Advertise on ChoralNet
What goes through your mind during your solo?Date: November 17, 2009 by John Brough
 Today, The Chorister recounts the moments of time that pass while she sings a solo in her church choir.
I have to say, that I'm always surprised of the thoughts that pass through my mind as I'm singing or playing in front of an audience - mostly surprised that often they have nothing to do with the pieces I am singing or playing at all!
Here's a snip from The Chorister's post:
To read the full post - click here
Robert Howard on November 17, 2009 8:14am
Oh dear, Anyone with that magnitude of dread should get ahold of Rosamund and Ben Zander's Art of Possibility quick! Performance is not about winning or passing a test in a room full of scowling judges poised to register every iniquity. If you give up the ball and chain of measurement and grading you can relax, have some fun and share your stories. After all, the audience came to hear and enjoy what you have to offer not to give you a report card.
If you once did a solo and scarfed it up, count your blessings. Most successful people have had plenty of failures that have taught them how to improve their technical and psychological preparation. This is not a question of being from another planet, it's all about accepting and tuning in to the only planet you could possibly inhabit.
Of course, some folks are just glad to perform in a section and don't give a rodent's posterior about being "soloed out." Nothing wrong with that.
on November 17, 2009 9:43am
I used to have terrible stage fright, all during my undergrad time, unfortunately. Here's what helped:
1. Cantoring as part of my church job. As the friends of the original poster said, I "got used to it." I used to joke when recruiting singers, "if you're nervous about singing in front of people, don't worry, it will only take a few hundred times to get over that."
2. I discovered this, as many have before me: The help is in the music.
3. Of course, be prepared. Plan ahead for distraction, nerves, the crying baby in the third row. Performance is what you can do automatically because you've laid down the neural mapping with repetition. Have a mini-performance before the bigger performance, singing in front of friends, family, the rest of the choir, so you practice singing with an audience. In time, perhaps you'll find that audience attention becomes food for your song, and you'll actually sing better in front of an audience.
on November 17, 2009 2:24pm
Leanne (and other readers),
Here's another way to think about it, from a professional performance perspective: A singer can succeed in both choral and solo situations by answering the same questions. Here they are...
1. WHO ARE YOU?
Are you singing as yourself or a character? Who specifically?
2. WHAT'S THE STORY?
What's going on that motivates this song? What has just happened that compels you to sing the words and music? If you could see this song as taken from a Broadway production, what scene surrounds it? With Ave Maria, you might create a story (using your imagination) that you are a mother whose son has just lost his wife. Your son and family are in agony, and desperately need to find some kind of peace. Therefore, you turn to Mother Mary for help. With that and all stories, the more details you know/create, the easier you will be able to throw yourself into it without being self-conscious. So, what does your son look like? How did his wife die? What did she look like? What was her name? What just happened in the moments right before you sing ... are you watching your son sob over the coffin at the viewing of his wife's body? Do you then go into the funeral home's chapel?
2. WHO ARE YOU SINGING TO?
Using the text and music as your guide, determine to whom you are singing. It could be a person named in the text (Ave Maria is pretty clear!), or it could be completely ambiguous. Either way, you need to decide. Once you know, use your imagination to "flesh them out" -- what do they look like, who are they to you, what's your history....
3. HOW ARE YOU TRYING TO AFFECT THEM?
Once you know to whom you are singing, the next question is how do you want to affect what they think, feel, or do. It's always about them, and not about you. So, these would work: "I want Mother Mary to bring peace to my son." And for other songs: "I want to comfort a crying infant." "I want to make Jesus feel welcome in the world." "I want God to know how grateful I am for this wonderful world."
4. HOW DO THEY RESPOND?
As you sing, your imagination can create the Other's response, and that response will affect the way you sing. So, at one point in the music when the key changes and the dynamics go from piano to forte, you might decide that Mother Mary has turned away from you ... or maybe she has agreed to bring mercy and you are thanking her effusively. Regardless, you know exactly how and when the Other is responding.
If you answer all those questions, and sing with purpose and conviction as you've bought into the Story and all its elements, your experience will be entirely different. And so will your audience's.
A critical fact: Notice there's nothing here about "emoting," "showing the emotion on your face," or "convincing the audience that you're into it." All these are inauthentic human behaviors, and lead one to disconnect from Self, music, text, and ultimately the audience.
So, no need to "direct" your face, body or voice, as a puppet master would a puppet. When you commit to Story and its elements -- whether you are singing as yourself with a real story, or as a character with a made up story -- your face, body, and voice will respond authentically and organically. Without you telling it what to do.
And your audience will know the difference, and be impacted in an entirely deeper and more meaningful way.
All my best,
Tom |
Help support ChoralNet by buying via these links
|
