Photo: Jeff McQ.
Musicians, when you’re playing live onstage, your stage presence is key to your success. In my experience, bands and performing artists are generally doing one of two things when they are onstage: they are either commanding the stage, or they are demanding attention. And there seems to be a fine line between the two.
What’s the difference?
Let’s start at the beginning: if you think open stages and open mic nights are beneath you, you need to read the previous post.
Yes, open mics can definitely be a mixed bag–a few people who think they can sing/play, occasionally some people who simply like to hear themselves play/sing (whether the audience concurs or not)–and a few occasional moments of absolute genius. And a built-in chance for you to play for a new group of people and get some new fans. (Translation: you get to try for one of those “absolute genius moment” things.)
There’s a bit of a standing joke with musicians who play instruments, in that sometimes we refer to singers as “singers” and to instrumentalists as “musicians.” (As though singers are not musicians.) I think it’s funny because it’s untrue. It makes a subtle suggestion that the vocals aren’t that important, especially in a band setting.
Ha. Ha.
Continuing our “Polishing Your Performance” series…this topic ties in with the articles about stage presence, but interacting with your audience deserves some discussion on its own.
As musicians, we all want our music to be heard and appreciated. That’s one of the big reasons why we play live. But one simple mindset in the live setting can make all the difference between a great show and a mediocre one:
When you perform live, it isn’t just about you. It’s about your audience, too.
This post is primarily geared (pun intended) to the gear-heads in the reading audience. That is, those musical techies who have entire rooms and closets full of accessory equipment, and who like to haul all of it to every live performance. You know who you are.
Guitar players are particularly prone to having lots of extra gear–guitar pedals, wires, special amps, and of course the obligatory seven guitars that must be brought along to every gig. (Yes, I’m exaggerating–mostly. But you get the point). And there are plenty of tech-toys for the rest of us, too: keyboard players, string players, even vocalists. (Can anyone say auto-tune?)
In the previous post in this series, we started to talk about what stage presence is, how it makes a difference in a performance, and some things you can do to improve your own stage presence. In this followup post, let’s give some down-to-earth, practical do’s and don’ts about handling and owning the stage when you’re performing live.
Ready?
DON’T…try to hype audience response by constantly coaching them what to do, or demanding a response.
DO… Encourage audience participation once in awhile.
Today we’ll start an ongoing series thread called “Polishing Your Performance.” This topic will discuss ways a musician can improve his/her live performance, as well as make better recordings. We’ll start with one of my pet peeves: rhythm.
In covering the music scene, I get a lot of music submissions from various artists–people who want me to hear and review their recordings in the hope of getting some exposure. (ALERT: I’m about to give away one of my secrets.) I get more of these than I have the time to cover.
