Tip of the Month 3

Preparing singers for careers in music

Patricia Feltmann,

Singing instructor

Tip of the month

Text Box: ‘Tis the season to be singing! In this article I will give some helpful hints to make your performances go smoothly. Plan ahead! This would seem obvious, but to some of us (myself included), it does not come naturally. Find out how much time you have to perform and choose your music. Check how long each song is, and add up your music time, then add a couple minutes to talk to the audience and get on and off stage. Plan for the possibility that your timing will be off, you start late, or the CD player is slow to start and you have to lengthen or shorten your set. I recommend that you put a spare song in your set in the second to the last spot. By that time in your show you’ll know if you need to fill more time, or cut. Your last song should be one of your best to leave the crowd with a great feeling, so don’t take any chances in having to cut that song. If you’re doing a set longer than 30 minutes, put in 2 spares. Also, decide in advance other songs to cut if you are short of time. Burn your entire set onto one CD in performance order. Sound guys will love you for this! But, bring your original CDs just in case the CD player won’t play your burned disc. And check the CD at home. If it won’t play at home, it probably won’t play at your performance. Also, give the sound man a printed list of your songs and track numbers, so if you have to skip a song, they will know how to find the song you want. Memorize your set list, or take a set list on stage with you. Write your name on your CD (not just on the case) and bring a case for it. The sound man may have several CDs and he needs to be able to identify yours easily. I recommend that you use burned CDs for karaoke contests. That way words will not show up on the screen. Many people are distracted by having the words and will look at the screen and even if they have the song memorized. While some contests won’t lower your score directly, but it can hurt your stage presence to look at the screen. Have your songs memorized at least a week in advance. Practice without the words all week. This will give you confidence. If you memorize at the last minute, you will have to concentrate on the words and other parts of your performance will suffer. I can vouch for this one!! I have a hard time memorizing words and I never have enough time to practice, so I have to plan way in advance to be ready. Vary the music within your set. Most sets should have more fast songs than slow ones. An exception to this rule is when you are singing background music, but if you want to keep an audience, you need more fast music. Mix the slow ones in between fast or medium songs. Vary style, keys and mood to keep the audience interested. Get yourself ready physically. Drink plenty of water for the entire week prior to the performance. It takes at least a week (some say much longer) to truly hydrate your body. Sipping on water right before or during a performance can soothe the throat, but does nothing for the vocal chords. Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can make your voice raspy, just like singing too much, too loud. Exercise, but not to the point of being stiff and sore. Many people have problems with milk products, caffeine and sugar up to 12 hours before a performance. Plus, don’t drink iced drinks just before singing, your throat can feel constricted from the cold. Practice performing. Imagine yourself at the performance, with audience, judges, grumpy people, bad sound, no one paying attention, anything negative you can think of. Then sing and practice doing your job and blocking out thoughts that won’t help. We practice thinking about what we have chosen to think about, not letting ourselves be distracted by other things. Focused practice = focused performing. Decide before the performance what you are going to think about in each song and each part of the song. Memorize your thoughts along with the song—practice thinking right thoughts. Also, practice your moves. Many people wait to do that until they are in front of an audience cause it feels uncomfortable to do it alone. But you will not be as comfortable with moving on stage if you don’t practice and you may look awkward. If you are experiencing performance anxiety, even though you have practiced your thinking as you should. There are several things you can try. Remember, performance anxiety is fear. Identify what you are afraid of. I remember being anxious before a performance at the Eugene Opera. I was backstage, alone, waiting for my entrance and I became scared. It had been a while since I had “stage fright” so it startled me. The first thing I did was admit I was afraid and identified what I was afraid of (messing up the dance moves in front of 1200 people, singing poorly in front of the director and not getting another role, etc.), then I went through some deep breathing exercises for relaxation and chose to use that adrenaline to walk out on stage with energy. And I chose to focus on one thought while I waited—to remember the first move of the fan dance. I felt confident that if I started right, all would go well, then I would concentrate on pronunciation on my solo. I had a plan and it worked. I was nervous, but performed well, I just had more energy than usual! Run through what you have decided to think about while you are on stage while you wait. Bring something with you that can distract you, that will keep your concentration such as a book, game, knitting, etc, to keep you busy until about 10 minutes before you perform. Give yourself only enough time to do some quick warm-ups and be in place to perform. That way negative thoughts can’t escalate. Do an anxiety exercise, such as the tapping exercise (ask Patricia, that’s a whole article by itself), eye rolling, deep breathing, stretching. Don’t underestimate positive self talk. Remind yourself that you have done your work at home, that you know what you are doing. Saying to yourself, “I can do this” or “I’m going to do well”, even if you don't believe it in your heart, does help. Plus, remind yourself that no matter what happens, the people who really matter to you will still care about you. They say practice makes perfect, I don’t agree. Perfect practice makes perfect. How your prepare makes all the difference in the world!! Just singing through your songs at home will only get you so far. Proper practice will help your performing and help you control performance anxiety!

Performance hints

Date: June 2006