I was part of a five-piece bluegrass group that played at our church on Christmas Eve. After the first service I asked my wife how we sounded. She said we sounded fine, but I forgot to smile or make eye contact. I related this to the other guys before the next service and with the first chord, we all had big smiles, looking out, looking people in the eye. The response was tremendous.
As musicians we tend to forget that performing is about 85% visual. What you look like is literally six times more important that what you sound like.
I was reading through the requirements for the Montreau, Switzerland Jazz Festival and the first thing mentioned was “Strong stage presence.” If you are auditioning for Montreau, you need a video, not audio recording. They need to know what you look like and how you relate to the audience. I don’t know about you, but I need somebody to remind me of that every time I walk out on stage.
I was relating this to my mother, who has about 75 years of performing experience of one type or another, and she admitted that it is harder that it sounds. Relating to the audiences and holding their attention is primarily a visual activity. All the nationally known acts know this, many local musicians don’t, and there is the primary difference, not how well they play or sing.
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3 comments:
Jim, I always appreciate your insights.
Here's my turn: As to musician/performer audience contact: Maybe that's why Glenn Gould and the Beatles stopped performing.
As to your previous article on musicians as artists: Musicians are the greatest of artists. Who else creates by arranging invisible air waves to uplift and soothe?
True, there will always be those only play the notes; but, those can really create music (original, or from a lyric sheet/score), organized sound from nothing, those are the truly gifted and inspiring artists. There is art that merely entertains (a passing fancy) and real art that reaches for the soul (the pure ideal that musicians aspire/strive to achieve). To communicate through sound is such a sacred and holy gift.
Wow !!! and
Thanks again for letting me be heard,
Peace,
Dave
Dave,
The Beatles were great visual artists also. As I understand it, one of the reasons they quit performing live was because the venues were so large that they could no longer connect with the audience with the technology that was available at the time.
Jim
What you say is true, but then Miles Davis used to turn his back on the audience while he played, and even walk offstage when somebody else was soloing.
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