You have your song choices. Your singing has never been better. You’ve chosen the best musicians to back you up. Your image is exactly as you imagined. So why is your audience sleeping? Because you’ve prepared everything except for the times when there are technical difficulties. That’s when you stammer or mumble or laugh uncomfortably. Your art of conversation with your audience is equally important. They don’t want to just hear you, they want to know you. Don’t put your audience to sleep. Practice your banter as well as you prepare everything else.
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Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash Have you ever paid attention to how you hold your body when you sing? If you don’t practice in front of a mirror and take video of yourself to critique your body language I suggest you start now. A student was working on her musical theater audition this week so I called in my actor friend, Kristin, to do some acting coaching on her song. I noticed she pulled her elbows in toward her waist while she was singing. It was the first thing Kristin noticed and she referred to it as “dinosaur arms.” You’ve seen those dinosaurs before. They’re the ones with the tiny arms and large body. Only the forearm and hands flail about. Some singers look like they’re holding things in their arms and can’t move them for fear of dropping something. They remind me of schoolkids holding books. Are you in your own little corner in your own little world when you perform? I’ve seen singers so disengaged with their audience they may as well be on their phones. Opening up your arms when you perform
makes the audience feel like they are being welcomed into your world. |