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Just wondering how many of you guys are nervous when performing.

I, for one, am a very nervous person when performing and find it hard to fight off. Body actually starts to shake, which is a problem and embarassing. Anyone else have this problem?

Any suggestions to fight it off?

Thanks

StEvEbO!

I've kind of the same problem, haven't found any good method...but each time I perfome I make it somehow...but I start to shake even more when I succed with my tricks and can see how the audience just can't understand how the things happend...and then when shaking it's rreally hard to do good coin magic so often i've to switch to cards

But I get lesser and lesser nervous when finding out that a trick is working, so a few of the tricks I'm not nervous about at all (well, a little, but not so much that I shake)...

I get nervous quite badly sometimes too. I think that after some time it might go away, you know, when you're used (does that even make sense!? I say it all the time but when I write it it seems wrong!?) to performing!
Also... I just remembered from school that people would say that chewing some gum during an exam makes you less nervous so you can concentrate better! I'm not sure if it's just an "old wives tale" but I guess I'll give it a go next time since it's worth a shot!
Finally, the only other thing I can think of is breathing deeper and more controlled breaths. Just not so deep that the audience goes " "

Hope that helps.
Norm.

Before you begin, find a nice quite place to be alone. Relax and do some breathing exercises. Run over in your mind what you are going to do and say when you begin. Shake you arms around and loosen yourself up.

chewing gum works a little for me, and wearing bandages on my forearms, tight enough so i know they are always there, subdues the mind or something
I am a very nervous person, I try to pick the shyer members of the public to perform to, which IMO is cowardly, but I don't deny it!

Chewing gum can annoy many people and put them off when you're trying to talk to them. Of course it will depend on the environment in which you're working but for weddings, parties etc. I would recommend not chewing. If anything, have the occasional mint to keep your breath fresh.

I used to suffer from the same thing when I started my first few performances. Whilst it lasted for no more than the first two or three tricks, I found that the more experience of being around different people, the confidence grew and the sooner the 'shakes' wore off. Now it's not a problem at all.

I would recommend that when you begin your performance, start with some simple introductions with the people that you're performing to such as asking their names, where they've come from and DON'T just start showing tricks straight away. Take about a minute to 90 seconds to break the ice, depending on numbers and then introduce the tricks. You'll find that any nervousness will have disappeared and you'll be more yourself.

Dat has offered excellent advice - going in cold is a bad idea. Doing what he recommends lets you interact and get to know your audience. Once you're over that, you'll get into the swing of things.

Once this is done, there's something else you can do to calm the performance nerves.

Find 1 or 2 effects - strong but relatively easy to pull off. Think of effects you completely own - effects you can do blindfolded, and put them in the beginning. If they're strong enough, you'll get good reactions. The bigger the reaction, the more confident you become.

Some of my personal favs -
Four Ace Production (I use a rather simple variation of a four ace production mingling with Dr. Daley's Last Trick)
Twisting the Aces

These two are among my all-time favorites. Easy to do, get good reactions. Get two or three of these and meld into a quick opening routine. I like to do these to build my confidence with the audience. When I finish these two, I usually get some oohs and ahhs and suddenly I feel like I'm at home in front of the mirror again.

Demitri,

Is that the Lee Asher handling of Twisting the Aces that you do?

I have PM'd you by the way.

Cheers mate!

It is hard to give you an exact course of action to help reduce nervousness considering how it could exist for a few reasons. It is a pattern your body takes in that situation so the best thing to do is to just change that pattern. First off, go through whats going on in your head as it starts to happen. Is there an affirmation that you tell yourself, like "I'm going to get nervous" or "I might mess up" or "They wont like/will figure out my tricks" anything like that? I highly suggest next time you preform you pay special attention to everything you tell yourself and make note of anything negative you say. If you hear yourself say something negative, start telling yourself the opposite, espcially as it happens. If you can tell yourself the opposite, you will eventually start to replace the negative remark with the one you want.

It could go deeper, it may just be a feeling in your body, or a picture you see in your head. Whatever it is, find it. If you find these things and still aren't sure what to do, PM me. Ill help you further.

1011

Since I don't like people very much, and I don't like to interact with them (weird thing for a magician, I suppose), I have more less the same problem... my hands shake.
My brain says: "I don't like people-And if I make a mistake?-I hate making mistakes in front of people, I don't like people-I hate making mistakes at all-oh f**k!-hands, shake now!".
When I started performing, months ago, my hands used to shake so bad that cards fell on the ground.
But as time passed I saw the results of my training and mistakes now are a nightmare no more (they are just a thing that can happen), so my hands shake less.
I think it's mostly a matter of self- confidence.
Hands still shake a little, anyway, because I still don't like people.

Uriel

If I'm nervous, in any situation, I ...

Imagine the people I am talking to are my best friends - literally,
or,
imagine everyone I see is naked,
or,
hum a silent tune,
or,
...?

There are many things one can try, and simply being confident in your outine of course helps.

Regards, Piers.

Had an idea for anyone reading.

Confidence 101

Watch people who are confident. Look at how they act. If you know them, ask them if there is anything they do.

Then just do it, and move on. Pretend you are confident whenever you are performing or doing anything you wish to be confident at. Because if you pretend to be confident, you will be confident. As they say in jazz improv. "If you can't make it, fake it."

In case you wonder, I used to be just as bad as you. If not worse, I would often not even have the courage to approach anyone. I would only do it if someone approached me (via word of mouth). That is more of when I was still in highschool. There was a point where I didnt have to goto anyone in highschool they would all come to me. That did help my courage a bit, but its not about people wanting you. Its about thinking people want you. If you think they dont, if you think you wont make them, if you think you will mess up, if you think things will go wrong, if you think your hands will shake, if you think anything negative, you will make the negative happen. Spend a week walking down the street honestly telling yourself (and believing it) that you will trip on a crack in the pavement.

1011

As has already been stipulated, acting confindent makes you feel confident

The best way for me to do this is to put on a confident pose. Just put shoulders down, back straight, chin up, feet comfortably apart and away you go. This is the universal body language for 'I am relaxed in your company and confident in myself' and as such your audience can relax as well.

I have found this technique very useful, especially when approaching the ladies Just act confident and your feelings will follow.

Having a card trick that allows an out, such as the ID or Kolossal Killer can often help to releive stress, as in the end, you can't mess up completely.

I don't get nervous when performing for others, but I do have a fear of doing a trick incorrectly. Thus, I usually think of several outs that can be used for specific tricks.

In addition, I often think of several outs that can be used in any situation. For example, if you really can't find the spectator's card, exaggerate the fact. Milk it for all it's worth. Look completely exasperated. Finally, ask the spectator his or her card, and find it in the deck. "I know why it was I couldn't find your card," you say in a confident tone. "You card is a trickster, it enjoys going places that it should not be just for the sake of confusion," you continue. You employ a colour chage to show the card visually disappeared, reaffirming your trickster story. Follow this by some trick along the same theme, such as the abitious card trick. There's an example of how to save face and seemlessly introduce the next card trick.

If you practice enough of these outs, you'll eventually be able to thing of new ones on-the-fly. Often messing up a trick is a source of nervousness, so the method I described should aid in reducing nervousness for some people.

I STILL tend to get really nervous when performing a new card trick for the first time or 3.. Last one I added to my repetoire was Daniel Garcia's "Torn". I stated in another thread, that my hands were almost violently shaking! I think it's a combination of nerves and pure unadulterated adrenalin!

Once you've performed the effects a few times, it should begin to subside. It's the age old "practice makes perfect". Thing is, you can sit in front of a mirror for 300 years... when you first come to Lay you're STILL gonna have those nerves.

Just stick with it, and eventually your mind will overcome the hurdles..

~Sym~