Tip: Letting It Go

  Have you ever gotten to a performance and everything is going alright, then suddenly, a big mistake? You try not to focus on it, but the more to try to forget about it, the more it drives you crazy.

  As a performer we've all had this happen to us at point or another. This can ruin an entire performance for you, if you keep letting it snowball. How do keep your cool and regain your composure after a mishap?

• Take a deep breath! This is one of the best ways to calm yourself down whenever any nerves hit you.
• Realize that your one mistake doesn't mean the end of the world, and in the grand scheme of things it's not going to ruin the entire song for the audience.
• Don't try to change everything now. Even though you've made one mistake this doesn't mean that you have to change the way you approach the rest of the piece. If it has been working in practice and rehearsal, it'll work now.

  This last Saturday I had this happen to me, while performing Phantom of the Opera. I kept having having little "chips" and "cracks" in the 1st act, which threw me off and worked my nerves. On top of that, my private horn teacher surprised me during the intermission by letting me know she was there that night. All I thought was "Great! Tonight is the night she had to come..." Sadly to say, the 2nd act didn't start too much better, and it took til the playout music until I felt confident and strong again.
  This goes to show that this can, and will, happen to everyone. The difference between professionals and amateurs is that the pros will figure out how to deal with it a lot sooner that I did. The only way to get better with this is to keep performing, and working on keeping your cool during live performances.

  Finally, if you're ever in a performance, and you think something has gone so wrong that the world will end, and there is no way it can get any worse, I want you to think about this one anecdote. Every mistake is like a kidney stone... no matter how big it is, it'll have to pass.