Tickle the Ivories
Tame Your Stagefright
I get it.
I know what it is like to have a deep desire to perform, a true need to express one's innermost self through music and to connect with the audience.
I know how torturous it can feel at the same time: self-doubts, panic, feeling so naked and vulnerable, confident yet so fragile, fear of not playing one’s best and of being judged critically, mostly by your own self. It’s a heavy load to carry and makes performing an often-arduous emotional task.
In addition to your inner critic, I know how it feels to walk onto stage with hands that feel like they just emerged from a sub-zero freezer, a heart that feels like it is training for a marathon, and a leg that won’t stop shaking all the while you’re performing. Perhaps you have a different brand of "fun" symptoms.
I also know what possibilities await you, how things can be different, significantly better, more relaxed, confident, and enjoyable. Are you ready to embark on this adventure towards more fulfillment and comfort performing? Your particular challenges may be different, but your possibilities abound!
"I am still amazed. I can't tell you the last time I have sung when my heart did not race out of control. I actually felt a freedom when I sang – to actually sing – to get into the song – to become one with the music."
Whether you feel completely thwarted from performing at all, or you perform well but find the process problematic in some way, new possibilities await you!
“I signed up because of my difficulty in playing in front of people. In previous performances, I couldn’t calm my nervous system down and I couldn’t stop the negative self talk while I was playing... At the final class, I actually enjoyed sitting down and playing that magnificent piano!”
I work with musicians, performing artists, and others who want to fully, freely, and comfortably express their art, their gifts, and themselves.
What’s your story with performing and how would you like it to be different, better?
Let's have a conversation and see what may be possible for you.
At nine months old, I was happy and fearless at the piano! Actually, I have always been happy, even euphoric, at the piano. But, performing… now that was another thing altogether.
My formal lessons began when I was about 5 and my performance anxiety began shortly thereafter when I had to perform in a recital. All through my childhood I remember being so nervous that I began playing my piece before I was even seated on the bench, my only goal being to finish as fast as possible. And I did!
Years later, my family told me that they would hold onto the edge of their chairs, as the speed of my playing was so breathless!
In between the yearly, and then monthly, recitals (which I regularly bombed because of nerves), if you wanted to hear me play you had to sit in a different room, and out of my sight…
In college, I learned to fake my way onto the stage, appearing calm, confident, and poised, but my inner world was anything but. While my actual performing greatly improved, inside my sense of torment was ever intense. I felt like I was walking a tightrope, the only thing getting me onto stage and playing the piano was that my need to perform and share was just a hair's width greater than the torment I was feeling. It wasn't unusual for me to get sick right before a recital because of all my anxiety and stress.
Fast forwarding a few decades, after spending years seeking ways to calm my anxiety, I discovered an unusual, but highly effective, method called EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques, aka Tapping. After studying and applying these techniques, I noticed that my torment had disappeared. Completely. Performing was never again tortuous.
I now help others achieve freedom from the sources of their stress and anxiety.
