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 The Joyful Musician Blog

Your hands are shaking. Your heart hammers so hard you're convinced the first row can hear it. You've practiced for months, but standing in the wings, your mind goes blank. Performance anxiety affects up to 60% of professional musicians, and often gets worse as stakes increase. This post covers what it actually is, why musicians are particularly vulnerable, what doesn't work, and evidence-based solutions that address root causes rather than just suppressing symptoms.

You've been visualizing your performances all wrong. Lying in bed imagining the perfect show — nailing every note, crowd applauding. It's the advice everyone gives. But then you step on stage and panic. Your hands shake. The fantasy crumbles. Here's what no one tells you: the problem isn't that you're visualizing success. It's that you're visualizing the wrong thing entirely. What if there was a different approach that actually reduces anxiety instead of fueling it?

Feeling lost after music school? Your worth isn’t tied to grades or applause. You’re more than your music — it’s time to believe it.

For as long as I can remember, people have been saying that perfecting your technique is the secret to acing auditions. It’s like this...

The goal of every musician  is to perform with confidence and share their music with the world . But with performance anxiety (stage fright) , it can be hard to feel comfortable and focused on stage  so you can truly connect with your audience and deliver your best performance . Oftentimes, it just comes down to misguided  strategies. Maybe you were told to "fake it till you make it ", and now feel like you're fooling everyone . Maybe you've tried "thinking positively" , and

Repeating positive affirmations is one of the most common pieces of advice on social media. But this approach can do more harm than good.