For musicians, some anxiety just before and during performances is an all-too-familiar problem. Some musicians feel twinges of excitement, while others can suffer almost-crippling sensations.

Getting nerves during a performance seems to be especially common for classical musicians, and while nerves can be distracting in any context, they can be especially destructive during auditions.

Rob Knopper, founder of AuditionHacker, and Noa Kageyama, founder of BulletproofMusician, have done a lot of work to help classical musicians improve their performances in stressful situations like auditions and performances.

In this quick video (under 9 minutes), Rob and Noa walk you through three quick ways to try and reduce nerves during a performance. You can watch the video below:

If you’ve had struggles with nerves, give these tips a try! This is an especially great time experiment if you’re auditioning for All-District/All-State in Kentucky in about a month or so. Get a few friends or family members together and play your audition piece(s) for them and practice your audition routine. It’s just as important to have an audition routine as it is to have a warmup routine!