In Auckland, the live music scene has suffered from a horrible disease known as complacency. Not only has this affliction prevented punters from going out and attending gigs, it has also affected performers themselves. Lettuce look at the symptoms, cause and cure for this horrible sickness.
The symptoms of this disease are: not believing ‘going out’ to see live music can change your life (as it most definitely can), thinking that the performer will not be offering anything new or exciting, buying into the delusion that a DVD or YouTube performance is as good as ‘being there’ and, most insidious of all, that you’ll have another opportunity to see that performer/band in the future. Complacency is a highly contagious disease and can be passed on virally through word of mouth or emerge through lack of human contact
As performers, we need only be concerned with how best to heal ourselves, and as a consequence, we heal those around us.
Referencing several performers in action, may I suggest some cures for complacency?
Move! When you sing, allow your whole body to get involved. Remember: your mouth (or any individual part in isolation) can only do so much. Using the mouth as a primary resonating chamber and shaper of vowels is certainly a good start. However, it helps to involve the whole face when you sing. Using daily facial stretches can wake up those 5,000 facial muscles that are simply aching to tell a story and ‘emote’. The cheeks (or zygotic muscles) in particular, are a powerhouse of brightness when lifted. The face is attached to a head and the head to a body and your instrument consists of the whole package – from your crown of your head to the soles of your feet.
Singing while doing other tasks, like walking and household chores, helps to make you feel more comfortable in your own skin. Statues that sing, however beautiful, are not very inspiring. Mind you, neither are those rabid individuals who feel the need to wildly gesticulate every word with their hands, arms and groin.
If movement doesn’t serve the sentiment of the song, then it will be distracting for an audience. Deliberate and inappropriate movement says more about the performer’s lack of connection to a song’s ‘meaning’ and their need to make their bodies the focus of attention. Incidentally, I don’t find Joe Cockers palsy, Janis Joplin or Ian Curtis’s spasms and twitches distracting. Rather, they are an indication of dis-inhibition and the glories of not being self-conscious. If it serves the music – do it!
You never need to exaggerate movement, the same way I’ve never had to fake an emotion when I sing. I do not sing ‘for show’, I actually want to convey the message and story of the song. Overacting will not help me achieve this. Not moving isn’t natural in the same way that flailing my arms around uncontrollably while telling you ‘I love you’ isn’t natural either. So don’t over-move!
Essentially, it’s about being emotionally honest. Use the lyrics and sentiment of a song to dictate what kind of energy it requires. Surely not all your songs are angry or ecstatic, though one or two may be. If you ‘ride’ the emotional waves of your songs, it becomes more cathartic for you too. There is nothing more engaging then seeing an artist captivated by their own music.
Use dynamics. Think of how the volume and intonation of your voice changes during conversation and depending on which subjects are discussed. Even the masters of metal show us the lightness in order to contrast this with the ‘dark side’ of their voices. You draw an audience to you by enticing them with authenticity rather than repelling them with maximum volume. Mapping out a song dynamically with the band necessitates an empathy and solidarity between band members and requires focused rehearsals.
Don’t just relax– open and energize. Resonating cavities like the throat, chest, mouth and tummy don’t open by themselves. We need to create space in them by actively opening (with stretches and aligned posture). This, in turn, actually gives you energy – harness it!
Honour the presence of an audience by giving a song your all – song after song. Using ‘rocket-booster’ or ‘anchor’ muscles of lower back, pelvic floor and pectorals, helps achieve this. So too, focusing sound/energy like a laser-beam out of the 3rd Eye in the forehead helps control tone, colour, dynamics, pitch-range. These strong foundations allow you to play and experiment fearlessly.
Take risks with your music and delivery. Just having a great voice, great songs and a great band isn’t enough. If you want people to get something special out of your music, you’re going to have to put something special into it. Give the listener a reason to stay. The legacy of jazz teaches us how deep the wellspring of inspiration, and our ability to improvise, runs. You can sing a song profoundly differently every single time you perform it.
Give the audience a reason to come back again– learn new material and try new things. Try not to take the loyalty of your audience for granted. It is your essence in the songs they love, not just the songs you are singing. Therefore, share yourself with them. You wouldn’t be complacent if you thought that ‘this is my last gig ever’ would you? Try presuming it is, and a miracle may happen, your complacency is cured!!