A New Attitude!

I was looking at the list of articles posted on the web site earlier, and I see that the most articles I seem to write are about ATTITUDE. I think that's the case because I am constantly running into singers whose attitude needs a bit of adjusting, sometimes even a complete overhaul. :-)

This month's lesson is also about attitude, but with a little different twist.

We've discussed committment, discipline, and self-evaluation ad nauseaum, right? Well this month's "lesson" is for those singers who are afraid of the audience, or who dislike the audience, or who blame the audience for a bad performance.

When I started singing professionally at age 17, I was scared stiff of the audience. I would constantly be thinking, "What if I look at someone while I'm singing and they're not smiling, or they're not even looking at me?"

The thought of rejection was just overwhelming. But I was lucky.

I was and still am very near-sighted, and since back in 1958, contact lenses were not common place yet, I would remove my glasses so as not to see the audience. I sang pretty much for myself and my fellow band members.

I would receive praise for my voice, but hardly ever for my performance skills which at that time were minimal. One night I tripped on a cable that was lying across the stage and fell flat on my face. I was humiliated, but I got up and did my song anyway. The crowd appreciated that I was still willing to perform for them and they let me know it with their applause. After that, I got contact lenses so I could see their faces.

A little further into my career, I sang every weekend with a wedding band. I can remember the band leader saying things like, Okay guys! Remember! Friend or Foe, GET THE DOUGH AND BLOW!" or comments like, "These people don't know squat so let's just have fun for ourselves". When people would come up to the bandstand and make a request, the band leader would just turn to us and make a face saying, "Yeah, like we're gonna do that stupid tune...NOT!"

I didn't realize it at the time, but those gigs weren't much fun, and I know today that it was due to the attitude we were emitting from the stage. Fortunately for me, I was given an opportunity to leave that band and so I did.

When I started doing nightclub dates, there were nights where the crowds were pretty thin...I'm talking more staff than customers, y'know what I mean? The keyboard player I worked would always get angry and say, "This a**hole isn't promoting us enough let's just get through it and get the H*ll outa here!"

Well, I'm here to tell you guys...Each of these attitudes are totally incorrect and can ruin not just one night, but allowed to fester, a career!

If you want to perform, you MUST understand, appreciate, and even adore your audience!

Have you ever noticed that when the audience is totally with you, you sing better? Why is that?! It's because they are feeding you energy which lifts you up and in turn lifts them up to give you even more.

The opposite is also true. When you have distain for your audience, you ignore them, and they in turn, ignore you. No energy, no communication, and a bad performance result.

Listen to me, singers!

IT IS NOT THE AUDIENCE'S JOB TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD!

It is YOUR job to make THEM feel good.

And trust me on this...There is no greater satisfaction than staring out at sullen faces, sometimes a little drunk, a little sad, a little distracted by their problems, and see those faces brighten because of YOU.

Your job is to give the best you have to your audience, and that means any audience whether it is made up of 4000 people, or 4 people. Always give the best you have to give, and watch the results. It is truly amazing!

When I first started working steady in a New York City nightclub, I would walk up onto the bandstand, look out into the crowd seated at the bar, and see only the backs of their heads.

I made it my business to turn them around to face me.

The better I sang, the more faces would turn around, stop talking and listen.

It's never an audience's fault that you have a wrong attitude about performing. That's on you, and you need to make an adjustment.

Change your attitude. Give of yourself!

COMMUNICATE, CONNECT, EXPRESS!

The result will astound you, singers.

Do you have a performance story to share? Send it to me and I will put it on the BLOG page. We put that space up for exactly this kind of sharing, so please share your successes and help to inspire other singers!

Thanks for your support. Til' next time, singers!