Don't look bored because you must stand up to sing. Determine whether you are going to be too tired to do your part before becoming a member of a chorus.
Keep your eyes on the conductor.
STAGE FRIGHT.
I HAVE never met a singer, amateur or professional, who does not or has not at some time suffered from this dreadful malady. There is no positive cure but constantly appearing before an audience, and then some of the singers never overcome this form of nervousness.
The only consolation is in knowing that a person entirely void of this feeling will never make an artist, as they are lacking in temperament. Emotion is the flesh and blood of music and the condition is one in which self-consciousness, nervous energy and emotion play a large part. However, as you gain confidence in yourself and your work, and feel that you are in "rapport" with your audience, this sensation will wear off to a great extent.
Very few children before their teens are troubled with stage fright. In fact, they seem to glory in appearing before an audience. This is the best time to continue the work that will be of inestimable value the balance of their lives. Let them appear before the classes in the studio until they are prepared to appear in public.
When one begins to discuss nervousness, suggestion takes it up and it spreads like wildfire. A young singer who had appeared several times in the same solo and done excellent work was stepping on the stage to sing when one of her friends thoughtlessly remarked: "Aren't you nervous about that high 'C?'" The suggestion immediately lodged in her brain and she could think of nothing but that high "C." Her fear increased and she sang it with an almost heroic physical effort, a tone that had never given her the least trouble before.
It is the confident friend who helps you to win your audience by the encouraging remark, "I know you will be a success," while the one who asks,
"Aren't you afraid you are going to break down?" in reality will assist you in doing so. Always try and have the confident friends around you, especially in the earlier stage of your career.
There is an erroneous idea about not eating before singing. If you are nervous there is nothing so dangerous as trying to sing on an empty stomach. I know of singers who eat nothing on the day they are going to sing, the result being increased nervousness caused from weakness.