1. Choose the Right Song and Make It Real

In order to have a chance to connect with your audience, you’re going to have to connect with the song itself. So be sure to select something that you can sing genuinely from the heart. Once you have a song you can really connect with, break it down further. What’s the emotion backing up each line? Type out the lyrics, then write out what each part means to you so that you’re sure to convey that emotion. The more you genuinely feel that emotion while singing, the more genuine it’ll be and the more deeply it will impact your audience.

2. Notify Your Face

Sometimes when we’re singing a song, we lose track of what’s going on because we’re focusing on the words, the notes, or the crowd of people staring at us. Often times, this will cause someone whose singing a decidedly happy song to have a frown or even a scowl on their face (probably from a look of concentration, or sheer panic :p). Well, if the expression on your face doesn’t match the feeling of the song, people aren’t going to get into it as much. It goes along with that whole being genuine thing. So, at least part of the time when you’re practicing, do it in front of a mirror a few times to make sure that you’re not making this mistake.

3. Wear the Right Threads

Imagine an opera singer coming out on stage in sneakers and a wife beater while singing about unrequited love. Does that fit to you? Yeah, me neither. But there are singers who will wear just anything when they go out on stage to perform. Now, I’m not a stylist, nor do I try to mess with fashion AT ALL, but I do know that what you wear impacts your performance. My basic rule here is just ask yourself if what you’re wearing is consistent with the feel of the song. If so, you’re probably okay… but on a side note, it never hurts to kick it up a notch so that you stick out just a bit.

4. Body Language

How can you tell if your friend is in a bad mood even if they haven’t said anything? Well, my guess is it’s a combination of the express on their face and the way they’re carrying themselves. You see, so much of how we communicate with others isn’t in the words that we say. We subconsciously pick up on things like body language and vocal tonality as well. So, get that mirror back out. If the feeling in your song is sorrow, make sure that your body looks somewhat broken (shoulders forward, slight hunch, head probably slightly down). If the song is upbeat and generally more happy, stand up tall, use BIG movements, and keep those shoulder waaaaay back! And sometimes the emotion of the song will shift mid song… your facial expressions and body language should shift accordingly.

…As a side note, you’d be surprised how much just relaxing your shoulders comfortably down and back broadcasts extreme confidence to your audience.

While the above information wasn’t designed to be a complete handbook on Audience Connection, I hope it does gets you thinking about how you can take your performance to the next level! Just remember, high level performing requires a real connection with your audience and the more you genuinely feel the emotion that accompanies a song, the more you’re going to authentically do everything I mentioned above. Then, you just have to do a quick double check during rehearsal to make sure everything is consistent. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to get out on that stage and wow your audience.

I hope this helps and I look forward to sharing more quality information with you guys in the near future.

Happy Singing!

The question went a little something like this…

“Music is Emotion You Can Hear”

Each song you sing has a dominate emotion, and some songs touch on several emotions. It’s these emotions that make the piece the wonderful work that it is. Without that emotion tied to it, the song quickly becomes boring and fades out of our minds. This is why certain songs really touch you, even though you may not know why. This is why certain singers, though they may lack real talent (or even the ability to hit all their notes accurately) can still get a great response from the audience. People can feel what they’re singing, and that’s what counts most!

All that being said, right now you’re probably thinking, “So Ken, how can I make this happen?!?”

To Improve Your Singing Voice, You Must Connect with the Song, then Connect with Your Audience.

Many singers focus their practice time on learning the right words, accurately singing the melody, and making sure that they can nail that high note. These are all important things, but the reality is that doing this is only the first, most basic step of preparing a song.

To really have a kick butt performance, you’ve got to be able to sing with genuine emotion, sharing with others just how you feel, causing them to feel it too.

Have you ever noticed the person with the most dominate emotion in a room can bring everyone up or down with them? This is true of singers too, and let me tell you, that mic in your hand automatically makes you the dominate person in the room.

So think about it… what emotion are you contagiously sharing with others? Is it fear and discomfort? Is is excitement? Sadness? Passion? Joy? All you have to do is check in with your own feelings at the time and odds are this is how you’re making others feel. If you don’t believe me, do some study in psychology. You’ll find this can be scientifically backed up.

So what can we do to help this? First off, you have to get personally involved in the message of your song. Each song tells a story, and that story makes people feel a certain way. You may not be able to relate with the exact story of the song, but odds are you can connect with the emotion through some other experience in your life, so use it! Genuinely feeling the emotion of a piece will automatically help you express it better, helping you keep your  audience focused on you.

Now, to take that even one step further, if the main emotion of your piece is sadness but you’ve got a smile on your face, your shoulders are confidently back and you’re bouncing around like Tigger, this is probably not going to be overly convincing to your audience because lets face it, in their eyes, you’re living a lie. The opposite is true as well (ie – the song is happy, but you look scared out of your mind).

So the way you present yourself has a tremendous effect on how others view your performance. This part is really hard for people at first because singing in front of a crowd can be really nerve racking, but I promise if you keep at it, refusing to give up, you’ll master it!

Long story short, in order to best improve your singing voice, you’ve got to make the emotions of your song come to life! This emotion should be made obvious through the words you say, how you say them and your body language. Master this art and every audience you get in front of will be putty in your hands.

I’m Ken Taylor, and I hope this singing tip helps you take your voice and performance to the next level!

Happy Singing!