You’re only shy when you do it in front of others. If that is the case then I can tell you a couple of stories about my own shyness and what I got myself into when I was a kid.
The idea of getting over shyness is two-sided. First, you must be willing to practice and get better at singing altogether and the other is a willingness to perform and knowing that you will fail at it when you first begin. Once performing becomes more and more common, shyness will no longer affect you.
There is a lot left to chance when it comes to letting go of shyness and nervousness. I can tell you very proudly that this is indeed a learned skill and something you will not even think about once you understand everything and put it to work!
Mental Shift
The first thing that needs to happen is that your belief about performing ought to change so that you are looking at things the way they are rather than what you might expect them to be instead.
There is actually no need to be afraid and anything that you might’ve cooked up in your head about why you might be nervous boils down to one essential thing.
All eyes are on you.
While true, you have to realize that most of them are people and they have no right to judge you for your nervousness, and even when they are it’s on them and not you.
The burden of performance is on you but you will not get over the shyness unless and until you put yourself through failure. Yes, not being able to perform on the stage is a failure but also something you must overcome, and the only way to find that strength and even expertise to perform in front of people is through failing.
So, the mental shift for this is simple, in order to get rid of the jitters and shyness and nervousness you must be willing to put yourself through failure by standing in front of a crowd and giving your best.
For the rest of the article, we will talk about what is and how you ought to get rid of your shyness before you perform.
Practice Practice Practice
Practice is the only thing that can save anything you have built up.
If you’re shy and are willing to perform, half of your troubles are dealt with. The rest is of course to go and perform and rely on your practice to show the results.
But why practice?
It’s simple really when you practice what you plan to perform then you will eventually do it so much that you can do it without thinking about it or putting too much thought into it.
That’s essentially the end goal of practicing something. I have written another article in which I talk about how just 30 minutes of practice can make a difference.
To make something you’re not familiar with to be made so familiar that you don’t need to practice it anymore. So you can practice something more difficult or a different skill altogether.
So, the only question that you have to ask yourself is this, have you practiced enough? Have you put in the time that is required and asked of you to be put into practice? Is it like muscle memory? If not, then it ought to be.
Look at Your Results
If you plan to perform without any prior practice or preparation then you ought to be in a jazz improvisation band. If you’re not then I suggest that you look at the results of your own practice.
Are you improving? This is the bigger question you can ask but I have a few better ways to look at it.
Is it getting easier? Now that is a better question because it forces you to look at what you’re practicing not just on a difficulty level but also on incremental progress.
Is it getting easier for you to sing a particular part? Are you getting closer and closer? Are the efforts less or your ability to sing a particular note a bit easier? If the answer is yes and positive then it means that you are on the right path and whatever you do you will end up getting better and end up making your practice effective towards making things easier for yourself.
The goal is that on the day of performing everything from your end should be on an easy level. The idea behind that is simple, this is going to allow you to develop confidence within you and yourself so that you are able to go in there with confidence.
How Practice Instills Confidence
Think about walking.
Are you nervous about walking? No, you’re not.
The reason you’re not shy about walking is that you’ve done it so much that you do it without thinking and while it may be a muscle but so are your vocal cords.
Do it enough and you won’t be afraid to do it in front of other people.
That’s it.
Do It For Yourself
You might be in front of people and performing for them at that moment.
But music as a whole, you do it for yourself. So believe in that, you need to believe that this performance, or anything else you’re doing, is for yourself and because you enjoy it and other people will be enjoying your performance.
When you have this kind of mental shift, performing live or anything else will be a thing you actually want to do and enjoy. You only get shy because you believe there is some sort of judgment or something else is going to come from other people that will make you feel bad but the reality is far different.
They’re just people and there is no need to see the audience as someone beneath you but you can have gratefulness and the willingness to perform at the same time and these are not contradictory ideas.
You may not find this as important but I think it needs to be said so that people who are willing to perform and are shy aren’t robbed of the opportunity just because someone didn’t say this to them.
Do it for yourself.
Over and Over Again
All this talk about practice but isn’t performing a skill in itself? Shouldn’t we practice that as well?
Technically yes, but the issue with performing when you are first beginning is this, you don’t get much control over it when you are first beginning.
The stage is the way it is and so is the sound, you can’t and have no control over the minute details when you’re beginning but that shouldn’t stop you from performing because the only way to get rid of your shyness is to turn the act of performing into something normal.
The way it is done is that you do it over and over again until you are someone who can proudly say that you’ve performed and can lay some wisdom down on it.
That’s the only way to do it and don’t get me wrong, I am not expecting that you will perform amazingly when you do it for the first or even the fourth time.
But that’s where the issue is, you will not stop at the fourth or the eighth time. You will do it so many times that you will lose count. Isn’t that the idea?
So, your shyness will last how long? Five performances? On the second performance itself, you’d be better than the first one and by the time you reach the tenth performance, I can assure you, you will have forgotten about your shyness and even nervousness. They would be things of the past and something you thought you could never get over you wouldn’t even be thinking about them.
In reality, the idea is simple but the execution can be nervewracking. But, you will come out better for it, I know.
Understanding
Understanding how singing works in general and looking at your practice routines and what you’re practicing is highly important. I have written about how just 30 minutes of practice a day can help and in addition to that I have written another article on how you can learn to sing, I believe that answer is online courses.
If you’re interested in what courses I’d recommend you can check them out here.
I am saying this to make sure you understand the importance of having a good understanding of singing so that your practice is effective and that in turn makes you feel confident about yourself when it comes to singing.
No feeling is going to make you feel as confident as knowing that you are learning from one of the world’s best teachers and using those same techniques in the songs that you’re learning and they in turn are helping you reproduce amazing results on your own.