A question for all the guy’s who have been performing live!
My teacher is performing quite often as he is a professional Shamisen player http://www.hibikishamisen.com/Home.html
Quite often there are performances where he has his students play a couple of songs too, like the Japan Matsuri (In front of about 300 people eek!). Trouble is I have only played in front of more than 2 people a few times now, but the whole experience is quite nerve wracking, especially as I’ve only just learned a new song and then I find I’m performing it in front of loads of people and inevitably because of the pressure I blow a chunk of the song! ha ha.
I’m not a natural performer, and only intended to play for my own pleasure but can see the kick that you can get out of performing and I’d like to be able to enjoy it more.
How do you personally approach your performance and what ways do you cope with the pressure of so many people watching you play a very technical instrument?
I think practice, preparation and confidence all play a huge part in performing live on any instrument. The more fun you are having subconsciously from practice, the more fun you’ll have and can tune out the conscious side that is saying, “Dude, they’re watching you”. You begin to get into your own groove and can just let go and when they cheer you on, you start to improvise and play even better and faster without reservation. When you start to think about everything too much, you lose that mojo you once had in your own private space. Tune everyone else out and just do your thing, but practice until it’s second nature. That’s my recommendation. - Chris Bergstrom
Hey Pete,
I played a lil’ festival in Manchester and I know exactly how you feel and although it’s not necessarily the best advice for a musician I will tell you what everyone tells me. There are very few people in the UK that can say the word Shamisen, let alone what it’s supposed to sound like. Just play outside before you go on so it’s like you are in the middle of a playing session. People don’t know exactly how the song is supposed to go so as long as you can pull it off with conviction and give the impression that you have confidence, then they are non the wiser if you go wrong, just have a reference point (or lick I guess) to go back to if you mess up. By the time you have done all this a few times you will be alot less nervous and will be able to play infront of people who do know how it’s meant to be. You can play well! The worst that will happen is a few dead notes, the beauty of Tsugaru Shamisen is its ability to go off on one :P. Hope that helps!
P.s - It’s awesome that you managed to get lessons from Ichikawa, my Japanese teacher gave me a flyer of his and it was the only time in my life I was gutted I didn’t live in London :p.
L
Liam’s words ring true 
I haven’t played the Shamisen in public yet, but I can imagine that if you do a mistake you can always mute the strings, yell out a confident “Hai!” and start over from that reference point. They will probably be none the wiser.
Very good points, everyone!
I will throw in something that nobody seems to have addressed… A tincture of whiskey! In all seriousness, just a little bit dampens fear of people/mistakes, and thus helps you play smoother.
It’s called “liquid talent” for a reason. 
Hey Guys. Thanks for the words of advice. We just rocked Hyper Japan at Earls court, ha ha. I felt really relaxed and didn’t give a monkeys about the audience who must have been a couple of hundred.
I made a few mistakes and had to pick up the song further on (4 of us playing) but didn’t get too uptight and the last two songs went really smooth.
Completely weird, like I stepped through some kind of confidence threshold.
We are playing again tomorrow so I hope I still got the feeling
I think the comments raised here really helped, although I didn’t resort to the “liquid talent” option this time. Will definately give it a try in the future though
Cheers everyone.
P.
Sounds like you and the audience had a great time, nice!
Without having heard and seen you it sounds like you came into that mystical trance that shamisen playing is all about and I can imagine the audience shared a piece of that meaning your mistakes were not noted.
Sounds awesome 
can’t wait 'til i can go perform :DD
Here’s a vid I just got of Saturdays performance taken by someone in the crowd. Think who ever took it drank too much coffee or was on da Sake that morning! Hope to find a better video as they were filming it on the monitors overhead.
Need to work on my straight ahead stare on stage, too much finger watching, ha ha!
That gives me an idea for a new thread
Your two mates looked a bit nervous while your teacher played but when you all started playing it all went great!
The video didn’t show the applause so I guess we missed the part where everyone threw their wallets at the stage?
ha ha. yeah, the camera guy cut out the massive crescendo at the end! Doh!
No wallets on the stage, but I did get a free Bento box lunch
Yay, free food!! Getting nomnoms feels just as rewarding as money, for me. 
When Grant and I played at a mall in Sapporo, some people did the same, which sure hit the spot after playing.
That was very fun to see, Pete! Thanks for sharing.
Nice one Pete! Very well played! Wish we had more things on that scale in Manchester.
I was paid in food once aswell :p, I think that makes us Bousama guys :).
Yeah I think for me performing is like an illusion you are trying to create. It is always said that the more you can be in your own world and shut the audience out the better you will perform but for me it is kind of different. I try to think of the audience and what they want to experience .
I fully understand how nervous one can feel especially when just starting out with performing but for the most part the audience doesnt care how nervous you are and sometimes doesnt even notice when you make a mistake… Even an obvious one. Really they just want you to tell them a story, pat them on the head and feed them some cookies while singing (or playing) them into a fantasy that you have carefully prepared for them. A good secret tool that all great performing musicians use is the ability to camoflauge any mistakes by never letting it show on your face. Keep smiling and grooving with the beat and nearly everyone will forget it within a fraction of second. But if you scrunch your face up, drop your head or giggle with obvious embarrasment then your error will stand out.
But again, nobody really cares! What audiences really remember is that magical moment of transcendance that moves everyone into a different brain circuit (higher or lower depending on the music and intention of the musicians).
So For anyone starting out as a performer my advice is try to remember these points and try to make a habbit from the very start of offering your unique sound with the spirit of sharing. In other words, Don`t be so focused on yourself (your worries, your doubts etc.) Have fun with it and surely you will find that the nervous feelings will fade very quickly.