Tuesday Tips: ShareFright
Welcome to our first Tuesday Tips post! Tuesday Tips is part of a new program that we are super excited to be launching today: Smule Inspire. Through shared performances, tips, guest blog posts by veteran users, we hope that Smule Inspire will do just as its name implies: inspire all users in the community – to connect, collaborate, and create music together … ultimately to have the best experience possible on Smule.
Today’s Tuesday Tip: Getting Over “Sharefright”
A user asks: I want to share my recordings, but I’m kind of nervous about it because I don’t think I’m very good. Did you go through that? What helped you get over “sharefright”?
Sharefright— let’s talk about it.
Everyday we see many many new users join Smule, and it’s very common for these newcomers to create a recording and decide against uploading it, because it’s scary. Many questions surface : Who will see this? Will they like it? Is this good enough? Well, we found that this isn’t a phenomenon experienced solely by newcomers, but by everyone to some degree. We talked to our Smule Inspire team of volunteers, some of the most active members in the community, to see how they overcame this or continue to deal with it.
Expression is meant to be shared.
Music is a form of self-expression— it’s meant to be shared.
“I experience that feeling All the time, I think it’s what helps me to bring more emotion into the song,and get more creative when I sing, especially on video. Singing is an art, and as any other form of art, it was given to us to SHARE with others who we are.” – Laura_TV
“Not everyone will like what I put out, but if I can make that one connection with that one person who needed it the most, then my one performance will be worth all the effort and hard work I put into it.” – Ailina_
Feedback can be motivating
Supportive feedback can be hugely fulfilling and motivating. And, we see over and over again that the Smule community is one of the most supportive communities out there – a community of mutual fans. However, even in the most supportive of communities, if they are public, not all comments will be positive and supportive. When you run into a negative comment, find whatever motivation you can from it – or just ignore it!
“I think that if singing is truly your passion, you have to share this. By sharing you can also get a lot of good feedback which will help you grow and give you more confidence” – SonnySinay
“Sharing things has helped me realize that someone not liking something I’ve done, doesn’t mean it’s “bad”. My advice would be to try to pull ANYTHING constructive you can from those kinds of comments, but also continue being yourself, and doing what you’re comfortable with.” – xYego
Remember that we are our biggest critic.
It’s not a secret that we are our own biggest critic. We notice every little detail, both good and bad but mostly bad, in a performance.
“I have a lot of respect and appreciation for someone who shares what they love to do. Don’t focus on what you think others MIGHT say because, really, we are our own harshest critic. As cliché as it sounds, ‘sharing is caring’ ;)♡” – AlneVillegas
Do it for yourself
You are expressing yourself. Just as you speak your opinion or wear you clothes, you make music primarily to express yourself. When you are wholly comfortable with that concept, your passion carries through your performance and it’s clear to anyone watching or listening. Ironically, this is when real connections become possible.
“Whether I get tons of positive feedback, negative feedback, or none at all… I am still proud of what I created because it is something that is uniquely mine.” – Annah_TV
“With me i felt like if i shared anything it had to be “perfect” because i wanted people to enjoy something that i’m proud of. Now when i share i know i enjoy it MYSELF and i’m not as concerned what others think.” – WordChris
“There is nothing more empowering than creating something you are truly proud of and sharing it with others. At the end of the day the best way to get over Sharefright is… (like Nike says) just do it!” – Jdubdav
