Dealing with Nerves - Quick Tip #2

    I’m trying to send you short, practical tips about dealing with nerves, and here’s another one.  Whatever song or songs you will be performing, make CERTAIN you know them inside out, backwards and forwards.  You may think this is pretty rhetorical but I’m not talking about simply memorizing the lyrics; I mean you need to rehearse the songs so many times that you know them completely.  Everyone occasionally forgets a lyric or gets a little confused but if you know the song really well, it’s easy to improvise should a problem occur.  When you put on a pair of old slippers, you don’t worry if they’re going to fit.  You’ve worn them SO many times, they accommodate every fold and wrinkle in your foot.  They are COMFORTABLE!  There is NO difference with a song wish to perform.  Singing the songs over and over reinforces lyrics, reinforces melody, and allows you to develop your own special familiarity with the arrangement of the song.  Pouring YOU into a song, not just regurgitating some version you’ve heard from another artist, requires lots of time and effort.  You can never prepare too much for a job well done!

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