Post by Garland on Mar 15, 2022 7:36:56 GMT -5
Derick, I know you don't go out and play... but, you might, someday, and your opinion is always welcomed.
This is a from thread from AGF... this is one comment from it about reminders/prompts, when performin in public... what is used?
Our acoustic folk music club hosts open mics in a coffeehouse setting periodically. I just went to one Friday. The players had varying ages and years of experience. All were amateurs. All but me used music stands and most sat down to play.
Even the 20 something singer songwriter had to have a lyric sheet (for her own original songs). The 70 something matriarch of our club (a sweet and wonderful woman) was painful to observe, with the dropped looseleaf pages, stopping mid-song to start over because she reversed the order of some verses, banging the instrument mic with her hand multiple times....
This was typical of many similar events I've attended, hosted and performed at over the years. Sure most of us aren't pros, but here are my thoughts to reduce your own stress level as a performer and to give your audience a reason to pay attention and possibly enjoy the show:
1. REHEARSE! Put together a set list and practice it! Get fluid, not just familiar with the lyrics, chord changes, rhythm.
2. If physically possible, stand up! Have your visual aid(s) off to the side where you can see it when needed, but NEVER have it between you and your audience.
3. Keep your eyes primarily on your audience, not your hands, not the floor, not glued to your visual aids.
4. Whatever you use as a visual/memory aid, it needs to be unobtrusive, compact and virtually seamless. If using a binder, arrange the sheets in set list order with divider tabs. Don't be flipping pages back and forth or scrolling through your app trying to find your next tune. Everything on stage takes longer, is harder to do and more likely to fail than when you practiced it at home.
5. Don't freak out when you forget a line or chord. Keep the rhythm and tune going. (Almost) never stop or start over. Last Friday the mic boom I was singing through started to sag quickly a few words into my second song. That's when you laugh, crack a joke about "they have medication for that now" adjust the stand and start over. Don't draw attention to your mistakes, don't apologize for not remembering the song or playing as well as you should have.
No one wants you to fail. They want to like your performance. But if you give the audience cringe fodder they resent you for it. They're here for fun, not to see a train wreck. They easily forgive a few flubs. But if they are subjected to dead air while you fumble to find your next song, fiddle with your capo/tuning, constantly twiddle knobs on the sound system, mumble at them while sitting behind a stand or tablet, etc. you're bringing them (and yourself) down. That's not what anyone is there for.
Even the 20 something singer songwriter had to have a lyric sheet (for her own original songs). The 70 something matriarch of our club (a sweet and wonderful woman) was painful to observe, with the dropped looseleaf pages, stopping mid-song to start over because she reversed the order of some verses, banging the instrument mic with her hand multiple times....
This was typical of many similar events I've attended, hosted and performed at over the years. Sure most of us aren't pros, but here are my thoughts to reduce your own stress level as a performer and to give your audience a reason to pay attention and possibly enjoy the show:
1. REHEARSE! Put together a set list and practice it! Get fluid, not just familiar with the lyrics, chord changes, rhythm.
2. If physically possible, stand up! Have your visual aid(s) off to the side where you can see it when needed, but NEVER have it between you and your audience.
3. Keep your eyes primarily on your audience, not your hands, not the floor, not glued to your visual aids.
4. Whatever you use as a visual/memory aid, it needs to be unobtrusive, compact and virtually seamless. If using a binder, arrange the sheets in set list order with divider tabs. Don't be flipping pages back and forth or scrolling through your app trying to find your next tune. Everything on stage takes longer, is harder to do and more likely to fail than when you practiced it at home.
5. Don't freak out when you forget a line or chord. Keep the rhythm and tune going. (Almost) never stop or start over. Last Friday the mic boom I was singing through started to sag quickly a few words into my second song. That's when you laugh, crack a joke about "they have medication for that now" adjust the stand and start over. Don't draw attention to your mistakes, don't apologize for not remembering the song or playing as well as you should have.
No one wants you to fail. They want to like your performance. But if you give the audience cringe fodder they resent you for it. They're here for fun, not to see a train wreck. They easily forgive a few flubs. But if they are subjected to dead air while you fumble to find your next song, fiddle with your capo/tuning, constantly twiddle knobs on the sound system, mumble at them while sitting behind a stand or tablet, etc. you're bringing them (and yourself) down. That's not what anyone is there for.
I use a soft back note book with a list of the songs for the evenin.... somethin I'm unsure of I have a sheet with lyrics and chords... John, the host of the open mic uses a tablet that he has copied and pasted, or imported lyrics and chords onto... the others use their memory, although Mike has used sheets for originals. He printed his out, mine are hand transcribed. One of the waitresses used her phone week before last and a tablet this past week... she doesn't play, only sings....
Anyway.... Jim, what do y'all use?