Playing live: performance matters

As beginners, you will need to be working hard on your actual live performance, on getting gigs and on making sure that your live sound is as good as it can be. A lot of this will start to come naturally once you are in the routine of playing live regularly, but in order to make a good impression on the scene from the word go, the extra work recommended here will go a long way.

 

In an interview in South Africa, Gavin Rossdale of Bush claimed that there are basically only two things over which an artist has control: songwriting and performance. The best way to ensure that you are competitive, he claims, is to make sure you write the very best songs you can and to make sure you deliver the very best live performances you can, every time.

 

Wade through the competition

 

The music industry globally has spent the last few years shifting its emphasis back to the live performance and there is a chance that the entire industry as it has existed since the 40s is about to collapse. Live performance has arguably not been as important to musicians, in about 30 or 40 years as it is now. Here are some very solid performance tips that will help you get the best out of yourself and your band live, and which will help you wade through the competition that lies between you and success.

 

It doesn’t sound very rock n roll, but perform sober. Your reactions are quicker, you are more alert to outside influences and you can adapt faster. When you are drunk, you imagine things are going well, don’t really notice when things are going wrong, and tend to exist in a small experiential bubble that emanates from your own imagination. Avoid it: you need to be sharp, reactive and alert when on stage. Stay sober. This way not only can you achieve and maintain a consistent level of performance on stage, but the party afterwards is that much sweeter for the delay. Bear in mind that the stage is your office and you have an obligation to deliver the service for which you have been hired. Take that seriously and use it to motivate yourself.

 

 

Hard work behind the scenes

 

The biggest problem with new bands is that they honestly have no idea of what they look like live and what they need to change. The best advice I can give is to rehearse in the same stance you would be in if you were on stage. As previously discussed, you must rehearse what you are going to do on stage, as you will be doing it in order to get comfortable. To help you with this concept, try and find a place to rehearse every now and then where you can either perform in front of a wall-length mirror or borrow a video camera from a friend, colleague or relative and record your rehearsal. I guarantee that from the first time you try this there will be plenty of cringeworthy moments that you can work on. What sort of style and type of performance you want to give out there is entirely up to you, but make sure you rehearse it. Even the best of ideas will not always work live in front of a crowd when tried out for the first time. Practise your moves with the band in the rehearsal room and ask every member for input. Save yourself some face and do the hard work behind the scenes. This way, even as a new band, your moves can be polished and credible and give the audience the impression that you are something worth watching, no matter how little they know your music.

 

Nervousness is a good thing

 

Many musicians are scared of performance, which is fair enough. A lot of people are nervous of the idea of appearing in front of others. Bear in mind, however, that nervousness is a good thing to a certain extent. It gets the adrenalin running. It energises you and puts you in a “fight or flight” place that is excellent from a motivational point of view. The trick is to embrace it and use it for your own benefit. To deal with anxiety on a more pratical level, run through your set in your head, noting what needs to happen where. Breathe deeply and slowly and focus on what needs to be done during your performance. When on stage, do not be distracted by how many faces are in front of you (whether overwhelmingly many or disappointingly few). Focus instead on one face at a time, making and holding contact with that person. You don’t have to make eye contact, just don’t dart your eyes continuously around the room. This has the effect of calming you by slowing your actions and also makes you look relaxed and connected to the crowd. You can look for friends at first to use them as your anchors and move from there. Make sure that you know what you need to play well enough that you can afford to perform. If you don’t, any amount of dancing, yelling and moving is only going to disrupt your playing and thereby further damage your performance. Know your stuff – be it a lead break, the drum changes, the lyrics or where the scratches come in. Know it like the back of your hand so that you are at liberty to perform. You don’t need to be worrying about your ability to actually play the music and performing it all at the same time!

 

Originally published in David Chislett's One, Two, One, Two: A Step By Step Guide To The South African Music Industry. Download a free copy of the book at www.davidchislett.co.za.