datamusicata

It is Monday, November 12, and I am still not fully recovered from the flu and the incredible jet lag fostered by the Venice to JFK to LAX flight followed by the LAX to Chicago flight I took ten hours later. The shows with Corky Siegel (www.chamberblues.com) and Howard Levy (www.levyland.com) at the Old Town School of Folk Music went incredibly well. I have five dates out here in the Midwest and I brought 100 CD’s, thinking that that would be enough for show sales. I completely sold out of the new CD, The Eternal Contradiction, after the first show Saturday night and I had a second show to do. Talking to Corky about the incredible response to my work, he said that he knew no one who used dynamics on the way that I did. So today, let’s talk about dynamics.

Dynamics is, of course, how loud and soft you get in a song. For those of you unfamiliar with my work, I am a solo performer; one voice, one guitar, an ME-50 effects floor unit and a Roland Loop station. To me, dynamics seemed the only way that I could do an interesting show; a performance that actually keeps the audience engaged for the entire time I am up there.

Dynamics are not just how loudly you play the guitar, or how loudly you sing. It is in the delivery of your introductions to songs, your greeting to the audience and any subsequent monologues you may deliver. But one thing at a time.

Regarding playing the guitar, I have already talked about how you needn’t use all the strings of your guitar everytime you play a chord. So using just a few strings as in tenths, which is just two notes, is very effective. I think I went over this, but just in case, tenths happen when two notes are ten steps apart, hence the name. You all know a C chord: C E G the simple triad. If you play the C note and at the same time play an E an octave above the original E of the chord, you get a tenth. These sound complete even tho they are only two notes and give you some dynamic variety there.

So volume is the most obvious of the dynamics, but there is also rhythmic and emotional dynamics and these are immensely effective. Strumming only on the four beats of a 4/4 measure gives you a steady pulse, right? Well if you double up on that you suddenly create some rhythmic tension and then when you go back to four strums per measure, you have suddenly opened it up space wise. Try it out with one of your favorite songs.

Start with say, half note values to the chords for the first half of the verse, then double it up with quarter note values to the chords, when you get to the chorus double it up again and use eighth notes. You will immediately feel and see what I am talking about; simple, but very effective when you are playing by yourself. By the way, it goes without saying that you have such good time that the rhythm is still grooving. If your time is not impeccable then buy a drum machine and practice til it is. One is certainly free to play without rhythm for effect, but all music requires a pulse at some point. It makes it more accessible if we know when the next beat is going to land.

Emotional dynamics are a little bit more difficult to describe, but essentially it is delivering the meaning of the words in the song. Whispering a word, or throwing a word away can be just as effective as hitting a bel canto whole note. Experiment with different tones in your voice for the same word, the same note and see what is most effective in any given song. I frequently change the place in my throat that I sing from to achieve a different tonality, which gives the word a different flavor. You can shout the word “no”, or whisper it, elongate it, shorten it or just say it. Each of these options gives the word a different meaning. If you have the means, record yourself singing your songs in different ways and see what it does to the meaning and the performance.

And when you talk to an audience, pay attention to the sound of your voice.   If it is all in the same pitch and rhythm it becomes hynotic and boring.   Vary the pitch and the tempo of your intros and of course, be as succinct as you can be.   I use hand gestures, whispers, shouts, conversational tone, and all the standard theatre noises that we apply to a word when we want it to mean something specific.   Raising your voice at the end of a question is a simple example.

 Applying all these techniques to your performance will become second nature at some point and once it is ingrained, you simple become a more engaging performer and the more engaging you are, the more likely you are to get more work.    And none of this will work if you don't also practice and practice and practice until your playing is second nature.   You would not believe the ease with which Corky Siegel and Howard Levy engaged the audience with their musicality and expertise, and they still used these other techniques as well.    It's a life long pursuit of a goal that is constantly moving.   Welcome to showbiz.