i just want to say thankyou u guys ur advice really helped and i got really good reveiws lol :D

congrats! just remember that it is normal to have nerves, it is just energy, just have to learn how to channel it in the right way

Grats on the good reviews!

There is another tip I learned from a vocalist friend of mine who has the dry mouth issue. He carries little squeeze bottles of lemon juice with him and squirts it in his mouth about 15 minutes before he sings. The sourness of the juice makes him salivate more and his dry throat is certainly gone.

Ooh! When i get nervous. i IMMEDIATLY start thinking about the beach. I'm laying down on the warm sand on the beach..perfect day..soaking up the sun...sand molding around my body..PERFECT weather...etc.

This always helps me relax. We did this in Drama class..and that's how i learned to relax. Half the class fell asleep in 10 minutes! HAHA! If you guys are under a lot of stress this will help you to fall asleep..and all that
I'm really glad i learned this..you guys should really try it too!^_^ i love it

<Added>

HAHA! i realized my pic. is a beach..FUNNy how i picked that:D

Dottedeighthnote, I'd like to point out that the reason lemons are sour is that they're acidic. Squirting a lemon in his mouth could very well cause extra salivation, but is not a great idea for a wind player, as they will then be blowing that acid into their instrument throughout the course of the performance, which will cause damage to the instrument (and in the case of flutes, the pads too), which is not something a vocalist needs to worry about. I wouldn't suggest this to flutists.

ahhh..thanks for pointing that out. I was about to try that since I have a BIG bottle of lemon juice in my house. ^0^ sourness!
BUT i will take the lemon advice when i do a choir performence. YUP, that should be helpful

I also have problem with nerves. Right before my preformance I start to think about the notes in my piece. I'm just thinking oh is there C or is H and so on... What to do? Because that's realy bodering me...

That is certainly true Flutist06, however it is nothing a rinse with water wouldn't correct before the actual performance. It is however why I expressed specifically that he is a vocalist.

This might be an interesting topic for our technical minded friends out there. What are the odds that the slight acidity from lemon juice would hurt a flute if it is properly cleaned out after performing?

If no one happens to catch it here we can start a new thread for it.

I agree that the rinse with water would likely help by diluting the acid, but it would not completely eliminate the acid, and over time, I would expect it to do some damage anyway. I know a couple of trumpet players whose saliva is acidic enough that they burn through their lead pipes slowly, without the use of lemon juice or anything else to lower the pH in the mouth. I imagine that there must be flutists with a similar situation (highly acidic saliva), and adding additional acids would only exacerbate the problem. The pads are an even more delicate situation than the tube, and even if it took years (or generations) of playing after squirting a lemon to go through the tube, the pads would deteriorate much more quickly. Those are just my thoughts, though. I personally would not use the ol' lemon trick, but I am interested by what some of the others might have to say on the subject.

I also experience dry mouth and tons of nerves whenever I play in gatherings. It's too much anticipation for me and drinking water does not help much either. So now I rinse my mouth with water before playing. I think it gives me enough moisture without salivating. I also avoid sugar as it tends to increase adrenalin.

<Added>

I also agree with you flutist06. Acids tend to have an adverse effect on the molecular composition of most metals, even on those with a high percentage of gold imbedded during production. Second, once acids touch the surface of the flute, it can't be easily eliminated without any neutralizing agent.

However, for acidity to actually have this level of effect on metals, it has to reach a certain PH level that is below that of lemon juice's and a different binding effect that is more complex than the fruit acids alone.

OOh! SG is learning!...

I remember when I had my first flute solo in fifth grade my music teacher really pushed me to play it as something from the heart. She also made me play it in front of as many people as possible when she got the chance. In the end I did well. Since there are so many people in our school district, there are so many people in band, which has it's ups and definately it's downs. When I was in eighth grade I had a piccolo solo. Nothing special, but wow I was nervous. I had to stop playing before it because I couldn't breathe. I came through with it though. Since then I've been letting high school band get to me, and I haven't been playing from my heart. This has been becoming a problem lately, but I try to focus as much as possible. My last solo I had I flubbed it up with the tempo, but I tried not to let it get to me. At my recital, just a week ago, I played a piccolo solo called Hangroise. I 2 weeks to learn this and two other very hard songs for the NFA High School Flute Choir Auditions(which I was DQed for because I didn't have an accompaniment). I chose this piece because there was something about it that connected to me. I felt like I was going to do horribly, but once I started into it I really let myself sing. I tend to get too distracted when I have solos in front of larger crowds, and I'm going to work on fixing that.

right, i just had a recent recital...and sometimes during the piece i could see the audience and my nerves! ehhh..but soon i realized it's a friendly audience and they just want to hear some flute playing. I played from my heart..forgetting there were even there..it was nice. I used to think about the audience a lot. "Ooh! how do i look..ehh the sounded bad..ahhh! that could of been better..aM I DONE??" yeah, these are some of the thoughts that go through my head..
NOW, i don't even think of about the audience!...it helps to know that the audience doesn't know a lot of things about music heehee,..i messed up a little. but WOW, the audience was clueLESS!!