stage fright/ performance anxiety -any ideas to help dd ?

[brimfull]

for two things
French A level oral exam

and flute exams .

She has practiced and does really well until the actual exam and crumbles.

We have tried rescue remedy which was useless.

Is there anything besides beta blockers we can try?

bump

last nervous bump

ok really this is last time

Have you tried breathing and relaxation techniques, that she could use a little while before the exams to calm herself down. I use various yoga breathing techniques to help in similar situations. (sorry if you've already tried that sort of thing).

I sympathise - my DD is a musician and always suffered from performance anxiety. Does your DD get a good chance to warm up on her instrument and settle herself beforehand?

My DS is an actor and he recommends breathing exercises and a set of warm up exercises(physical stretches and so on), but he does say the best things are preparation(which she's obviously doing) and doing it a lot(can she practice doing it in front of friends, family etc.?).

Don't know if any of that is of any help to you, its a tricky thing to deal with I know.

The only thing that ever works for me is beta blockers! I still have the adreneline but they get rid of the shakes

Apparantly, bananas are supposed to be good for nerves too- something about the potassium in them. Don't know how true this is but before every competetion every member of the band I'm in eats a banana

thanks for your replies

kurri-no she hasn't tried breathing exercises, I will look that up.

bandgeek-she's getting better at practising in front of people but I will get the bananas, I vaguely remember reading about that.Do you get your betablockers from the GP?

I do get them from the GP, Half-Inderal (sp?) are the ones I get. It's the best thing I've had (I remember trying the bachs rescue remedy before exams at school and it was useless!)

I always find that once I'm on the stage it's fine, it's the lead up to it that's the worst, to the point where I've been sick a couple of times! Not good.

Hope your dd finds something that helps her

thanks bandgeek