Confidence In Singing, How Can I Perform With Confidence Without Singing Badly?

Question

Ive been having trouble with this problem and everyone thinks Im a bad singer when Im not.

Answer 1

Lack of confidence is probably the number one issue for singers, and it can be caused by many factors. First of all, you get nervous, your heart rate increases, and you may just feel like you want to run off the stage! And since singing is a physical activity requiring breath control, and tension on the voice is ultimately a bad thing for performing—we need to find ways to harness that nervous energy and channel it into our singing.

Some ways to combat the nerves:

1) Be prepared! Have your song lyrics memorized! Not only will it free you to express the music more…when you have everything memorized, you PROJECT confidence to the audience. When you can look out at them, you don’t necessarily have to make eye contact. You might look into the eyes of someone you know, and that might make you forget the next line…but that’s not to say you can’t connect with your audience by looking out at them. It’s WAY more effective in projecting confidence and giving your audience a performance to remember—in a good way! And looking down at your music can become a crutch. You may feel somewhat protected when you don’t look at your audience…but it becomes a lackluster performance when a song is not memorized.

2) Don’t get hung up on a mistake. So you forget a line…whoop tee do! I’ve done that! All performers have! It’s not the end of the world. Don’t let an experience like forgetting a lyric ruin your future as a singer. The great performers can MASK their mistakes to where an audience doesn’t even notice! The audience doesn’t have the script or lyrics in front of them, so most of the time they won’t notice—if it’s not obvious. If they know the song, or maybe it was obvious…well, have a laugh together and move on.

3) Work on your singing technique before the performance. Don’t just expect to nail a performance without preparation and rehearsal. The really good singers work on their craft. They do their warm-ups each day. They work on getting better tone, They work on strengthening their high and low notes, increasing their range. They take lessons with a voice teacher/coach each week. And they work on a song to get it just the way they want it, ahead of the performance. These will all boost your confidence in singing.

And lastly, 4) it doesn’t matter what people think of you. Don’t think everyone is judging you, because most people are there to support you as a singer—not bring you down. They want to hear you sing, and they are excited and realize it can be a scary and brave to get up there and sing your heart out in front of a crowd of people! And if they tell you that you are not a good singer, well…if they have never sang in front of people themselves—they have no authority on the subject. Their opinion doesn’t matter. But good constructive critique from a vocal coach or respected singer…now that is something to take to heart. If you have a mindset of always learning and getting better, then your ego won’t ever get in the way of your singing. And people will appreciate your art even more.

Answer 2

One other way to build confidence is to focus on the character and lyrics you are aiming to convey and just have fun pretending to BE the character in the song? Why was the song written in the first place? What do you want people to remember about the music? Then you can get your focus on the music and what you are giving and be less hard on yourself as a growing musician. After being in the field for 25 years I still find new ways to be improving every day and I know I have enriched the musical world by what I did yesterday but I still want to find something interesting to work for tomorrow!