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Hi, Although I love magic and have been a practicing hobbyist for almost three years, I have found that on many occasions I have had quite a bit of performance anxiety. Although I am only a hobbyist at this time it would be nice to be able to make some extra money. If anyone has a tip or would like to offer their thoughts that would be great also you want to sharing a story about your own experience with getting over
"Stage Fright" is encouraged thanks.

If you don't have stage fright, then you're in serious trouble.

Stage Fright is your friend. It gets the adrenaline pumping and keeps your mind sharp.

Read David Mamet's book, True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor.

Learn to love your performance anxiety!

Pete

Oh, and there are some great tips for mentally preparing yourself for performance in Steve Cohen's book, Win the Crowd.

Pete

Everyone who performs, whether magic or other arts has been where you are at the moment.

The more that you get out in front of strangers, the more that you will ov ercome the stagefright. As your experience grows, you will still generally have a few nerves when you start but you will learn how to disguise these.

I good method is to chat with your audience for 30 seconds before yo perform your first piece of magic. Ask their names, introduce yourself and once this is over, you're no longer strangers so you can relax a bit more. Ask them if they've seen close live up magic before and if they say no (as most do), then again, you can relax a little more as you;re not trying to compete with anyone they;ve seen. If they say yes, ask them when, where, what etc. which will give you a few more seconds to ease in.

The secret is not to ramble on too much

Start with something REALLY easy. I still sometimes get the odd bit of nerves just before I start work, however, I always start off the night with a stacked deck. The tricks are so easy a one legged wildebeest could do it, but it allows me to relax, and like dat suggested, greet my audience, get to know them and allows for a quick litmus test of the kind of people I'm performing to (often this is tantamount to a breathaliser). After this is done I am perfectly relaxed and it's time to get on with my routines proper.

Oh geez. When I first did magic in public, I had the worst nerves you could imagine. My hands would shake and you could tell I was nervous when I spoke. I'd stumble over my words and things of the such. I find that the more you do magic for strangers, the easier it becomes. Now I could honestly do magic in front of like 50 strangers and feel fine. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for on-stage magic but in time I will be. So basically, just continue to do magic for strangers, it helps a lot. When you nail a trick, it increases your confidence, but don't get too confident because you could slip up on an easy move. As time goes on, you'll probably notice your nerves to settle down bit by bit, until it is very comfortable doing magic for strangers. Hope this helps!

- |3endini

hey

as pcwells said the anxiety is a good thing it shows that you care about what your doing and that means a better show, i've been performing since i was 11 doing various different types of performance from on-stage to on the street from intimate gatherings to auditoriums of 1000+ people and i get nervous everytime I'm about to go on stage. Walking onto the stage, it's like every bone in my body is trying to pull me off again. then i take a deep breath and say my first line and bam all the nerves are gone and I'm riding high on a wave of adrenaline, that is more of a rush than any drug (and i've been to amsterdam ) without the nerves the polish of the performance and the way i perform wouldn't be there and sure my hands shake while I'm up there but with experience no matter how bad they shake you'll never drop a card, never fumble a line and if you do you'll be so on the ball that you will be able to cover for it automatically ie you drop a ball during you cups and balls routine straight away you say "woohoo i've hit puberty " the audience laugh and your mistake is now forgotten

embrace the fear the nerves are your friend

Thanks for the great responses. Please feel free to share how you personally got over the "jitters".

My hands still shake uncontrollably when I first start performing. It's the adrenaline rush I get from being in front of a crowd, I think (probably combined with the caffeine pills I'd been taking all day). I like the advice that's been offered to start off with something foolproof. Another effective way of alleviating it with "the power of positive thinking" if you believe in that kind of hub-bub is to work yourself up BEFORE the performance. This is a tactic taught in public speaking courses where you picture yourself in front of an audience before you actually get out there, so the adrenaline in your body is already rushing and you don't get that "shock" when you get in front of the crowd.

Hope this helps,
Rob

I always get the butterflies in the tummy when I perform for strangers. The best thing for me is to use a well practiced routine, I've done it so many times that I just slip into the rountine and it all comes automatically. The tricks, patter, everything in my routines in scripted so that I don't even have to think about them.

As a few people have said start with something foolproof, that you can do without thinking about, and before you know it you're in your routine and the nerves have subsided.

I'm really bad for suffering from this as well, although I'm sure it feels worse to me than it looks to spectators. It's known as an adrenaline dump, when your bloodstream is flooded with adrenaline in a short period of time, bringing on the shakes, sweating, loss of motor control, the mumbles etc.

If it really is hindering you the best thing you can do is breath deeply, breathe in through your nose for a count of four; hold your breath for a count of four; exhale through your mouth for a count of four; hold your breath for a count of four, and then restart the cycle.

Breath deeply and methodically – completely filling and emptying your lungs during each cycle. This will lower your blood pressure and stress level, and minimize the overwhelming side effects of an adrenaline dump.

Alternatively, just have a few beers beforehand.

To overcome stage fright you need to accept the consquences of failure. Imagine the worst thing that could happen and accept that this as a possibility. Plan what you'll do if it happens. Have a point at which you plan to leave the stage if things go wrong. Don't just stand there or wait until the compere drags you off stage. When you reach the point of no return simply say goodbye and calmly leave the stage. It happens to everyone from time to time.

The worst thing about stage fright is the fear of what will happen. If you are prepared, it's not really that frightening. It won't make the fear go away, just make it more managable.

Start by chatting to the people while just playing with the cards the begin with a self-worker or something that never fails.

Tell yourself if something goes wrong its not the end of the world.

I also like to have the ID in my pocket then if things turn sour, stop what your doing and hit them with the ID. I did this on my friends once when I was getting a bit of stick. It was great to feel the silence as I walked to the fridge, got myself a cold one then sat down enjoying the delights of arthur (guinness).

ride the wave of sickliness and nerves...i actually kinda enjoy feeling nervy...that's why i like the psychological forces and suggestion work...

The good news is that the more you perform in front of people, the less of an issue it becomes.

All of the above advice is good advice... especially talking to your audience a bit and start with something REAL easy.... Do not under any circumstance start off with something that involves that sleight you "just mastered"... because, more often than not, you will realize that you have NOT mastered it like you thought you did (especially when your hands are shaking)!