Stage fright? I can't sing in front of people!!!

[SymphonyinPeril]

TEXToh man ... here it is...I've been singing for awhile now...alone...by my self..but the problem is that when I'm singing by myself I do great, but when I try to sing in front of people... I SUCK!
I don't know what to do, I want to sing and let people hear my voice but I can't...... please help me.
~symphony~

[TacyTraverso]

Ohh... that's a toughy. It just kinda happened for me one time. I had a gig in front of 2500 people (my first gig), and I thought I was gonna puke or pee. But, once I got out in that light, I felt like I was at home, and my nervousness greatly reduced from then on.

The thing for me too was to just not give a crap what people thought. When I stopped caring if I sounded bad or not, I was more at ease.

[SymphonyinPeril]

Cool I'll keep that in mind...hope that will work....maybe that is what my problem is...who knows..I'll work on it...
thanks

[Maggis]

I've suffered terribly from stagefright since I ws 11 (a mad teacher and her ultra fucking important school play -they are so not fit to be around children) and I've done so many gigs I can't even count them even in sound checks it's a problem

The difficulty is the physical effects it takes on you- for me I play so when my hands shake its hard to play properly and forgetting what you are supposed to play -but noone else knows my affliction so I guess we all find our own way of dealing with it mines a gin and tonic works every time it'd be nice to find another way though.

[konzertmeister]

I've gone so far as to mostly ignore everyone once I'm up on that stage - it's just me and the sounds. The moment I look "at" people and become aware of them, it throws my groove and I become self-conscious. For me, it's easier to play in front of strangers than people I know. I don't know why... expectations? Might I care what they think? I dunno.
One thing I have noticed, I can let myself get all worked up before a show. If you can, take 5 minutes (set a timer if you have to) to sit in your car or the ready room and just meditate. Envision your performance going EXACTLY as you want. Hear (feel) yourself hitting those notes, and the warm rush from the crowd... it works... just like being nervous works in exactly the opposite way. When you come out of your "alone time" hold that peace/piece and keep it with you on stage. See it almost as a double of yourself, up there with you. That way, you are not alone up there.
Another thing that might help - is to smile. Sounds sappy, but it's true. It releases chemicals in the brain. Try it! Having a crappy day? Try smiling for 60 seconds and see if you don't feel better. it can help to relax you instead of feeling nervous and having the audience pick up on it. Some of my WORST moments ever on stage were overcome by the smile. It is for yourself and nobody else, but if they pick up on it, the positive energy is magnified. Once there was this really obnoxious guy in the audience, and all he did was scream really rude things to me through the entire first song, and it was really throwing me off, so at the end, I smiled really big to him and motioned with my finger for him to come on stage. I said, hey bro, you get on up here now, it's your turn. And I said to the audience, this brutha's gonna show us all how it's done. The audience laughed so hard... and by the third song, he was nowhere to be found. (Yes, the life of a rockstar... crazed fans being hauled out by security... ahhh.)
Also, I've noticed that the MORE you perform in front of people, the less traumatic it becomes. I used to get so nervous my hands would shake, and even worse, sweat - now I merely get butterflies. But nervousness can make me more alert, too; and give me energy when I've gone for days without decent sleep and have to do a show. Personally, I rather like Maggis' idea of gin and tonic, but it can be inconvenient.
Good luck.

[Discordia]

I find a soundcheck takes care of the pre-gig butterflies for me. But sometimes you can't have a soundcheck so the things I always did to relax were meditation, yoga, deep breathing, warming up my voice, making sure I didn't eat too much beforehand, and to not think too hard about it.

Oh and along the same lines as deep breathing is square breathing, which slows down your breathing and heart rate and takes your mind off any fears you may have. This is prescribed for people who have panic attacks and anxiety problems. What you do is breath in for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 4, exhale for 4, hold yuor breath for 4 and repeat until you feel relaxed. It never fails for me!

[Maggis]

Hey I totally cured my stage fright without the aid of any mind altering substance!!! I atcually cured it on drums which is my least comfortable instrument too! Here's how i did it:

Assume the gig is gonna be total crap anyway but you don't care then you'll actually play much better and not be freakin out at all. So simple.