There is a lot of prep and work to nailing a performance, but you can do some simple things. Thanks to award-winning singer/songwriter and veteran voice teacher Mark Bosnian, we have a few tips for a better performance that can take you to the next level.
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Wednesday, November 16th
Know Your Song
Always memorize the words and have 2 or 3 emotions you want to evoke when you sing. Trying to sing with emotion is hard when you don’t know which emotion(s) to use. Knowing your motivation will help you connect to the audience.
Use Dynamics
Nothing says dull, like a song that sounds the same from beginning to end. You must change the volume, the intensity, and the tone to keep people engaged. Accent keywords by making them different—louder/softer, brighter/darker vowel color, staccato/legato, etc.
Sing to the audience, not at them!
Split the audience into quadrants and sing to each quadrant for a few seconds. Even if you cannot make eye contact with every single person, it will look and feel as if you’re singing to each audience member. Your voice goes where your eyes go—don’t close your eyes a lot or look over people’s heads.
Turn off your vocal defense mechanism
You have a mechanism in your subconscious that tries to protect you from embarrassing yourself when you perform. You can stop it from sabotaging your performance by learning what triggers it.
Tell your song’s story
Almost all singers obsess about being in tune or forgetting the words. If you put your intention on telling the song’s story instead of trying to “sound good,” the audience won’t pay attention to the imperfections.
Do you know any other tips? Let us know!
