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Calming Techniques
Do you get nervous before a performance, or even a jam session. I do, and I have another performance coming up in 3 weeks. So I want to share a few calming techniques that can help you (and myself) manage anxiety and focus your mind before the event.
- Deep Breathing: Deep breathing exercises can significantly reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation: This technique involves tensing and then releasing each muscle group in your body, starting from your toes and…
How to Fix "I CAN'T"
I think I’ve told you before, I get pretty nervous when I perform. Now I did OK at the craft mall and the Butterfly Palace in Branson where I played 6 to 8 hours a day. While I was playing, people were walking around, and only a few sat down and really focused their undivided attention on what I was doing. But put me in front of a crowd to do a solo and my hammers start shaking.
This goes back to my childhood. My grandmother was a concert pianist who even played for Queen Elizabeth. My mother…
What Can I Learn from a Concert?
It is an interesting phenomenon.
Public performance is how many of us "discover" dulcimers, or the style of music that catches our fancy. Sometimes this sows the seeds of "I've gotta learn how to do this for myself!" or "I've got to get an instrument" or "I've got to get a teacher" and "I've got to share this music, this instrument, what I've learned, with other people."
Yes I hear this observation from many people who host and organize dulcimer festivals:
"We are so surprised at the number …
Behind Every Performance
One of the privileges we have, living in today’s world, is access to pristine, note-perfect recordings on YouTube, the radio, CDs. But this privilege comes at a cost. Performers, as well as our audiences, have developed the mind-set that such perfection should be possible every time we play for others – whether we are hanging out with friends on the front porch or attending a performance in a concert hall. And, Lord knows, we performers try our best. I’ve spent most of my adult life feeling like…
The Fine Line Between Perfectionism & Procrastination
Are you always waiting for the right time to start?
Do you sometimes think you might do a better job tomorrow? Or the day after?
Are you the type of person who never wants to make a mistake?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you may be a perfectionist walking down the path of a procrastinator. Being a perfectionist is not necessarily a bad thing. But frequently, perfectionists tend to put off doing something if they are afraid they won’t be able to do it perfectly. Many perfe…
When the Unexpected Happens
Performing any kind of music for a live audience can be terrifying! But when we have an upcoming performance, we do everything we know how to do to make sure everything is perfect. We practice, we tune and retune, we get enough sleep the night before. That is because our brains need to feel that they have everything under control. And our brains interpret anything even remotely unexpected as a threat. But crazy, unexpected things do happen right when you need everything to go smoothly. Strings…
Lessons Learned from Sandcastles
 (No sandcastles were harmed in the shooting of these photos.) We live just 1 hour from South Padre Island, and we go there to enjoy a meal with a view of the water at least once a month. While we're on the island, we usually take the time to look for sandcastles. I’m always blown away by the artistry and detail in them, and they can be found all over the island. We… |
Cluck, Cluck
|
You cannot soar like an eagle with a chicken mentality.
Elevate your thoughts to elevate your life (and your music).  A man found an eagle's egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chickens and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. Years pass… |
Prepared to be Lucky
by Steve EulbergLucky Joe's Sidewalk Saloon, in Fort Collins, Colorado, is one of the places I began honing my craft of performing in live venues at the end of the last century.
As soon as church was over in the morning, I would phone in to get my name put on the Open Mic list for what I hoped would be the prime time after the weekly Acoustic Open Mic began at 9 pm every Sunday Night.
Sometimes I was "lucky" and my name was earlier on the list, so I could listen to a few of the other players, play…
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