Help with nervousness.....piano??

Question:ok so my mom made me be the pianoist person thingy for the chorus and i started having practice with the chorus this week. i only mess up like 1 or 2 times. but its because i get really nervous and how do i get rid of the nerves?
there are about 100 people in the chorus
some of them arent my friends and it feels like everytime i mess up they will make fun of be(behind my back)
so everytime i trip i get more stressed.
anyways to get rid of it?!?
the concert is tommorow.
and during the morning we have a assebley and i have to play the piano infron of the 7th and 8th grade!!!!!!!! which i think ill mess up
and then the night concert.....im sure im going to mess up!!!!!!!!!!
HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: ok so my mom made me be the pianoist person thingy for the chorus and i started having practice with the chorus this week. i only mess up like 1 or 2 times. but its because i get really nervous and how do i get rid of the nerves?
there are about 100 people in the chorus
some of them arent my friends and it feels like everytime i mess up they will make fun of be(behind my back)
so everytime i trip i get more stressed.
anyways to get rid of it?!?
the concert is tommorow.
and during the morning we have a assebley and i have to play the piano infron of the 7th and 8th grade!!!!!!!! which i think ill mess up
and then the night concert.....im sure im going to mess up!!!!!!!!!!
HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!

When you're playing something like that it's best if when you mistake, just keep on going. I've learned (the hard way) that if you keep concentrating on a certain mistake (or you keep thinking of that mistake that you're GOING to make) you're certain to make more.

I play piano for the orchestra and my part hasn't been too major, and I guess the choir's piano part is a bit more important.

Just try not to get into the mind frame that you're going to make mistakes... the more you think about it, the more you will!! Concentrate on the music. If you do mess up, just keep on going, especially at the assembly and concert night. Pretend nothing happened!! And you can practice too. If you're nervous because you're playing in front of a lot of people, I would suggest performing for your parents several times to get used to the feel of it.

And if anyone makes fun of you... well, they can't play it, can they? :) Good luck on concert night.

Every time one of them pops off about you making a mistake, say ok big mouth why don't you try playing it. Stop telling yourself that your going to mess up. You are under mining yourself and effort. Re enforce yourself, saying I can do this, and will do this, and have fun doing it. .

I'm a pianist, and it was easier for me because I began performing when I was 10, so I haven't really had to battle with the nerves and now I play several times a week in front of 150 people and more.

Occasionally though, when I have a new piece or more difficult piece, I do get nervous, but nervousness is actually just extra energy, your body gets so worked up over difficult notes that it gets an energy burst which causes jitters and shaky/clammy hands which makes it almost IMPOSSIBLE to play.

So, if you have time before you perform, or anytime during the day really, do some jumping jacks or situps, or jumprope, running, anything to use up any extra energy you might have, so when your body decides to be nervous, it won't have any extra resources to bother you with, drink a lot of water, nothing with sugar or caffeine, and for me it's always easier to play when my hands are warmed up, so if you have a chance before performance or practice, play through a couple fast songs, and if you don't have time for that just run hot water over your hands, as hot as you can stand. I hope this helps!! it helped me, most of these tips were tips my piano teacher gave me as I was learning.

Also though, if you do mess up (and all pianists do) keep playing, and if you missed a beat, make up a note to cover it up, or if the accompanying part has a difficult line or measure you're not sure you can handle yet, drop a few notes, since you're with a chorus you don't have to worry about lagging spots, the singing will add all the extras you need.

And relax! don't practice before you leave the house to perform, don't think about it until you're actually faced with it, and then when you do begin to play just think about the music, you've played it before, you've practiced it to death, you basically have it memorized, there's no way anyone can get you down now, you know it's more difficult than other people think it is, so their comments don't matter, if you wanted to get technical, you could audiotape their singing and find it not all that pretty.

And most of all... play to have fun!! it's an art, a BEAUTIFUL art, fun, challenging... and addicting!

ignore the wa***rs that are giving you a hard time.you have to ignore them. i know how you feel i play drums in a band and we play to about 800 people (if you screw up when playing drums it's noticeable).
you have to tell your self that you can do it.the more worried you get the more likely your gonna f**k up. when playing in front of an audience pretend there not there,just think of it as a rehearsal.practice as much as you can.do not stress yourself out.

i really hope you get on ok, good luck, I'm sure you'll do good