Some words about getting nervous and “squeaking” in front of an audience?
(By Elisabeth LaForet) Well, you’re certainly not alone here. I don’t know how often I’ve thought “I never did that at home, why did I have to do that in the concert?!” Performing in front of any kind of crowd, even just a few people, makes us play much differently than when we’re at home. Nerves are inevitable, but you want to make your excitement work for you instead of against you. It sounds to me that when you get nervous, you make those squeaking noises either from the fact that because you’re excited and nervous, you’re using more air than you usually do when you’re at home, or, you may be tonguing harder than usual. (Or maybe a little of both.) Also, sometimes, those squeaking noises may be happening at home as well, but since they’re often not counted as actual “mistakes”, like a wrong note is, these may be overlooked until the performance. Depending on how big your sound is when you’re playing comfortably at home, you can decide whether you need to work on being able to make a
