You've done the work in a quiet, controlled space. Live venues aren't cooperative. Nerves of Steel gives you two ways to prepare: Practice Mode adds controlled, randomized distractions so you can recover fast, while Performance Mode creates a virtual concert space where you can run your program in a realistic, audience-like environment before the real stage.
Embrace the Chaos!
You've put in the time in the practice room and built a strong foundation. What's harder to rehearse is the venue itself. Sounds, movement, and small interruptions don't exist when you're practicing alone.
Practicing with controlled distractions helps those moments feel more familiar, so your attention stays with the music and not on unexpected texts in row G.
Preparation gives you confidence, but real venues bring variables you can't plan for. A sound, a movement, or a shift in the ambience can momentarily pull attention away from your flow.
Practicing recovery under mild distraction helps you stay grounded and continue speaking with clarity when those moments arise.
Teaching performers doesn't end at material preparation as you likely already know. Guidance on how to steady ones nerves before a program or audition is a big part of the work.
Spending time training students to handle unexpected distractions can make a difference in their ability to weather the storm of a live performance. Auditions can be even more anxiety inducing. Judges taking notes, whispering, dropping a pencil: all moments that can break concentration instantly. The resilience to recover can be trained.
Auditions and performances happen in unpredictable environments. Most of your practicing has been in controlled and optimal settings.
As part of your regular routine of preparation you can add resilience training against the kinds of disruptions that you can and cannot predict.
You’d like to imagine that you can work through those moments and not miss a beat. Nerves of Steel lets those situations become familiar before you even get on stage.
Practice builds confidence but unexpected moments can still shake it. This app is for you.
Many people already use techniques like the Alexander Technique, breathwork, visualization, or mental reframing. These are valuable tools.
Nerves of Steel adds two practical layers: Practice Mode trains quick recovery with controlled interruptions, and Performance Mode builds familiarity with the feel and pacing of a real venue inside a virtual concert space.
Preview of the iOS experience.
Use Performance Mode when you want to rehearse the full experience: step into a virtual venue, set the length, and run your program with ambience and audience-like cues to build comfort with the feel of the room.
Use Practice Mode when you want to drill recovery: short sessions with controlled distractions help you notice the interruption and return to your material quickly before the real performance.
Rated 9+. Calm, non-alarming language. Suitable for structured student practice and educator support.
Download the iOS app to get started.
When I was 17 and auditioning as a piano major, I had only performed in recital once and had never faced a formal jury. Each school was a different environment, and I was unprepared for how much those settings would affect my focus.
At one audition, I began the opening of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata when someone behind me dropped a pen in a quiet passage. That brief sound hijacked my attention, and I don’t remember the rest of the audition. Other auditions were in cavernous rooms with unfamiliar acoustics or lighting, or on a large stage with the jury barely visible in the distance. I had practiced the repertoire exhaustively, but I had never practiced performing under disruption.
That realization stayed with me. On October 13, a friend showed me a cartoon by Janek Koza of Chopin Competition participants listening anxiously to audience coughing. It captured, with uncomfortable accuracy, what every performer recognizes: small interruptions can feel overwhelming under pressure. I started building a demo for the app that same day.
I have spoken with many teachers over the years and heard the same concern. The practice room can be controlled; the stage is not. It takes time to build the kind of focus that holds when the room doesn’t cooperate.
If any of this feels familiar, Nerves of Steel is here when you’re ready to rehearse the real thing.
