loosening a nervous voice

Almost a year ago I sang a solo at a music festival, and it was kind of a minor disaster. I was so incredibly nervous that I was visibly shaking, and I could not project my voice at all, no matter how hard I tried. The moment I walked into the room, I could actually feel my throat and lungs shrink in size, and I couldn't breath freely until my solo was over. Consequentially, my solo didn't go well at all. The music festival is coming up again in just a couple of months, and I really don't want this to happen again. Is there something I can do to keep my throat and lungs relax and project my voice, even when I am extremely nervous?
Thanks for any help you can give me,
Sparrow

Can I say Picture everyone in the audience: Naked??

Well, a serious advice: Andrew once said that he turned the "negative" energy into positive energy by thinking like this:

People are diving from airplanes, jumping of bridges and para shooting to get this great big adrenaline kick - and if you think about it, its actually thats why you are so nervous, cause you cant control the adrenalin rushing trough your body. So by thinking that, getting this adrenaline kick, where you feel really alive just by walking onto a stage, how awesome that really is, and getting exited over the rush instead - Just telling yourself that: Yeah, this really is a awesome feeling, now Im gonna kick some a** and feel that im really alive

Might help?!

Sparrow wrote:Almost a year ago I sang a solo at a music festival, and it was kind of a minor disaster. I was so incredibly nervous that I was visibly shaking, and I could not project my voice at all, no matter how hard I tried. The moment I walked into the room, I could actually feel my throat and lungs shrink in size, and I couldn't breath freely until my solo was over. Consequentially, my solo didn't go well at all. The music festival is coming up again in just a couple of months, and I really don't want this to happen again. Is there something I can do to keep my throat and lungs relax and project my voice, even when I am extremely nervous?
Thanks for any help you can give me,
Sparrow

Im not an expert on voice, but I do know some things about nerves and performing, I'll try to give an answer..
The voice a very fragile thing, and your lungs is SO important for your voice, if your lungs collapse due to nervousness your voice goes straight down with it.
Well nerves are something that you have to deal with in your head... You should try performing infront of your friends or family to work with your nerves...
Think like this: It's just a performance, NO BIG DEAL. You have trained for this and you are totally ready for it!


Also another thing I have been taught and have experienced is that it's TONS easier to stay calm if you work out and stay in shape. Mainly because when you are in shape your heart pumps more blood per beat, thus you will not "gain" as much adrenaline when you get nervous, and you will stay much calmer. Trust me this WORKS. So if you don't work out already, start doing some jogging or something ^^ This is scientifically proven

Hey, I know exactly what your talking about, I still get the bad nerves before going on stage, and it used to take it's toll on me for sure. I would loose my breath control, and start breathing shallowly, I coudln't find my resonating chambers, my throat got tight, it was a mess.
There are different things to help, like before you give your accompanist that nod that your ready to go, close your eyes for a moment and focus on your breath, when you feel your breathing properly then give the nod that your ready to go.
Move around on stage, have fun, pretend your singing infront of the mirror, it helps you to loosen up.
Before you go on stage meditate and/ or have a shake down, energetically count really loud while you shake one arm like 10 times, then the next arm, then your leg... so on so forth, it helps to loosen up.
The last thing is sing infront of people as much as you can, you'll notice that your heart rate wont go as high, and that queasy feeling wont be so bad. Use repetition, get yourself used to performing infront of an audience. It works the best.
Break a leg , and remember, you'll do great

I agree with Caitlyn, sing in front of people as much as possible! But also, you have to tell yourself to forget being nervous because you have other things to worry about. So when you're out there, don't just dwell on your nervousness, think of a way to be calm and worry about other things like if your mic is on and functioning fine, and if the band or machine is ready to play, breathe here and there to calm yourself. Don't worry as much because once the music comes on you'd feel entranced and start singing, that is if you're not having a nervous breakdown just kidding!

I've also noticed that when you're on stage singing, and you look down (especially if its your first time) your heart rate starts pumping and you begin to feel like your heart is going to pop out. So I'd advise you NOT to look down onto the table and to NOT look directly at people until you are comfortable and moving around a little. Just continue to look straight ahead at the wall and focus your attention to your singing and vocals, so when you finished you know that you did a good job