with slight variations so it didn't sound like he was just repeating the same thing) 'till I started playing again and even played flat so that he was "in tune" with me.

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[quote name='anacrusis' post='895536' date='Nov 16 2009, 01:37 AM']

"I also think a lot is down to the fact that pianists (piano players) have to play whatever instrument is there at the concert venue whereas a clarinettist will take their own familiar old faithful along with them. "

And not just a strange piano but the seating too, I can never get the stool right, height position etc, whereas at home, it is in its pace where I know I can play.

I am beginning to get a phobia about piano stools!
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I have never worried about piano stools before, until my last piano exam when the examiner asked me to alter the height of the stool, if I wanted to of course I couldn't stop thinking about it then

poor you!!

At least nothing that bad has happened to me ......

For me, willingness and nerves are totally different issues. I'm perfectly happy to sit down and play in front of people, but my hands (and legs too sometimes ) switch on vibration mode the minute I sit down at the piano and I can't explain why... A few other (puzzling) observations:

- I don't feel nervous when accompanying
- I got nerves regardless of the difficulty of the piece - in fact my hands shake the same when I play a C major scale as when I play a grade 8+ piece
- I only feel nervous in "concert" setting (i.e. when people sit there quietly and stare at me) e.g. at Dyrham Park recently: although there were many strangers in the room, they walked about and I didn't feel the slightest nerves
- I don't normally feel nerves when, say, doing a presentation at work or public speaking, so I'm not sure what it is about the piano
- I don't think it has to do with 2-stave music or unfamiliar instrument as the same applies to pedal harp and I feel much less nervous with the harp even though I play the piano much better

Bizzarly the only instrument I have ever played in public without nerves is the flute which I can't play very well at all. (I had group lessons at school for a year when I was eleven and almost twenty years later played with a group of people who wanted a flautist). The only explanation I can think of is that because I knew I couldn't play very well anyway I didn't feel I had to live up to any expectations.

You'll never guess what I've done this afternoon!!!!!


I played my performance piece for Headingley to my fairly new friend who also happens to be a highly trained Russian concert pianist !!!!!!

And......



I did it really well - only 1 mistake and that was hitting a note at the wrong octave that's all - she simply leaned over and pressed the correct note so I picked it up from there.


Surprisingly i didn't feel nervous even though she was standing directly behind me. I just got on with it I played up tempo from how I normally do it too and didn't get my fingers in a tangle at all!!!


I included dynamics and a touch of rubato too.


Now I know it wasn't fantastic but she was very positive about my playing -She feels I have a good feel for music and said I've got a nice sensitive touch (I don't bang the keys), I played the right notes in the right timing. So she said "You can play " High praise indeed considering who it was coming from


She has however given me some constructive criticism - hand position and getting a different dynamic between the two lines of the right hand. She said my left hand was nicely played - and advice on how to practise to achieve this.

I explained about how I feel about performing on piano and about hoping to play at the headingley concert and she's offered to help and advise me - "for free" - Not an offer you get every day is it? Anyway I'm inspired to practise this to improve it more before we next get together.

If she starts teaching again and I feel in a position to restart piano lessons I'll certainly be looking to use her. In a few minutes she gave me something that had been lacking from my piano lessons for a while - She told me how to practise and create an effect rather than just telling me to do it

I hope this reads ok as I haven't time to check it now before posting. Just wanted to share a positive experience.

Really great to read this, well done

I think you have hit the nail on the head, anacrusis. But even if my husband or children walk through the room when I am practising, I can be relied upon to instantly make a mistake.

I'm with Mini Mo on beta-blockers. I forgot to take them for a public performance of Messiah last weekend (playing the violin part) and was shocked at how badly I coped with the pressure. I have even tried hypnotherapy for my flute exam next week, and desperately hoping that I will cope better; I am trying to force myself to believe that this time will be different and I will enjoy proving myself. But I will still get out the beta-blockers because those other little voices in my head won't shut up!

But it's nice to know that the dread can lift. There's always hope....

I DID IT!!!!!! !!!!!!!


Maybe I'm overdoing it here but I combatted the nerves and played for the first time t an audience today.

I think it was ok Some others commented that they liked it

Well done Dawn.

Thankyou. I'll still be a reluctant performer on piano but maybe another time I'll be a bit less nervous and so on....

I too am very nervous playing in front of people.

Well done Dawn for combatting the nerves.

I have had hypnotherapy to see if that will help. I have also found playing piano duets helpful as whilst I do feel I am letting my duet partner down if I make mistakes we know the pieces we play so well that I can generally pick up again after making a mistake and my partner just keeps going.

I have also started having a few non piano playing friends round for an evening of food (bribery!) and piano playing with my duet partner and I. This has certainly helped.

My previous piano teacher also had 'performance platform's' three or four times a year which were an excellent way of gaining confidence. There would generally be six or seven students who would play or sing in front of each other. We even managed to stop talking so much about how nervous we were feeling!

So perhaps the more you do it the easier it gets - that's the theory!

Dawn - fantastic, and I hope the feel-good factor at having achieved that will also leave you with that somewhat addictive buzz which lets you enjoy performing the next time round .

Well done Dawn.