Most everyone wants more confidence, don’t you? There is a secret to confidence: it’s called BEING PREPARED. I know it sounds so simple, but most anxiety comes from not knowing what you’re doing. If you know exactly how to sing, how to perform your piece, and have your piece completely memorized, all you have to do is relax. If you are fully prepared, try focusing on controlling your heart-rate. Adrenaline forces your heart to pound rapidly. The jitters that go along with this stress can cause your voice to sound shaky. It can also make your vibrato too fast or too heavy. When we get nervous we breathe faster. However, this just adds fuel to the fire, and all of that extra oxygen is unnecessary. Focus on slowing your breathing to a more normal rate by taking slow, deep breaths. This should, in turn, reduce your racing heart-rate. If that still doesn’t work, try what I was told: Picture the audience in their underwear; that should put them at an equal level of vulnerability to you!… I’m only joking about that last part, of course, but when I heard that I got a good laugh out of it; maybe you did too…
