The High Performance Singer

Do you think you have an accent? Probably not. You are so used to the way you and the people around you speak, that you don't think you do. It's people from the Midwest / the East Coast / Spain / Brazil / Africa / you name it that have the accent. Check out this amazing video of Amy Walker doing 21 accents in two minutes. When her Seattle accent came up, I thought, wait, that one's not an accent, that's just "normal" speaking! But of course that's just because her Seatt

I worked all last month with an artist preparing for an industry showcase in L.A. At the end of the month, we did a dress rehearsal on a large stage, running the whole set straight through a few times. There were still some "mistakes" which kind of freaked him out at first, because he was afraid of doing things "wrong" - as in differently from what we had planned. But I made him understand it was ok to throw out the plan and just trust himself, now that he had gotten down

A singer I know got some great feedback recently from a new band member. He told her that although she was an excellent performer, she was undermining herself between songs. Here's how: While singing in this particular band, she takes on the persona of a rockstar-type diva. She's high-energy and edgy. She takes risks, both vocally and with her performance. She rocks out and she gives her all, often ending up nearly out of breath because she's been moving so much. In sh

Last week I went to Nashville to attend another Singer-Bands Bootcamp with Tom Jackson Productions. I came back excited about all the new things I learned and wanted to bring you a different perspective on your stage show. ... Tom Jackson talks about "majoring in the minors." That's when you put too much effort and expense into things that don't give you a proportional return - like when a singer spends more time shopping for stage clothes than learning to sing on pitch. W

Do you ever feel on stage like you have no idea what to do with your hands and arms? Do you revert to holding the microphone with both hands, putting a hand in your pocket, or tugging on the edge of your shirt? If so, this one's for you. ... When you're nervous on stage, it can feel like you're enclosed in an imaginary box or cage, where it feels uncomfortable and risky to make any gestures that extend boldly outside its confines. You know you want to stop standing there u

One of my students, singer-songwriter Jaden Carlson, is playing at the Desert Rocks Music Festival this weekend. She's very comfortable on stage whether talking or singing, but she wanted her song introductions to connect with her audience more powerfully. So in our last couple of lessons we worked on her song introductions. The things we worked on are helpful for anyone who introduces their songs with comments or stories, and they're easy concepts to understand. They are

I've had to learn about 40 songs recently for a cover band I just joined. But most of them are still not anywhere near done. There's learning how a song goes, and then there's owning a song. You're a much better performer when you get to the point of owning your songs. The Six Stages of Learning a Song 1) Learning lyrics, melody, phrasing, and structure. This means just knowing "when to sing" and "what to sing" to get through the song start to finish successfully, even if

According to Nashville live music producer Tom Jackson, communication is 15% what you say, 30% how you say it, and 55% how you look. That's very true, but you still can't neglect the 15% of what you say and 30% how you say it. That's half of your communication! And since a singer's job is to communicate, half of your job is to make sure that what you say is actually understood. The sound engineer can only do so much to help the audience hear you clearly. Garbage in, garbag

In a number of private, group, and full-band sessions lately, this question has come up: How do you sing harmonies? First, let's make sure we are on the same page with a couple of terms. I'm defining them in my own lay terms here, but click on the terms to go to their definition on Wikipedia if you wish. Melody is the most prominent succession of lead notes (vocal or instrumental) in a song. It's what you sing when you sing along just about any song. Harmony is a set of

This is the second of several articles dealing with what to do on a bad gig night. The first article, Gb-Db-Ab-SQUIRREL!, gave some ideas for what to do when you just can't focus, and your mind is like a dog that gets distracted by a squirrel. This article is about what to do when your energy level isn't high enough, or you can't keep up the energy level. What do you do when your energy level isn't up to task for your gig? When you manage to get your energy up for one song,

Two days ago I returned from a performance bootcamp in Nashville, run by Tom Jackson. Over the last 20 years he has coached tens of thousands of performers, from indie startups to top commercial artists like Taylor Swift. I have been following Tom for a while now, and I thought I understood what he meant by a "moment." You know, an emotional moment, where the audience connects with the performer. A poignant moment, an exciting moment, whatever. I was wrong. I didn't hav

What makes your band sound good at a gig? Great vocals? The band playing nice and tight after some productive rehearsals? Good room acoustics? The biggest baddest subwoofer in the city? Crispy clear highs? The perfect guitar tone? Yeah yeah yeah, these things all contribute. But there's one factor that will make or break you, regardless of anything else you do... The sound guy. (Or gal, rarely.) *From here on out I'm going to refer to sound "guys" rather than make

Which of these rules of the stage should NEVER be broken? Never turn your back to the audience Never apologize or recognize a mistake Never start a song over, or go back and fix any mistakes Never criticize or belittle the audience Never criticize or belittle yourself ... ... The main idea is to know the rules, so that you can choose your rare exceptions. Here are some exceptions I've seen, experienced, or heard about for most, but not all, of the rules above... Never turn y

The placebo effect: The proven phenomenon that sugar pills are sometimes as effective as real medication for curing whatever ails the test subjects - headaches, depression, arthritis, you name it. And sometimes, they're even more effective than "real" medication. Why? Because belief is reality. And that's even more true when you're dealing with a problem like stage fright, which is a mental construct to begin with! I just finished presenting a six-week workshop on how to

Last week we had a student performance with a live band. We had only one rehearsal prior to the gig, so we had to pick songs with low "train wreck" risk! If you find yourself in a similar situation - where you have the chance to sing with a live band with little to no rehearsal, such as at an open mic night - do you know how to pick good songs that won't crash and burn on stage? Here are 5 tips. 1) Does the song have any time signature changes, measures with unusual count

You know how animals can smell fear? Well, we humans may not have canine noses, but we have very sharp eyes and excellent mental capacity for reading faces. Especially eyes! So, having the right kind of eye contact can make you seem more confident on stage. And even better than that, it can make you BE more confident. When you boil it down, there are only two kinds of eye contact: Fearful eye contact, and Confident eye contact. Fearful eye contact comes from those sing

The first time I played drums at a live gig, I was so nervous that I dropped beats several times throughout the song, and forgot where the transitions between sections were. The first time for anything can be scary. Your first time singing in public? Your first audition? Your first time as lead singer? Your first time in front of a crowd of over 50 people? Your first time with a new band? Your first time improvising on stage? Or even just the first time singing a song y

Are you a good singer? Yes? Great! But are you a good performer? What’s the difference? A good singer has good vocal technique, and interprets a song with feeling appropriate to the song. A good performer is also a good singer, but is also so much more! A good performer knows how to move around on stage with purpose appropriate to the song – not just wandering around. A good performer knows how to use the microphone not only as a sound amplifier, but as a tool and prop.

You know left brain vs. right brain, right? Left brain: organized, analytical, judgemental, ego-driven, individual, critical, mathematic, language center, logical, aware of time, tends to rush, tends to live in the past and future, tends to get caught in cycles of thought, likes to classify, sense of personal identity, aware of details, multitasker, tells stories to make sense of our life. Right brain: creative, holistic, aware of body language and tone of voice, naturally j

It happens… Those nights when the audience just isn’t that into you. Maybe you were booked in the wrong venue for your genre. Maybe you’re having a really off night. Who knows. But what do you do when it happens? Change It Up First, why isn’t paying attention? Are you being boring? You may be loud, but if you’re always loud, that’s boring. You may be playing powerful heartfelt ballads, but if that’s all you’re playing, that’s boring too. Here are some ideas for chang