Questions and Answers - Pt. 2

Jul 5

In my last few posts, I shared about the importance of tuning in to your audience. I myself wanted to tune in to my audience - by asking readers to send me any questions they had. In my previous post and in today’s, I share my responses to them.

QUESTION #3: How do I become better at speaking onstage? I work on it in rehearsal, but I still don’t feel very confident with it.

ANSWER: Speaking can be hard for may people. Whether onstage or not. The plus side, is that you realize you still have room for improvement and you’re actively working on it.

You first need to realize that there are about 8 basic reasons to speak to the audience during your performance and knowing that each reason has a different goal.

Band Introductions
Song Segues
Storytelling
Sharing Your Core Message
Leading Crowd Participation
Raising Awareness about a Charitable Cause
Promoting Merch
Stalling / Acknowledging a Mistake

My top tip is to SLOW DOWN. A lot of times we are nervous or get excited - which excitement is totally me - and we then speak SO fast. Once you know the reason you need to talk to the audience, focus on speaking one on one. Instead of speaking to the audience of 200 people, think of it as speaking to 1 person at a time.

QUESTION #4: What do I do when I have technical difficulties during my performance? It always feels so awkward for the rest of the set.

ANSWER: This is a great question! I honestly think there are two parts to this.

Speaking to the first part, I recently had an artist I work with have an issue at the beginning of his set. Some difficulties or mistakes wouldn’t even be recognized by the audience unless we tell them by our body language or facial expressions. Believe me, I’ve done both. Some mistakes or technical difficulties are so big that EVERYONE notices. These cases it’s best to own the mishap - acknowledge it and move on. By doing so, you create a connection with the audience you wouldn’t have had before. Is it annoying to have these awkward spaces and is it ever embarrassing? Yes. But with you admitting the mistake, everyone in the audience can now relate to you - technology doesn’t work perfectly all the time, we trip and fall on occasion and there are unexpected power outages. Everyone can relate to you on some level.

The second part, is moving forward after the awkwardness. When I think of moving on from a mistake, I think back to the days of when I played soccer. I started playing soccer at the age of four - same age when I began playing the drums. Both have always been a huge part of my life. Most of my soccer “career”, I played goalkeeper. Absolutely loved being the goalie. You can be the hero or the zero depending on your performance and the outcome of the game.

If I wasn’t in my own head, or battling some kind of injury, I was in great form and would show up ready to play, and could compete against anyone.

However, facing injuries or making mistakes - whether having a bad practice or making a mistake during a game that cost us a goal - I could never seem to move on from it. At least not easily!

I had to make a conscious effort to move forward because if I didn’t, I would end up not being ready for the next play. If I wasn’t ready for the next play, I wouldn’t make the save and would possibly allow another goal. It’s easier said than done and I wish I could’ve mastered it back when I was playing my favorite sport, but it’s never too late!

Continue to be intentional. Continue to learn. And you will see all the progress that you’ve made.

Are you interested in diving deeper into these areas for YOUR show? I’d love to get to know you and learn about your journey in music! Let’s schedule a FREE discovery call today!