Music Advice I often get asked for advice about music and performing. I get asked a lot of great questions and I dont always have the best answer. Im not the most qualified person to give advice and Im still very much learning myself. But I wanted to begin sharing some of my personal thoughts in hopes that it will help anyone who might be looking for advice or encouragement when it comes to music and performing. First I wanted to write about performing in general. Ive been performing in front of people for the last 7 years or so. Youd think that I was always comfortable in front of people, or that I always wanted to be in the spotlight. But the truth is that when I was younger the exact opposite was true. I had horrible stage freight. I couldnt even talk in front of people without shaking and stumbling over my words. I used to think that I would just always be uncomfortable in front of people. When I first started playing music I didnt want to play for anyone. I had zero confidence and honestly thought I just wasnt any good. It wasnt until a trip to Europe when I was 16 that I began to have a little self confidence. It was a missions trip that took me away from friends and family for 6 weeks. I brought my guitar and often helped lead worship. For some reason it was easier to sing in front of strangers than it was to sing for people I knew. The other young people on that trip were really encouraging to me. They told me to pursue this music thing. Over the next few years I began performing for people back home. I did small shows here and there around town. I had gained enough confidence to get in front of people, but I would still get incredibly nervous on stage and my throat would dry up. It made singing difficult and left me feeling defeated after many shows because I knew that my nerves had gotten the best of me. Then came American Idol. It was a blur of an audition process and I somehow found myself on the show. I was dealing with so many nerves the first few weeks of the show that Im honestly still surprised I made it at all. But then I got to the first live show. I went out on stage and tried my best to fight through nerves and perform. I got through but Ill never forget the feeling of my stomach dropping at the judges comments. They hated it. I knew it hadnt been my best performance and they just reaffirmed that. Youd think this would have been a huge shot to my already fragile self confidence but it actually had a soft of opposite effect. That week taught me an incredibly huge lesson that Ive carried with me to this day. I learned that when Im on stage performing, Im performing for the people who want me to be there. I shouldnt worry about the people who dont like me. Because the truth is that they probably wouldnt like me regardless of what I do. So why try and please them? The people who like me want me to do well and arent hoping that I fail. Theyre experiencing the music with me and just want to be a part of it. That was such a huge realization for me and I try and share it with other performers looking for advice. The world will always be full of people wanting you to fail, regardless of what it is that you are doing. But the world will also always have people who are rooting FOR you. Who want to see you succeed and want to help you along the way. Perform for those people and let everyone else worry about themselves. Let me know what you think of this post and if youd like me to continue sharing my thoughts of performing and music. God Bless! Tim
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 20:04:34 +0000
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