You’ve been dreaming of this day your entire life. The day you take the stage and share your music with the world. Now, if only your hands would stop shaking. Since the dawn of music, musicians from every walk of life have experienced both thrill and terror on the day of their first concert and lived through the ordeal. And you can too! It’s all a matter of learning how to prepare for your first live gig.
Choose Your Outfit
We know. You’re an artist; you don’t want to become so obsessed with your looks that you forget about your sound. But there’s something to be said about the way our clothes impact the way we feel about ourselves.
In psychology, this concept is called enclothed cognition. It’s the idea if you dress for the job you’re doing, you’ll feel more prepared to take on the challenge. If you want to feel awesome, wear something that makes you feel awesome. Of course, you’ll want to be able to move, too, so choose clothes that blend style and comfort for the perfect concert look.
Arrive Early
Getting to the venue early serves several purposes for you as a performer. On a practical level, it allows you to:
- Familiarize yourself with the venue.
- Check in with the manager and sound person.
- Set up your equipment.
- Double-check that instruments are tuned.
- Warm up.
- Perform a soundcheck.
Getting ready physically has emotional benefits, too. Knowing you have everything in place will eliminate any worries or scrambling that would come up from arriving late. You can even take some time to wind down and chat with fans before you start.
Decide What You Want on Stage With You
When you’re performing, half the time, you’ll run on pure adrenaline. During those moments, information may fly out of your head, like the words to your song or the time. Those moments aren’t the end of the world, but you can make them easier to recover from by keeping the lyrics or the chords on stage and a timer or clock with you.
Additionally, if you’re a guitarist or bassist, you know that broken strings happen. Rather than bring fresh strings onto the stage, get an extra guitar that you can swap out on the fly during a performance.
Work Through Your Emotions
The most important way to prepare for your first live gig doesn’t involve the equipment or the stage. It’s about preparing yourself. You don’t have to pretend you don’t have stage fright, but don’t let those feelings control your thoughts. Remind yourself of everything you love about performing and remember how people have encouraged you. Don’t sweat anything that goes wrong. It’s your first concert, after all.
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