I love finding inspiration when I least expect it!
The other day I was walking along a public footpath that runs along the edge of a nearby field. It was a warm and sunny day with blue skies filled with fluffy white clouds.
I was taking some photos of the beautiful landscape when I noticed a herd of Hereford cows at the other end of the field.
I felt my pulse quicken as rather unexpectedly the whole herd started walking towards me. I’ve walked past them plenty of times and they usually don’t give me the time of day. But not today!
I wasn’t sure whether to stay and hope they lost interest, or move away as quickly as possible.
The fight or flight reflex had been triggered.
And I realised just how familiar that feeling is in a way I wasn’t expecting.
While I stood there with my audience of cows staring back at me, I realised how similar that experience was to looking out from the stage at the expectant audience before a performance.
As musicians, when we perform, our nerves can be powerful enough to make us want to run away and hide. Even after years and years of dedicated learning and practice, it can still be difficult to quieten the nerves to a manageable level.
With experience I believe we can learn to find a balance between choosing fight or flight, but for many of us it is an ongoing battle.
In that moment in the field with the cows coming towards me my mindset changed from one of fear to one of curiosity. I changed my camera to video mode.
I was no longer sure who was the performer and who was the audience.
In the end we were all just curious about each other.
Sometimes it seems easier to block out the audience, but perhaps it’s helpful to think that they’re just curious too.
Next time I perform, rather than picture the audience without clothes, I’ll picture them as a beautiful herd of curious Hereford cows!
I believe that anything that takes some of the pressure off feeling nervous is useful. A rather unexpected moment of inspiration that will hopefully prove to be another useful tool in my ever growing toolbox for calming my nerves!
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