By Jim Hagarty
2017
It is a tall order sometimes to calm the nerves in what seems to be a high-pressure situation. Playing guitar and singing as a solo act at an upcoming concert might qualify as one of those times when performance anxiety can mess with a man’s mind. It is at times such as those that I most need to heed my own advice. If I concentrate on what I am doing and not on how I am doing, things seem to go much better. Because in the end, the only thing I can control is what I do on stage. How well the members of an audience think I am doing is completely up to them. If a stray rotten egg or tomato grazes my cheek, I might be concerned, but that has rarely happened. The insurance I can buy myself, and I guess this goes without saying, is to be well prepared. Being a touch on the lazy side, I tend to not practise enough which heightens the anxiety. But a minute or two into the performance, I know how the thing is going to go. And, thankfully, it usually goes pretty well.
