Practicing
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 09:49AM Got a great post from Ashley Maher, a wonderful world musician (http://www.ashleymaher.com/), who wanted to hear about my process of relating to audiences and performing, so i'm starting at the beginning of the process. This is so tried and true you have probably all heard this before, but as I am wont to say, "everything I've ever learned in life,…I've had to learn again." 
Practice is the only way to get better. And practicing ten minutes a day is better than practicing seventy minutes once a week. You need to set up a routine and maintain it. If someone calls, you don't answer. If they invite you to something when you're supposed to be practicing, you can't go.
Consequently, set up a time for practicing, that allows you to have a life. I've found that if I go into the studio first thing and practice for an hour, my entire day goes better. See if you can get up early enough to practice first thing. Then have your coffee. And make certain that you start easy, with songs that are not a strain on your voice.
Start with the low easy stuff and then by the end of rehearsal you're into the difficult stuff. And do your experiments there at the practice. Once you get on stage you don't want to let them see you struggling. The most successful musicians make it look easy. The more you practice the easier it becomes and the easier it appears to be on stage. You don't want to make an audience uncomfortable by allowing them to see your anxiety, and the easiest way to do that is to be prepared. And that comes from practicing.
Several years ago, I heard Shayne Fontayne (www.myspace.com/shaynefontayne) perform at Kulak's Woodshed in North Hollywood. He was using a looping machine from Line 6. For those of you who don't know, a looping machine is simply a small recording device that allows you to record something live and then play with it as you are performing. It is very effective and wonderful if not over used. (It's an effect, it's not a way of life. That's why they call them effects. You are changing the sonic texture. This adds a little bit of variety to your performance).
But it any event, I decided I wanted one of those things and bought the Roland loop station. I loved it, but discovered that I had to punch in and punch out with my foot, exactly in time or the loop I recorded was uneven. If you don't step on the pedal exactly on one and then step on it again exactly before the next one, it becomes unusable. It lurches and sounds a whole lot like music in a special ed. class. So I started practicing with my drum machine to improve my time. Now things got interesting.
I played with it so much that I could tell where the front of the beat was, or the back of the beat. I tried putting the songs at an uncomfortable tempo. Too fast or too slow and made myself play the song in that tempo until I made it work at that tempo.
What I discovered is that your time is the most important thing you can hone. If your time is impeccable, then what ever you are playing sounds like music. Now I know there are folks who are going to say, what?, so a machine in a factory is making music? No, but I guarantee that you could play or sing something against that that would be very musical…and fun.
What I am trying to stress here is that you make your sense of time as acute as you can. And yes, some folks have more of a gift for this than others, but it is in all of us. Some of us just have to work harder for it. But then it's all the sweeter when it shows up. And once it shows up, it only hangs around if you use it, so you have to keep practicing. Every gift goes away if you don’t use it. The smallest and the most prodigious. Every gift goes away if you don’t use it. Don't forget. Now back to developing a good sense of time and why you should…
Having good time makes it all that much easier to play with other musicians and there is nothing like making music with other players. I always try to play with musicians that I consider better than me, that way I have raised the bar and must do better to reach it. And strangely enough, once you have mastered time, you don’t have to use it all the time, you can stretch things out or rush them for dramatic effect and then fall right back into your impeccable time. It's a wonderful tool and can have a dramatic effect.
Speaking of dramatic effect, you must deliver the words. You want them to reach people, to touch people, to have an impact on people, whether you've written the words or not. I remember what Bonnie Raitt (www.bonnieraitt.com) told me. That in the car, she recites the lyrics to the songs that she is going to be singing-- on her way to the studio. She makes them into a conversation, BEFORE she starts singing them. That way, when she sings them, they communicate what she wants to have happen. Her reading of "I Can't Make You Love Me, If You Don't" is wonderful and impactful. She sounds like she's singing it right to your heart.
So read over your lyrics and say them outloud. How do they sound? Does it sound like you mean what they say? Is it phrased in an easy way? (This is a great way for songwriters to check to see if their lyrics are working). Is it awkward? Clumsy? Make it work as conversation and it will be easy to sing. And you must sing each song til you own it. The more you sing a song, the more it becomes something out of you and your experience, and not something just passing thru you.
If you have a small tape recorder this helps immensely. Record your rehearsal and listen to it in the car or whenever you have some time. You may discover that you did some magic and didn't even notice it. You will also discover that you just aren't as good as you thought you were. Trust me. All of us go thru this all the time. Nobody is as good as they want to be. Part of the musician's curse.
Reader Comments (11)
I loved this line: "Every gift goes away if you don't use it."
It's great to hear how much thought goes into your songs and instruments and performances. I know not every musician does that, and that causes me to think that it *must* make you a better performer. You treat not only your music, but the entire process, like an art. :)
cass, thanks for the kind words and yes, the entire process really is an art that requires and deserves your attention. going on stage unprepared is just too arrogant for me. too disrespectful of the people that are there and the gift of their time that they are giving you. sounds sappy, but it is true.
I don't think it sounds sappy. You care about your audience and the work you put into your music shows. I remember the first time I saw you at The Mucky Duck in 97 and you immediately connected with the audience. When you are onstage you shine. Your vocal range is amazing and you have the voice of an angel. It helps that you made us feel like old friends from the beginning. And yes, even 6 years later you still remembered my name.
Thank you for everything.
James:
Brilliant Blog---refreshingly insightful and instructive. Maybe someday you'll get around to sharing the story of the night in the 70's when your sister, Tom Dundee and you showed up at my show on KLRB to do a live show in your bathrobes. Surprising your hosts with fun always makes for a better entertainment situation. Take care old friend--I'll be a regular reader. Love to you and Pamala.
George
george, i will get that story up in the random thoughts section, but first i want to get up the bones of this thing, then i can go into detail and also digress my brains out. thanks for checking it out and thanks again for posting.
james
My voice teacher in college (who was a miserable human being)taught her students to be awake for three hours before singing...this gives your voice time to "warm up" and get blood flowing...if you notice when you first wake up your voice is not as clear as it is after you have been up for a while...and singing the VERY first thing is tough...i'm assumining James means be out of your jammies before practicing...also I had it drilled into me that singing songs to warming up isnt enough...do actual technical warm ups...humming singing and saying vowel sounds...warm ups should feel relaxing its like running ten miles with out stretching first....and keeping what James says in mind about never being as good as you want to be...I know this from experience...i decided that at a performance -which by the way wasn't MINE...it was two brilliant musicians who after a rain out the day before they would come back and do an unplugged set for about 30 or so of us-so I sat right next to on of the musicians and SANG...LOUD...I have the performance on tape...and I thought i was being whsimcal and cute with my golden throat-but those tapes are now buried deep somewhere as my singing on them embarresses me...I was being treated for some voice troubles at the time...which I have recovered from and my voice is in good shape...no 7 years later...there was a point there somewhere...OH YES no one is as good as they ever want to be...and if you decide to crash a James and Peter Tork performance...at least warm up...and thanks for being so kind to me James...I would have kicked myself in the head
bobby, thanks for the info and the post. by the way, did you know that johnny cash allegedly recorded all his vocals in the morning before he had warmed up, so that he could have that low gravelly thing that only occurs shortly after you wake up. and all the people that i know that have had voice lessons all support the idea that you warm up with exercises, not songs. i have been doing this for so long that i usually warm up with easy low songs and then as my voice opens up, try other things, but my sister Pamala, who sings ten times better than i do, does the exercises. i'll have to get them from her. peter tork also always does vocal exercises before he does a show. i just sit in the dressing room and play for an hour or two before the show.
james
i think it is a question of what works best for the particular person...it occured to me after I hit POST...that you've been using your way for as long as you have without faultable results...there are two important things going on one that you start low nad easy...and two your technique is based on clarity......that is you resonate high in your head where ever you happen to be singing pitchwise or dynamic...warm ups are supposed to bring this focus...i think if you warm up using specific excercises you will find that things come easier...and perhaps a little better but like I said you are singing at 61 the way you are and that speaks volumes
Bobby
bobby, thanks once again for the tips. my plan is to keep getting better until the tools themselves no longer work. so i'll try to get some head exercises from a voice teacher and let you know what happens. thanks for posting.
james lee
That you should say "thanks for the tips" to me makes me chuckle...cos I feel like its the other way around but a thanks you is a thank you so you are welcome...I'll send you my bill
James,
When you practice do you sing while you're playing or only play or does it depend? Also since you have such a large choice of songs how do you keep everything alive so that nothing becomes stale that is how often will you pull something out that you havent played recently?
Bobby