For me, the key to getting over nerves and stage fright is to concentrate on something else. The more you tell yourself to "relax" or "get over it" the less likely you'll be to think about anything but yourself ...so make the audience more important than yourself, concentrate on making them listen to your song or your introduction, try to get a smile out of someone in the middle of the room and treat them all as the friends they are. One good reason for making eye contact is that it reminds you where you really are - you're not in some kind of heavily judgmental, challenging ordeal, you're singing to people you'll be sitting amongst after your songs, and you'll be listening to some of them sing, too. And lighten up ...no one ever died of making mistakes with songs and your mistakes will be forgotten as soon as they've happened (except by you, possibly). Give the audience the gift of the songs you've chosen to play, think of them more than your own nerves and you'll have cracked it.

Anne