Brave enough to face music

Tracy Plaice back after a trip to Australia

Pianist masters her fear of performing

By KATHARINE BARNEY

BEFORE Tracy Plaice broke her hand in a car crash, the talented pianist would never have considered performing in front of anyone.

But the crash made Tracy determined that if she ever had another chance to play, she would never hide her talent again.

Now, not only does she play for audiences, but she uses her experience of conquering her fear to speak to crowds about doing the same.

She has just returned from the other side of the world, wowing audiences in Australia.

Together with her on-stage partner, Mo Shapiro, the pair of entertainers were invited to perform at the National Speakers' Association of Australia's annual convention.

Their set, which they performed in front of several hundred professional speakers from all over the world, is a variety of talk and song, including a take-off of Victoria Woods' song Freda and Harry more commonly known as Let's do it.

But as a child living in Long Eaton, Tracy, 37, thought the stage would be the last place she would end up.

Always a talented pianist, she refused to perform in public because she was too shy.

“With a bit of luck he'll see it as an opportunity to give up DIY and take up the piano.”

But while Tracy was living in Perth, she broke her right hand in a car crash and feared she would never be able to play again.

But when her hand recovered, she was determined to conquer her fear of public performance.

Last year, she performed seven concerts and also delivered presentations to organisations about challenging themselves.

Tracy said: “I never thought I'd be doing what I'm doing now. As a child I used to have to make sure I could play up to distinction level so I could scrape a pass when I was playing in front of an examiner.

“My parents used to complain that they spent so much money on lessons and I could never play for them.

“The first time I went on stage to play I was shaking and kept turning hot and cold.”

A workshop designed to show people how to conquer their fears will be held in June.