Some people remember when they were a kids and they were choosing teams. Some weren\'t the last picked some were the second to last picked. Yet in spite of their lack of talent and skill as an athlete, they loved to play, and often imagined as a star. This daydream version did not blend well with the reality of playing team sports, where was very ordinary and sometimes even embarrassingly bad. Let\'s just say they weren\'t who helped lead their team to victory. Like most of people. Some were afraid of being laughed at for not being good enough. Fear itself became the problem, and ultimately it pushed them away from organized sports, even though they probably would have gone on to be the greatest professional basketball players of all time. Humans are hardwired to feel fear in stressful situations, it\'s a survival tactic. For many people nothing is more stressful than having to perform in front of others. Human bodies react to these situations as though people was running from a pack of wolves. Pounding heart, dry mouth, shaky knees you\'ve all been there. This is stage fright.

Stage fright is quite normal. After all, getting up and doing something in front of others doesn\'t come naturally, so it is not surprising that you have some kind of physiological, mental, and emotional reaction. Take the harmonica and hold it in your hand, it\'s a beautiful machine, small, yet capable of making magic. Gently play this simple and. I hope, familiar song the melody to Michael. Row the Boat Ashore. Keep the harmonica in your mouth for as long as you can if possible, through the whole song. This makes the music smoother. Try to play single notes think whistle but don\'t worry if you\'re not there yet. Does it sound like the song as you play? Do you feel like you are at summer camp? Is it beginning to be music? I hope so. More importantly, was it fun? It can be fun even if you\'re only just starting to get the hang of a new thing. If there was a dog nearby, did it start barking?

Many dogs like to bark along with harmonicas. They are singing along. Once I had a dog that would happily lean his head back and howl like a wolf when I played. It happens that this dog was a ninety pound collie shepherd mix, so nobody argued with him when he started to howl. Later on he started to play the harmonica and became the front man, or dog, for a Chicago blues band. Sometimes cats get in on the action, too. Almost everybody likes music. But maybe, very possibly you didn\'t have a good experience. Perhaps you thought your playing was mediocre that most dispiriting of words or just plain bad. If that\'s the case, remember this at least the dog\'s having a good time. If your playing doesn\'t sound as good as you\'d like early on, maybe you just need to change your attitude. If you can\'t do something well, then enjoy doing it badly! Overcome stage fright the Regular Way. Practice a lot. Read books. Join Toastmasters. Take beta blockers. Go to a hypnotist or therapist for treatment. Overcome stage fright the Playful Way. Join an amateur choir, chorus, or barbershop quartet. Go to a Karaoke bar. Imagine everyone in the audience wearing stupid looking boxer shorts, them not you. Put on a costume and sing in front of the mirror or to your dog. Imagine your shrink singing in really stupid looking boxer shorts to your dog.


By Alex Berg master of harmonica and blues expert.