Before the afternoon performance, everyone was doing breathing exercises, tension release and a confidence pose, because Nic, thankfully, showed us how to do them. We started with breathing. For the breathing exercise, it was basically mindfulness meditation, we breathed in for 4, held our breath for 4, exhaled for 4 and held our breath again for 4. We repeated this a few times, which is really helpful to slow you down so you move with purpose and don’t raise your adrenaline too high. After breathing, we did tension release. Basically, we rolled the tension out of our eyebrows and forehead, which is typically where we store most tension. We also pushed our shoulder up, held them for 30 seconds and then dropped them, so we could release tension in our shoulders. Lastly, we did a superman pose, which is scientifically proven to enhance confidence. We stood like that for 2 minutes and the we walked to the backstage. Personally, these helped a lot!
We then, sat and watched the performance, before it was our turn to go on. I played for Taunt, for one song, so I went up to play for my song. I was most nervous for this one, because it was my first performance of the day. However, Tom was really hyped up so it made me feel a lot more at ease. I tried to relax and just enjoy the song, which I think I did a lot better than I had been doing. I had all my parts on time and I was swaying and smiling. I tried to have point of reference’s by looking all over the room. After, I wasn’t really sure which piano setting I was supposed to put it on so I accidentally put it on the wrong one, but Isaac fixed that.
After, I had a few acts to just sit and watch the show again. Then, when Sunday Chaos went on, I was more prepared, because I had a feel for the audience when I went on for Taunt, so I wasn’t as nervous. I ended up playing the finger pattern style for a little longer than I was supposed to, but it’s ok because the audience didn’t notice, as I just kept going and swapped when I remembered. I was swaying and trying to interact with the band as much as possible, as well as smiling and looking around the audience. When me and Niall swapped over, we did it really quickly and promptly. However, we did start the song before Niall was ready, which we did improved in the night show.
For the night show, I was a lot more nervous, which I think was because I saw people I knew and I didn’t want to disappoint them. Also, on the night, I was working the front house, meaning I had to greet people and check their tickets. However, there was a lot of times where the others needed to help people so I sometimes also had to guide people and hand out programmes, so it was quite chaotic. Then, I also didn’t really do my power pose or tension release. When we closed the doors, I made my way backstage, where a few of us did a little meditation circle, which was helpful. A lot of the time I was talking to people and just enjoying the performers music, which helped take my mind of it. Also, I was tapping out my piano part on the floor to make sure I remembered it and when I thought I forgot it, Abi said that she always thinks that she’s forgotten everything until she gets up there, which eased my nerves a bit.
When I played for Taunt, I was really nervous because the crowd was so loud and I saw my friends. However, I carried on and just enjoyed the music and used my friends as points of reference’s for the audience. I played all my parts right, and I was smiling and looking around a lot. I had band interaction so I think it was a really good performance. However, I didn’t wait for Tom to thank me so I had to do a little wave from the side.
After I had a feel for the audience, I wasn’t as nervous. Before we went on, we all did a group huddle, so we all knew we was in it together and did the hand thing. When Sunday Chaos went on, I played all my parts right! I smiled a lot more in the audience and looked up more, as well as swaying. I had more band interactions, because I felt more comfortable playing in this band as I’d rehearsed loads with them. When me and Niall swapped, Abi said that she didn’t even notice, so we did that great! I feel like I could’ve moved around more with the bass, as I had quite simple parts. However, the end was incredible! Everyone stood up and was singing back with us and I couldn’t stop smiling, I got chills. After the show, we all just hugged and congratulated each other and it just felt like everyone was on a really big high, the feeling’s indescribable.
After the performance, I would love to have a career in performance, there’s no feeling like it when the audience sing with you and to get paid to have that feeling would be amazing. I think I definitely need to loosen up on stage though, like move more and maybe even sing a little to myself. If I was to do it again, I’d definitely move around more and join in on “Seven Nation Army”.