I have hit what feels like a fairly substantial roadblock in my quest to be a better singer and enjoy singing to its fullest. I have no idea how to begin to remove it - hopefully someone else out there has hit this and solved it.

The problem seems to be that I'm too focused on what I sound like and can't sing without being uptight about it. Except in my voice coach's living room of course - there I sound wonderful. But this past weekend when my coach and I went into a studio to do some recording, I sounded completely different - all tight and stiff. My coach couldn't believe it - she said she'd never heard me sing like that before. The only thing that helped was turning my voice way down in the headphones - when I couldn't hear myself, I sang more freely. But I was also off pitch because I couldn't hear myself against the accompaniment, and anyway, turning myself off in the headphones is an accomodation, not a solution.

This isn't the first time I've tried recording (other attempts have produced similar results, this was the first time I brought my voice coach along), and I sing in public every couple of months with my band. SO it's not an issue of it being a new experience.

"Don't worry about how you sound", "Get yourself out of the way", "Just relax" - all very good suggestions, but how exactly do I do that? I am an anxious person in other aspects of my life - I'm a nail biter, a worry-wort, etc. I can live with not wearing nail polish and bouts of unnecessary insomnia. But I love to sing and it breaks my heart to think I'll never be able to sing well in public because I can't stop worrying about singing well.

Breathing exercises and stretching only go so far. I'm thinking I need to try something that will get at the root of the problem - excessive self-conciousness and/or anxiety. If I went on the web I'm sure I'd find a million techniques that would claim they could cure me, everything from homeopathy to accepting "the great Kanounou" as my saviour.

DO any Mudcat bretheren have experience with something that really made a difference in helping them relax BIG TIME? SOrry for the long post - hopefully if you've made it this far you can relate and maybe help.