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Over the last few years I have come to notice how just being relaxed at your instrument can have a dramatic effect on musical performance! Despite this being common sense really, it is very easy to let our nerves run away with us when confronted with a situation that is more pressured than what we're used to.
In my experience I have found that if I consciously make a decision to enjoy myself as much as possible from the very beginning this helps enormously with relaxing, simply looking up and smiling can make us feel less tense and contracted whilst also sending a positive signal out to the rest of the band and audience. I have found almost 100% of the time a relaxed performance sounds so much better than a tense, nervous one and usually lets you actually enjoy yourself in the process, which is the whole point isn't it?
