The EM Poll

Playing Scared

Mar 14, 2008 5:19 PM, By Robin Poultney

           

If you were asked what Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, and Joan Armatrading have in common (or had, in the cases of the late Messrs. Burton and Olivier), you'd probably say something like, “They're all rich and famous showbiz folk.” But at least one other thing has united them at some point in their careers — they all had a serious problem with performance anxiety, more commonly known as stage fright.

Performance anxiety (the psychological term) is a widespread problem, especially for singers and instrumentalists. According to research, almost half of all musicians are struck by varying degrees of incapacitating fear while performing. That makes musicians the largest subgroup of sufferers among performing artists.

French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli once quoted Maurice Chevalier as saying, “If you don't get stage fright, you're not a performer.” That might not be completely true, but many, if not most, performers get moderately nervous before a gig. Just take a look at the ritualistic preshow behavior of many musicians; often, their actions reveal a need to keep nervous excitement from becoming crippling fear. Even as unlikely a sufferer as former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath legend Glenn Hughes insists on being left alone to meditate for at least five minutes before a gig.

Just Dealing With It

Some performers simply accept that stage fright is something they'll always have to live with. Singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading is one of them. “I am always very nervous when I have to go onstage, and it doesn't get any better as time goes on,” she says.

A performance in Holland in front of 30,000 people was especially traumatic for Armatrading. “I was nervous before I walked out, but when I did and I stood on the stage and I looked out and saw all those faces, I started to really shake.” At the time, Armatrading regularly wore a key draped around her neck, which she would flip over her shoulder before performing so it dangled down her back; that way, it wouldn't hit her guitar while she played. “I was so nervous, I became obsessed with the key. I swung it around to my back. Then I had to make sure that I had done it right, so I did it again. On the second swing, the key became entangled in my hair. I then spent much too long fiddling with this key trying to get it out of my hair. The poor audience could do nothing but watch and wonder what on earth was going on. After what certainly seemed like an age to me and must have been a lifetime to the audience, I started the first song.

“Usually I get over being nervous as soon as the first song strikes up,” says Armatrading, “but on this occasion, I was thinking about the mess I had made of just walking onstage, putting on a guitar, and adjusting a key. It took me at least three songs to settle down.”

Hiding From Success

Serious onstage jitters aren't the exclusive province of the famous. Performing in front of an audience can be a nerve-jangling experience for anyone. For some — like Rachel, a singer from Canada — anxiety problems can leave a career in tatters. Blighted by nerves, Rachel hid from the spotlight of a solo career and, for many years, confined herself to studio work. At one time, her fear forced her to quit singing altogether.

“I would panic for two hours on the train, get in the studio, and be just fine,” says Rachel. “Needless to say, I was not at all comfortable onstage. I felt like a fish out of water. But still, I did it a time or two, in a couple of attempts at starting bands.” Unfortunately, Rachel's anxiety eventually got the best of her, and she quit. “I would let people hear me sing; then, if it looked like things were going to take off for me, I would retreat. So I've had a most frustrating and erratic career — if you can even call it that.”

Rachel was inordinately worried about how the audience perceived her. “I used to be afraid to open my eyes and look at people when I sang,” she says. “I was afraid that people were thinking ‘Who the hell does she think she is?’ when I was onstage.” Her self-consciousness affected all parts of her performance. She had trouble talking between songs and moving naturally onstage. She dared not handle the mic, singing with it on its stand all the time.

Finally, Rachel formed a musical partnership with her boyfriend, and they booked some gigs. He sang lead while she took the harmonies. “But it was really me hiding,” she says. “That way I didn't have to be in the spotlight, but I could still be in the game.” After years of struggling with her problem, Rachel finally sought professional help. She has since toured Canada.