Concert tips

[Marky]

Hey everyone :P I just wanted too know if anyone gots any tips for me. My schools chior gots a concert this thursday and I got a whole song all too my self. Its not my first concert or first time being onstage but I was just wondering if anyone who has been on stage solo'ing gots any tips for me. (the song is Allstar by Smashmouth, you know theone off shrek)


and if you have sung a solo, what song and when

[Sugaree]

Don't close your eyes. At all.

[Magenta]

Don't close your eyes. At all.

That can work on occasion, depending on the piece, but yeah, good advice is not to. You're trying to connect with the audience and that would take away from it.

Also, do NOT pick at your shirt or put your hands in your pockets, etc. I'm notorious for that. If you have music, use that, if you don't, sometimes you can use a music stand as a way to ground yourself and have something to hold onto (as long as it doesn't look obvious). Also try not to move too much. It's distracting. We just had a master class in my vocal course yesterday and one guy was moving around so much and waving his hands about that the entire class just told him to hold still. Try to express the music more through your facial expressions and voice than your body. Because the song is upbeat, obviously don't look like a corn stalk but running around would just be really, really tiresome after awhile. Not to mention, it would look really silly if you weren't consistent... so if there's movement, make it small so it can be carried through the piece without distracting.

Also, ending consonants. Don't forget them. :P Things like (I'll give you an example from my master class lesson yesterday) 'land' often come out as 'lan' because there's not enough of the last letter and when you're singing, adding a little extra does not sound nearly as weird to people in the back as it does to you.

Right, getting carried away. *ahem* Having a vocal major moment. Good luck and hope it goes well. :D

(I've done a ton of stuff in the past two or three years... Hallelujah three or four times for various concerts; The Cuckoo, Still Hurting and Scarborough Fair for recent vocal/performance exams.)

[Syvelocin]

Look just above the audience. Pick a spot, actually, pick a couple spots, to stare at. A couple so you don't look like a damn deer in headlights. Let your eyes drift to people's faces too long and then the nerves come in. I'll often actually let the lights consume my vision. Not stare at them though, don't want to be blind. But I love when the lights are strong enough that I can't even recognize that there are people in the seats, heh. But this may only work in the dim lighting of a theatre, I don't know where you'll be performing.

Don't even think about it before you get up there. Don't give yourself a chance to hesitate. Do whatever you can to take your mind off it then jump right in when it's time to do the performance. The nerves beforehand are sometimes the most lethal of the entire experience. You are much more prone to screw-ups if you're nervous. And the initial minute is always the hardest. You can let yourself get lost in the song/story later, but initially getting to that place can be hard, even more so when you're nervous.

I sing solo all the time. Done typical vocal recitals, a handful of stuff in theatre class, and a load of musicals. Theatre's incredibly different though. I personally have issues when it's not a theatre performance, but stuff like you're doing. I was always the most anxious at talent shows and recitals, when it was just me, without a character to hide behind.