Some Insights Into Performing

Played a show Backstage At The Coffee Gallery Sunday night.  We had a good crowd and a good time.    My friend Carol Hunter, former guitar player for Neil Diamond, came to the show and she mentioned that she thought that John and I were generous to each other on stage, and I thought I’d talk a little bit about that today.

When you are on stage with someone else, if they are singing the lead, then your job is to support what they are doing, serve the vision being created and not call undue attention to yourself.

When it’s your turn in the spotlight, then you can turn up the juice, but everyone looks a whole lot better if you give each person on stage their due.    That graciousness and sensitivity goes a long way towards bonding with the audience.

When I am playing with another artist, I want that artist’s audience to not only like me too, but become a patron of mine; come to my other shows, buy my cd’s, tell their friends that they like me and think I’m good. 

So I make certain that I do all I can to assist in making my stage partners look as good as I can.     On stage, no criticism, no slams, no denigration.

If you need to denigrate someone on stage, I suggest you slam yourself.

I have seen and worked with people who actually slammed the other person on the stage with them.   If  the act is slamming each other than that’s just fine, but if it’s not, then all that happens is the person doing the slamming looks bad and can and often does alienate the audience with the comments.

And speaking of comments, when you are on stage, if what you are saying isn’t entertaining the audience, the cut it short and get to the song.  

Nothing is worse than listening to someone who is not clever, babbling on and on about things that are a matter of supreme indifference to the audience.    Shakespeare said that brevity is the sole of with and nothing could be truer.

Be brief, even if you are funny, unless of course you are a comedian, then I suggest writing material that is actually funny or else perhaps going into pharmacy or some similar line of work.

Unless you are being interviewed by a journalist fan, no one really wants to hear the entire history of your career.

Further, no one needs to hear what the song you are about to sing is about.   If you need to say something about a song, then perhaps you can talk about what inspired it.    If it is well written, then folk will know what it’s about,

And there’s one other thing about an audience.  They listen to your song and they decide how it relates to them, so don’t kid yourself into thinking that they are experiencing the same feelings as you.  

We all make our own interpretations.

Finally, what you should do is be completely prepared for the show, by doing the practice, the work and then when you get on stage, have a good time.    And make certain that the audience does as well.

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