1.  Rehearse apart from your regular practice.  Perform for family, friends, other students, at school, at church.  When alone, pretend there is an audience.  Play for a recorder.  Rehearse in your performance clothes.  Always do a practice bow.

2.  Confidence in performance is equal to quality of preparation.  See above.

3.  Get a good night’s sleep.  The day of the performance, practice in sections as usual.  Eat carbs about 2 hours before playing to keep you calm and feed your brain.  Arrive early to do a warm up.

4.  Dress the part.  Wear appropriate stage attire.  Jeans, tshirts and sneakers have no place on stage.  Avoid clothing, jewelry and hair arrangements that might interfere with your performance.

5.  Everyone gets performance anxiety.  Just concentrate on playing one section at a time with the same spirit and character as in practice.  Project your music to an imaginary last row so that they can hear all the musical expression.  Listen.