Real Musicians Don’t Get Nervous… Right? 🙄

You’ve heard it before, haven’t you? The idea that true professionals — real musicians — don’t get nervous. That the ones who are really made for the stage walk on without a second thought, owning the space as if they were born to do it.

So, what does that make you?

If your hands shake, if your stomach churns before a performance, if your mind races with doubts — does that mean you’re not a ‘real’ musician? That you’re not cut out for this?

That’s absolute nonsense.

Because the best of the best — the very people whose faces are plastered on billboards, whose voices fill arenas, whose names will be remembered long after they’re gone — get nervous too.

Adele. Katy Perry. Rihanna. Taylor Swift. Rod Stewart. Luciano Pavarotti. Andrea Bocelli. Renée Fleming. Eddie Van Halen.

Every single one of them has spoken openly about feeling nervous before a performance. Some of them even struggle with full-blown stage fright.

Let that sink in for a moment.

If the greats, the icons, the legends experience nerves...

Then maybe, just maybe... nerves aren’t the enemy after all.

No One Teaches Us What to Do with Nerves

Think back to your music lessons. Hours spent perfecting scales, nailing technique, refining tone.

But when did anyone sit you down and say “Here’s what to do when your heart races before a performance. Here’s how to handle that voice in your head that tells you you’re not good enough. Here’s how to stop second-guessing every note the second you step on stage.”

...

They didn’t, did they?

Because while music education teaches us how to play and sing, it rarely teaches us how to perform under pressure.

Instead, we’re left to figure it out alone.

And when nerves hit — when we start doubting ourselves, feeling shaky, overthinking every moment — we assume the problem is us.

We tell ourselves, maybe I’m just not meant to be a performer.

But that’s not the truth.

The truth is, most musicians have never been given the tools to handle nerves.

So instead of working with them, we fight against them. We over-practice, we obsess over ‘getting it right,’ we try to push the nerves away.

And that? That only makes it worse.

But Nerves Aren’t the Real Problem

Most musicians assume the goal is to get rid of nerves. To become so confident that they simply disappear.

But here’s something most people won’t tell you: Nerves don’t go away. Not completely.

Even the greats feel them.

What changes is how you use them.

Nerves, at their core, are just energy. Your body preparing you to do something important. It’s the same rush of adrenaline that helps athletes run faster, actors perform better, and musicians tap into something bigger than themselves on stage.

The issue isn’t that you feel them. It’s that no one has shown you how to work with them so you can perform on stage just as well as you can in the practice room.

Why ‘Just Perform More’ Is Terrible Advice

You’ve probably heard this one before. Someone — maybe a well-meaning teacher, a fellow musician, or even a friend — says “You just need more experience. Keep performing, and eventually, the nerves will go away”...

But if you’ve ever walked off stage feeling frustrated because the same nerves tripped you up again, you know it’s not that simple.

Because here’s the thing: Experience alone doesn’t fix performance anxiety.

There are musicians who’ve been performing for decades who still feel nervous before every single show.

If performing more was the answer, wouldn’t they have grown out of it by now?

The problem isn’t a lack of experience. It’s a lack of strategy.

Without the right approach, you’re just reinforcing the same cycle of stress, frustration, and self-doubt.

And that’s exhausting.

Ready to Perform with More Confidence?

If this resonates with you, and you’re looking for a better way to handle performance nerves, I’d love to help.

My masterclass, CONQUER: Performance Anxiety, is designed to give musicians practical, evidence-based tools to perform freely — even when nerves show up.

No exhausting mental tricks, no ‘just think positive’ nonsense — just real, actionable strategies that actually work.

If you’d like to know more, you can check it out by clicking here.