5 Pointers On Nervous Situations Within Your Control - Part 2

May 29, 2025•4 min read

"No one else can do your practice and preparation for you - it’s up to you. So, if you are nervous because you always leave it till the last minute, that’s what needs to change! And remember, that is something you can change."

Why do we feel stressed and anxious playing for our church?

Well, as we've been seeing over these past few weeks, there are several different reasons for this. It can range from internal issues (pride, being self-focused, etc) to other external factors such as not practising enough, unrealistic expectations, playing wrong notes, etc...

Last week, we looked at the first trigger for stressful situations within our control, which was a fear of playing wrong notes / making mistakes.

So now, we're focusing on the next three triggers, and number two is...

Expectations that others have of us in our role

This might be our leadership, or it might even be people in the congregation. The reason this is within our control is that, as we discussed in a couple of earlier posts, if our communication is good and we are diligent about discussing expectations before taking on our role, we shouldn’t have to worry about this.

Now, things can change over time, and it may be that there are unfair or unnecessary expectations put upon you. If that’s the case, then it’s time to prayerfully set up a conversation to deal with this. Otherwise, you will just get fearful and nervous every time you play, and this isn't good for you or anyone.

Maybe the music you get given is just far too difficult for you; if so, then discuss this, and try to work towards a solution. Or perhaps you are only let in the church a few minutes before everyone arrives, and need some more time to practice; again, have a conversation, and resist the urge to procrastinate on this.

The next point then is...

Having to play a difficult song

This can certainly make a piano player nervous! Really though, the best thing you can do about this is practice as much as possible. However, there is also another practical solution, and that’s to see if you can find, perhaps online, a simplified version of the song you’ve been given; there’s quite a lot out there now.

If possible, you can also ask for extra time to work on a difficult song, as this will help too. Start with the basic skeleton of the song, the simple chords, and then gradually add to it as you get more confident.

You can also do things like making sure the page changes work in your favor. Rather than turning the page in a tricky part, you can re-print your own chart or copy and paste on a computer to make it more user friendly for how you play the song.

If you are leading the vocals too, then listening to the song recording as much as possible the week before will be a huge help in getting you familiar with it.

Lastly, practicing the song faster than you normally play it is a great way to get familiar with the chords and the timing, especially if you do this with a metronome.

Now, the next point is...

Lack of preparation / practice on our part

One of the reasons we may be consistently nervous is simply because we are consistently unprepared, and just haven’t made the time in the week before to familiarize ourselves with the songs.

No one else can do your practice and preparation for you - it’s up to you. So, if you are nervous because you always leave it till the last minute, that’s what needs to change! And remember, that is something you can change.

So, schedule your practice, keep to that commitment, and the earlier in the week you can do this the better, as that allows for the unexpected interruptions to your schedule that may happen later in the week.

You will still want to be practicing closer to Sunday, so it’s fresh in your mind, but any practice done prior to this will be a great help.

You may find it helpful to refer to this earlier post on tips for creating effective practice routines.

And next week, we'll be looking at the last trigger in this series of nervous situations within our control.

[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]

This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.

Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.