DANNY ELLIS

The Gig is not about showing off your skills but rather a shared celebration of the magic of music and community. It's not necessary for you to be perfect but it is important that you are at ease with where you are in your journey:  People will love and accept you if you're not ashamed of your—temporary—lack of skill or composure.

Anxiety is OK: As the title of this section suggests, performing should—must—be an enjoyable experience. You WILL feel nervous and that's natural, it happens to the best of us—no matter how experienced. Imagine yourself skiing or hang-gliding; those activities will evoke anxiety and nervous excitement, but you've willing volunteered to experience them. Sam Harris put this very well:

“The difference between excitement or anxiety is more or less just the framing. It’s just a story you’re telling yourself. If you felt these tangles just before you went on a roller coaster, that’s the very reason why you go on a roller coaster. If you felt them just before you go on stage, it’s intolerable. If you’re not constantly thinking about reasons to be anxious the physiology dissipates very, very quickly. This realization has incredible utility. Then you can realize that the half-life of negative emotions is incredibly short. The same goes for anger or fear.”

POSTURE is very important f you're to be comfortable in your skin; As we practice in lessons, I'll show you how to anchor yourself in surrender to gravity. If you want to have an easy, comfortable, experience, you must find an easy comportment, so it's vital to surrender to your seat or your stance if standing. I'll also show you how to release tension—and RESET—by releasing the breath at the end of a phrase.

NONRESISTANCE to how you feel is so key. You might think to yourself, “I'll feel more relaxed when I can play and sing better!” That''s HUGE mistake; you gotta be OK with your skills right now. Be cool! Accept what's going on in your viscera, your belly and chest.  I'll show you some techniques which will help here. You're NEVER going to deal with nerves by imagining they'll go when you're "better." 

Comparing yourself to others is a bit silly, a complete waste of time and very disempowering.  Here's why; you can't possibly know the circumstances which conspired to make another's skills more or less excellent than yours; They might have started younger or had more opportunities than you. Take into account DNA and inherited skills and you can see that comparing is never apples to apples and not a very useful habit. Be and love who and where you're at—YOU and your life is the only game in town!