How I beat stage fright | Joe Kowan

Translator: Miroslav Čeliga Reviewer: Linda Magáthová

Joe Kowan: I have stage fright.

Mám strach z vystupovania.

Vždy som mal trému,

I've always had stage fright,

and not just a little bit,

a nie iba trochu,

it's a big bit.

ale veľmi.

And it didn't even matter until I was 27.

Do 27. roku mi to ani nevadilo.

That's when I started writing songs, and even then

Vtedy som začal písať piesne a dokonca aj potom

I only played them for myself.

som hral iba pre seba.

Just knowing my roommates were in the same house made me uncomfortable.

Iba vedieť, že moji spolubývajúci boli so mnou v jednom dome, bolo nepríjemné.

Ale po pár rokoch mi nestačilo iba skladať piesne.

But after a couple of years, just writing songs wasn't enough.

I had all these stories and ideas, and I wanted to share them with people,

Mal som príbehy a nápady a chcel som sa o ne deliť s ľuďmi,

but physiologically, I couldn't do it.

ale z fyziologického hľadiska som to nemohol urobiť.

I had this irrational fear.

Mal som ten iracionálny strach.

Ale čím viac som písal a cvičil,

But the more I wrote, and the more I practiced,

tým viac som chcel vystupovať.

the more I wanted to perform.

So on the week of my 30th birthday,

Takže, v týždeň, keď som mal 38. narodeniny,

I decided I was going to go to this local open mic,

som sa rozhodol, že pôjdem do miestneho speváckeho klubu

and put this fear behind me.

a zanechám ten strach.

Well, when I got there, it was packed.

Ale keď som tam prišiel, bolo to preplnené.

Bolo tam asi 20 ľudí.

There were like 20 people there.

(smiech)

(Laughter)

And they all looked angry.

A všetci vyzerali nahnevane.

But I took a deep breath, and I signed up to play,

Ale ja som sa zhlboka nadýchol a prihlásil som sa, že niečo zahrám,

a cítil som sa dosť dobre.

and I felt pretty good.

Pretty good, until about 10 minutes before my turn,

Dosť dobre až do asi 10 minút pred tým, ako na mňa prišiel rad,

when my whole body rebelled, and this wave of anxiety just washed over me.

keď sa celé moje vzbúrilo a zaplavila ma vlna úzkosti.

Keď zažijete strach, naštartuje sa vám súcitný nervový systém.

Now, when you experience fear, your sympathetic nervous system kicks in.

So you have a rush of adrenaline, your heart rate increases,

Takže máte adrenalín, zvyšuje sa srdcová frekvencia,

your breathing gets faster.

vaše dýchanie sa zrýchľuje.

Ďalej, vaše menej podstatné systémy, ako je trávenie, sa zastavujú. (smiech)

Next your non-essential systems start to shut down, like digestion. (Laughter)

Takže vám vyschne v ústach a krv je odvádzaná z končatín

So your mouth gets dry, and blood is routed away from your extremities,

so your fingers don't work anymore.

a vaše prsty prestanú fungovať.

Zreničky sa rozšíria, svaly sa stiahnu, vnímate, že niečo nie je v poriadku,

Your pupils dilate, your muscles contract, your Spidey sense tingles,

basically your whole body is trigger-happy. (Laughter)

celé telo je v podstate super nabudené. (smiech)

That condition is not conducive to performing folk music.

Taký stav nie je priaznivý pre hranie folkovej hudby.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

I mean, your nervous system is an idiot.

Myslím, že váš nervový systém je idiot.

Really? Two hundred thousand years of human evolution, and it still can't tell the difference

Vážne? Dvesto tisíc rokov ľudskej evolúcie a stále nedokáže poznať rozdiel

between a saber tooth tiger and 20 folksingers

medzi šabľozubým tigrom a 20 folkovými spevákmi

on a Tuesday night open mic?

v utorok večer v speváckom klube?

(Laughter)

(smiech)

Nikdy som nebol viac vyľakaný – až doteraz.

I have never been more terrified -- until now.

(smiech a jasot)

(Laughter and cheers)

So then it was my turn,

A tak prišiel rad na mňa,

and somehow, I get myself onto the stage, I start my song,

nejako som sa dostal na javisko a začal so svojou piesňou.

I open my mouth to sing the first line,

Otvorím ústa, aby som zaspieval prvý riadok,

and this completely horrible vibrato --

a vyšlo zo mňa úplne hrozné vibrato –

you know, when your voice wavers -- comes streaming out.

poznáte to, keď sa vám zatrasie hlas.

And this is not the good kind of vibrato, like an opera singer has,

A to nie je ten dobrý druh vibrata, aký má operný spevák,

this is my whole body just convulsing with fear.

toto je celé moje telo v kŕčovom strachu.

I mean, it's a nightmare.

Chcem povedať, je to nočná mora.

I'm embarrassed, the audience is clearly uncomfortable,

Som v rozpakoch, publikum sa zreteľne necíti príjemne,

they're focused on my discomfort.

zamerali sa na moju nepohodu.

It was so bad.

Bolo to také hrozné.

But that was my first real experience as a solo singer-songwriter.

Ale taká bola moja prvá skúsenosť sólového speváka a skladateľa.

And something good did happen -- I had the tiniest little glimpse

Ale stalo sa niečo dobré – bol tam maličký náznak

of that audience connection that I was hoping for.

spojenia s publikom, v ktorý som dúfal.

And I wanted more. But I knew I had to get past this nervousness.

A chcel som viac. Ale vedel som, že sa musím dostať cez tú nervozitu.

That night I promised myself: I would go back every week

V tú noc som si sľúbil: vrátim sa sem každý týždeň,

až kým nebudem vôbec nervózny.

until I wasn't nervous anymore.

A to som aj urobil. Prichádzal som každý týždeň.

And I did. I went back every single week,

and sure enough, week after week,

A samozrejme, týždeň čo týždeň,

it didn't get any better. The same thing happened every week. (Laughter)

nebolo to ani o trochu lepšie. Každý týždeň to bolo rovnaké. (smiech)

I couldn't shake it.

Nemohol som sa toho zbaviť.

And that's when I had an epiphany.

A vtedy som mal zjavenie.

And I remember it really well, because I don't have a lot of epiphanies. (Laughter)

A pamätám si to veľmi dobre, pretože nemám veľa zjavení. (smiech)

All I had to do was write a song that exploits my nervousness.

Musel som napísať pieseň, v ktorej využijem svoju nervozitu.

To znie vierohodne, keď mám trému,

That only seems authentic when I have stage fright,

and the more nervous I was,

a čím viac som bol nervózny,

the better the song would be. Easy.

tým lepšia bola pieseň. Jednoduché.

Tak som začal skladať pieseň o tom, ako mať trému.

So I started writing a song about having stage fright.

First, fessing up to the problem,

Po prvé, priznať sa k problému,

k fyzickým prejavom, tak ako ich cítim a ako ich poslucháč môže vnímať.

the physical manifestations, how I would feel,

how the listener might feel.

And then accounting for things like my shaky voice,

A potom zodpovednosť za veci ako môj neistý hlas,

and I knew I would be singing about a half-octave higher than normal,

vedel som, že budem spievať asi o pol oktávy vyššie než obvykle,

because I was nervous.

pretože som bol nervózny.

By having a song that explained what was happening to me,

Tým, že pieseň vysvetlila, čo sa so mnou deje,

keď sa to dialo, dalo to publiku dovolenie o tom premýšľať.

while it was happening,

that gave the audience permission to think about it.

They didn't have to feel bad for me because I was nervous,

Oni sa nemuseli cítiť zle, kvôli tomu, že ja som bol nervózny,

they could experience that with me,

mohli to zažiť so mnou

and we were all one big happy, nervous, uncomfortable family. (Laughter)

a všetci sme boli jedna veľká šťastná nervózna rodina. (smiech)

Premýšľaním o mojom publiku, prijatím a využitím môjho problému

By thinking about my audience, by embracing and exploiting my problem,

I was able to take something that was blocking my progress,

som bol schopný uchopiť niečo, čo blokovalo môj pokrok,

and turn it into something that was essential for my success.

a premeniť to na niečo, čo bolo podstatné pre môj úspech.

And having the stage fright song let me get past that biggest issue

Mať pieseň o tréme ma prenieslo cez ten najväčší problém

right in the beginning of a performance.

práve na začiatku vystúpenia.

And then I could move on, and play the rest of my songs

A potom som sa mohol pohnúť ďalej a zahrať ostatné piesne

with just a little bit more ease.

s o trošku väčšou ľahkosťou.

And eventually, over time, I didn't have to play the stage fright song at all.

Postupom času som už vôbec nemusel hrať pieseň o strachu z vystupovania.

Except for when I was really nervous, like now. (Laughter)

Okrem výnimky, keď som bol skutočne nervózny, tak ako teraz. (smiech)

Would it be okay if I played the stage fright song for you?

Bude to OK pre vás, keď zahrám jednu pieseň o tréme?

(Applause)

(potlesk a jasot)

Can I have a sip of water?

Podáte mi trochu vody?

(Music)

(hudba)

Ďakujem.

Thank you.

♫ I'm not joking, you know, ♫

♫ Nerobím si srandu, veď viete, ♫

♫ this stage fright is real. ♫

♫ táto tréma je skutočná. ♫

♫ And if I'm up here trembling and singing, ♫

♫ Keď som tu hore, trasiem sa a spievam, ♫

♫ well, you'll know how I feel. ♫

♫ no, však viete, ako sa cítim. ♫

♫ And the mistake I'd be making, ♫

♫ A chybu, ktorú by som mohol urobiť, ♫

♫ the tremolo caused by my whole body shaking. ♫

♫ tremolo spôsobené trasom celého tela. ♫

♫ As you sit there feeling embarrassed for me, ♫

♫ Ako tam sedíte, cítite sa kvôli mne v rozpakoch. ♫

♫ well, you don't have to be. ♫

♫ No, nie je nutné sa tak cítiť. ♫

♫ Well, maybe just a little bit. ♫

♫ Dobre, možno iba trochu. ♫

(Laughter)

(smiech)

♫ And maybe I'll try to imagine you all without clothes. ♫

♫ A možno sa budem snažiť predstaviť si vás bez oblečenia. ♫

(smiech)

♫ But singing in front of all naked strangers scares me more than anyone knows. ♫

♫ Ale spievať pred nahými cudzincami ma desí viac, ako si viete predstaviť. ♫

♫ Not to discuss this at length, ♫

♫ Netreba o tom príliš diskutovať, ♫

♫ but my body image was never my strength. ♫

♫ ale môj telesný vzhľad nikdy nebol mojou silou. ♫

♫ So frankly, I wish that you all would get dressed, ♫

♫ Tak úprimne, želal by som si, aby ste všetci boli oblečení. ♫

♫ I mean, you're not even really naked. ♫

♫ Myslím, nie ste skutočne nahí. ♫

(smiech)

♫ And I'm the one with the problem. ♫

♫ Ale ja som ten, kto má problém. ♫

(smiech)

♫ And you tell me, don't worry so much, you'll be great. ♫

♫ A poviete mi, neboj sa, bude to skvelé. ♫

♫ But I'm the one living with me ♫

♫ Ale ja som ten, kto so sebou žije, ♫

♫ and I know how I get. ♫

♫ a ja viem, ako sa cítim. ♫

♫ Your advice is gentle but late. ♫

♫ Vaša rada je jemná, ale neskoro, ♫

♫ možno trochu povýšenecká. ♫

♫ If not just a bit patronizing. ♫

♫ And that sarcastic tone doesn't help me when I sing. ♫

♫ Sarkastický tón mi nepomôže, keď spievam. ♫

♫ But we shouldn't talk about these things right now, ♫

♫ Ale o tých veciach by sme mali hneď teraz hovoriť. ♫

♫ really, I'm up on stage, and you're in the crowd. Hi. ♫

♫ Skutočne, ja som na pódiu a vy v publiku. Ahoj. ♫

♫ Nerobil by som si srandu z iracionálneho strachu, ♫

♫ And I'm not making fun of unnurtured, irrational fear, ♫

♫ and if I wasn't ready to face this, ♫

♫ ak by som nebol pripravený tomu čeliť ♫

♫ I sure as hell wouldn't be here. ♫

♫ a určite by som tu nebol. ♫

♫ But if I belt one note out clearly, ♫

♫ Ale keď dám čisto jeden tón, ♫

♫ you'll know I'm recovering slowly but surely. ♫

♫ budete vedieť, že sa zotavujem pomaly, ale isto. ♫

♫ And maybe next week, I'll set my guitar ringin' ♫

♫ Možno na budúci týždeň si nastavím svoje gitarové zvonenie ♫

♫ my voice clear as water, and everyone singin'. ♫

♫ môj hlas čistý ako kryštál a každý bude spievať. ♫

♫ But probably I'll just get up and start groovin', ♫

♫ Ale pravdepodobne iba vstanem a dostanem sa do švungu, ♫

♫ my vocal cords movin', ♫

♫ moje hlasivky sa budú pohybovať ♫

♫ at speeds slightly faster than sound. ♫

♫ mierne rýchlejšie než zvuk. ♫

(potlesk a jasot)

(Applause)