Help !!
My new teacher came round yesterday so she could hear a demo of what i was like and it was one of the worst performances ive ever given ! I was totaly shot down by nerves.I was actually playing her Fur Elise ( piano) and made a million mistakes.Usually i can play it straight off without any problems whatsover even without looking at the music etc.I know ive only started up again after 15/20 years but the nerves were so bad i had to finish the piece early.Its a shame as when i 1st stopped playing as a 16 yr old grade 5 /6 student i had no problems.
How do i overcome the nerves

In my experience, I think overcoming nerves is nigh-on impossible: they are always going to be there. The problems really occur because of the self-doubt they induce, so if you can gain enough confidence to know that you can perform what you've been practising they become less important. For this, I'd recommend getting as much performance experience as you can really helps on this one. Play to anyone who's willing to listen, and - of course - take advantage of opportunities like the Adult Learners' Concert if you can make it.

I played the organ in church every week for three years, and for two years played the piano in a retirement home for an hour each week. At first, I was truly nervous, even though I knew how much I'd practised; once I'd been doing it for a few months though, I became quite matter-of-fact about it despite the nerves and now quite enjoy performing - I play far better when I'm wearing something smart and have an audience, it's just a frame-of-mind thing. So perhaps consider doing some volunteer work - learning various older songs will give you lots of music-reading experience, and playing them in public will help you with performing.

I wouldn't mind appearing in the concert it may boost the confidence thing,I have appeared in a music festival before where i actually came second when i was 14

Try ignore the little voice in you r head which says "ooh you played that wrong didn't you, you really messed that up" coz that's what makes me make lots of mistakes and get nervous! Try and be positive about something leading up to it instead of thinking "what if I get nervous". Try and think "I'm going to play my best that's all I can do"

Someone got so nervous the other night that they sang in a different key to the backing track for part of the song! They got it back, but it was the tune tranposed into a different key! We were talking about it after and one of our not so musical frends said "oh I didn't notice". Even if you think a mistake you made is a big one, keep going and no one will care!

If you are near enough then at least come to the concert this Saturday to meet everyone. I'm afraid it's a bit late to take part this time but there could be another next year.

The details are available here.
PM me if you want to know more.

Or check out the Forum users Concert details.

If there is another one next year then that would be better for me-ive only been playing again for the last couple months-very very rusty !!

Everyone gets nervous at some point in their lives, even people who are very confident but although there is no cure for it you can think positive & try to not care about mistakes if you make them. A true performer is one who can make a mistake sound intentional so if you show that you don't care then other people will think the same way. I always used to make mistakes in my lessons & would beat myself up about it afterwards as I knew I could play better but now I have become so comfortable with my teacher that I can make mistakes & just carry on as though they haven't happened which I think is the best way to deal with them. I used to think that if I made a mistake when playing in front of someone & ignored it that they would think I hadn't realised so I used to apologise (whilst playing!) to prove that I knew I had done something wrong & would go back & correct it. Looking back I realised that wasn't the best thing to do as I ruined the performance by pointing out the negative parts rather than just allowing the audience to enjoy my performance. I don't think anyone plays as well as they do when they're alone as there is no pressure but I think the more you practise the more comfortable you will be playing in front of people. Considering you haven't played for a long time you have probably done really well so don't worry about it, your teacher will probably have known you were nervous so the best thing you can do is just move on & practise playing in front of friends to build up your confidence.

Lisa xxx

You can be audience...

There's a book called "The Inner Game Of Music" by Barry Green or something like that which I found pretty helpful. Plus Carola Grindea "Tensions in the Performance of Music". I use some of her ideas on relaxing, and some of his ideas on correct thinking were very helpful in learning to ignore the crirical/teacher voice during performance (which leads to nerves and tension) and focussing instead on the sound of the playing, the feel of your fingers, the look of your fingers etc I have a couple of postcards with various little tips and phrases written on which I read before playing. One of the most helpful under extreme nerves was giving myself permission to fail, which sounds really stupid, but it's very liberating!

And in just looking for my postcards I can't find them AARGH HELP! (Panic setting in as I can't think where I've put them!