Atticus Shaffer Quotes

Take a microphone out of my hands, and I'm just plain folks.

People still make me nervous, but gradually over the years I've developed kind of like a public personality, so I can talk. I have my spiel, I have my stories.

My first performance was in second grade with my friend Rodney Fisher, and we worked up versions of 'Long Tall Texan' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.' It gave me a little early confidence that I could actually do this music thing.

I always felt like my future was at stake every time I stepped on stage and that was kind of hair-raising. At some point I just went, don't be frightened, you can't do anything wrong, it's your show.

Now I can walk into a room full of people I don't know and do my job. That's quite a massive thing to learn, I think.

As a little girl, I was always shy, but in front of the camera I wasn't.

I was terribly shy and never said anything in class. Then I started getting into school plays. When you've got words to say, you've got a sort of armour.

I'm still a shy person. I've learned to put that aside on certain occasions. I have to. It's part of my job.

I still have shy qualities but nobody would believe that, just because we're in the forefront and I can talk a lot of mess and I can run my mouth.

I never used to speak to the audience at all. I never really knew what to say onstage.

I had no fear of speaking to large audiences.

I used to fear public speaking. My voice would shake, I used to forget to breathe. Now it's pretty easy for me.

Getting up in front of an audience is my biggest motivation.

On stage the spotlight is on me and I cannot afford to be shy.

At first, I was playing in front of 10 people in a park, then 1,000, then 10,000, then 80,000 and you are on television. I have done it step by step, so it is not a problem. There is no lack of confidence to be on the field, in front of many, many people.

So initially getting up on stage I was really nervous, I was like, 'wow, I'm going to be standing there and all these people are going to be looking at me?' But funnily enough it wasn't too traumatic. It felt quite natural because I felt I looked good and I knew how to do the poses.

I can't play the guitar, so the thoughts of playing one onstage at a festival makes me quiver, but I've been blabbering away in front of people since I was a child, so talking for a living isn't the most daunting thing to do.

Throughout my life, I've been that annoying kid on every stage at school, in every talent contest.

Every time I step onto the stage, it's not only proving to the audience that I'm capable but to myself.

If I could borrow anything from Miley, it would be her stage confidence. For me, that's just going to come with time.

I have gained confidence in front of the camera.

For some reason, talking is easy for me. Practice does make perfect; I've been doing it for a while. Being out there in a high-pressure situation with a live audience and a live TV camera on you, it brings something out. It's very organic.

People say to me, you have not got stage fright. And if I haven't got stage fright, then I'm going to be comfortable within myself, and then something - I've always been that way and so I'm fighting to get away from that fear.

I know I'm no glamour girl, and it's not easy for me to get up in front of a crowd of people. It used to bother me a lot, but now I've got it figured out that God gave me this talent to use, so I just stand there and sing.

I'm mostly just getting used to the idea that people want to hear what I have to say.