Know what works for you!
I am quite shy in some ways, and I blush a lot when I perform. I was advised to talk about being nervous and mention my blushing as a way of coping with it. I tried this, and it was not the way to handle my nerves; it made it worse. It attracted even more attention to my red face and neck, and I became even more flustered. I now ignore it, which seems to work best for me, and have performance anxiety medication I take an hour before I perform. I only take the medication if I need it, and I have noticed I don’t use it that much now. I used to have one drink before I performed to calm my nerves, and that was a negative thing that I had to cut out. Drinking can exacerbate flushing and blushing.
Practice like it’s the real thing!
I practice all my songs at home as if I am on stage with an audience. I am dressed and made up and do my talk in between songs and put on a full performance. I find this extremely helpful. I also perform for family and friends as if I’m in a concert hall, and the feedback I receive helps me much to finesse my stage personality.
Cat LeBlanc is a New Brunswick singer/songwriter/composer/musician whose compositions are incredibly personal in their lyrical imagery. She plays classical and acoustic guitar. Her Style is: Dreamy Enya/Kate Bush/Joni Mitchell. She specializes in Folk, Pop, and Electronic music. Cat’s Sound: youthful, ethereal, and haunting. Cat has collaborated with New Brunswick and international music artists and is currently being mentored in songwriting by Canadian award-winning singer/songwriter Dan Hill. Cat has a body of original songs and music to her credit and has also produced music for film and commercials. She received an ArtsNB scholarship and additional grants to expand and develop her songwriting, composing, and arranging as well as a grant from the province of New Brunswick to do her first music album. Cat received a scholarship to do a music residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in January 2018, followed by a music artist residency with Gallery ARC in July. Her most recent music artist residency was in Italy in April 2019. Cat recently received a creation grant from ArtsNB to create a new body of music.
Check out Cat’s Blue to Blue album and her electronic music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5OcF37iHe6nxIzORwSB0sU?si=_Tl6b111SK-RUjwaGNQ-Ow