I took a lesson once with David Russell, who is one of the
finest classical guitarists in the world. I was quite nervous, and it
showed in my playing. After I played the first movement of the piece for
him (Concierto De Aranjuez), he stopped me, and said "You're nervous,
aren't you?"
I replied "yes," and I expected him to say something to help
me calm down. After all, it was a private lesson with David Russell, so
being nervous seemed natural. Instead he simply said "You will always
be nervous when you perform. Learn to handle it."
His point was that you have to learn to manage your nerves just like
you learn all your scales. It is simply one more skill to master so that
you can perform well.
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