Getting over the fear of singing | Singing Classes For Beginners

For many of us the biggest bottleneck often isn’t even our singing ability.

But rather our ability to sing in front of others.

And I’m sure many of you can relate.

Your throat gets dry.

It gets tight.

Your heart starts racing.

I still remember when I first started learning to sing.

I couldn’t sing in front of my family at all! I had to wait until they were all gone or at the very least hide in my closet and quietly “whispered” sang to myself.

So if you’re dealing with this fear of singing, I want to share with you 2 practical ideas to help you overcome this.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

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So how do we overcome this fear of singing

Now the typical advice is just “just do it”. Whilst this is true, I think there are ways to make it easier and better so you don’t come out of it, never wanting to sing again!

IDEA #1: Recognise the EMOTION for what it is

For many of us when we feel the fear or nerves we’ll do one of 2 things.

1) Latch on the emotion and let it consume us

2) We try to ignore it or even suppress it. The fake it til you make it approach.

Now personally for me,

An important skill has been learning to recognise the emotion for what it is.

Rather than blowing it bigger or trying to squash it.

Recognise that it’s a part of the process and it’ll pass.

One specific thing that can be helpful is paying attention to the PHYSICAL sensations linked to this emotion of fear/anxiety.

For example if you feel weakness in the legs or you heart starts to race faster.

Observe it, like you’re watching a tree.

I find doing this seems to allow me to stay more neutral. Not overly emotional, but also not suppressing it.

Now I think just learning to manage your emotions is important but it isn’t enough.

It is important to go out and do it! But with a caveat. And this lead me to idea #2

IDEA #2: We need to give your brain proof that SINGING/PERFORMING is good for you.

This is why I think the “just do it” attitude is good but will miss once in a while.

Think about it. There are plenty of people who tell me that they have this fear of singing because they performed when they were younger.

But maybe they messed up terribly, they were laughed at or maybe the nerves simply got the better of them.

They’ve labelled the experience as terrible in their minds.

They never want to do it again.

But they did at one point “just do it”

So clearly, there’s more to it. Than just do it.

You need find a way to make sure that no matter the outcome of the performance, your brain knows that doing this is good for you.

There needs to be some kind of reward.

How do we this?

Once again I think it comes back to what you focus on. What you focus on, determines your experience.

Rather than focusing on what other people might think, which parts you might of messed up (the pain)

Focus on the fun, the joy and focus on the learning. Stay present.

For example, last Friday I was busking at a new venue.

And to be honest, I was VERY nervous.

It was a bigger crowd. Unfamiliar scene.

And what made it even harder!

I had these little kids come up to me and they would try to chat with me during my performance.

Cute but very distracting!

And so during my first 2 songs, I was slipping up a lot on the piano and lyrics.

Now of course I could have focused on this and felt bad about myself. And I would do this earlier in my singing journey.

But I just focused on how this was such a light-hearted moment and literally laughed as the moment.

And you know?

Even the audience started laughing.

I think this goes to show, what you focus on determines a lot of your experience. And if you focus on the “fun” “reward”, this makes you want to go back.

Now this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be critical. Especially if you’re trying to improve.

But I think there’s a difference between being critical and beating yourself down.

One is about improving yourself.

The other is about trying to reaffirm that story internally, that you were never good enough.

Anyway! That’s all. If you found this episode useful, please share or give it 5 star wherever you’re listening from. This really helps spread the word and means the world to me. If you’d like to study with me, links are down in description. Take care!

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