Getting Over Stage Fright
February 17, 2010
Someone recently emailed me, asking how to get past stage fright. I answered, but while I was writing it I though it was so relivant that I decided to ask if they minded if I share it with everyone. They agreed, so here it is! Enjoy!
The question went a little something like this…
Anonymous
Singer’s Be Warned!!!
October 22, 2009
Whether you’re living the life of a performer or looking into it, there is one personality trait that you MUST have in order to be a professional singer. You have to be able to deal with rejection, and deal with it often.
I’ve seen it countless times, both in friends and students. They’ll come to me all excited because they’ve finally muster up the courage to follow their dream of becoming a professional singer/performer. Judging by the look on their face, they’re ready to take on the world.
But all too often, a month or two later there excitement turns into doubt after a series of carefully prepared auditions that resulted in zero calls. Then, they start questioning what they really want. They start wondering whether or not their goal is even possible.
Now don’t get me wrong, not everyone is cut out for the stage. But, if you’re talented and willing to learn, don’t count yourself out too quickly because everyone who’s ever made it has had to deal with rejection, and probably a whole lot more than you have.
I can just hear some people responding, “But you don’t get it Ken! I’ve been trying so hard and I just keep failing!”
The truth is everyone who does something extraordinary fails, and they FAIL OFTEN. Thomas Jefferson failed thousands of times before creating a light bulb. The Beatles, arguably the biggest band the world has ever known, was refused a record contract by a thick headed producer who thought the rock & roll era was over. Heck, even my college professor, an amazingly talented operatic tenor, said for every 20 auditions he does, he gets hired for one.
The point is we all fail. And, we all fail regularly. In order to learn how to succeed, we have to be willing to continue to move forward, learn from our failures, and use that new knowledge to get ahead. If you do this, failure isn’t failure at all, but an opportunity to learn. When you make this mental shift, it’s impossible to fail unless you give up!
So, keep moving forward and I wish you all the best and as always, Happy Singing!
~ Ken
Improve Your Singing Voice Through Feeling
June 4, 2009
I started this blog speaking mostly on vocal technique, which I do think is paramount in creating a great singing voice. However, the BIGGEST, most important factor of improving your singing voice has nothing to do with vocal technique at all. It has to do with connecting with your audience. So, how do we do that? First, we have to understand the following phrase:
“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!
Tips for Singing Auditions
May 19, 2009
Tips for Singing Auditions
Hello all! Lately I’ve had a ton of people preparing for singing auditions for various summer shows. This inspired me to share a handful of ideas that will hopefully help you and the rest of my readers have a more successful auditions. So without further adieu, lets do it!
Always Show Up For Your Singing Audition Prepared
This seems really obvious to most everyone. If you’re going to an audition, you always want to prepare for it. But, how does one do that? Most importantly, you want to make sure that you know what’s expected of you. You should know whether to bring sheet music for their accompanist, or a track. Did they request you sing something from the show, or can you show off your voice with whatever song you choose (keep it genre specific)? Are you supposed to prepare 1 song, 2 songs, 16 bars, 2 mins, etc? How about a resume and headshot? These are all things you should take the time to find out before your vocal audition and most of it should be available on the flyer or website announcing the audition.
The reason I get so specific is theatres or individuals holding the auditions can see hundreds of people in a weekend and if you don’t show them enough respect to follow their guidelines, they likely will see you as unprepared and lets face it, NO ONE wants unprepared people in their cast. Other things you should do include showing up 10 minutes early and you want to be sure that you know your piece well enough that you can sing it at any tempo the accompanist chooses to play it.
Let Your Personality Shine Through
I can tell you from personal experience that the best singers don’t always get hired or cast. Most people think it’s because theatres play favorites, but I think more often than not it’s because some people are more reliable and enjoyable to work with.
That being said, when auditioning, you always want to be gracious, upbeat, and have a good attitude. Having a can do, enthusiastic attitude always beats out those who are likely to complain (or even worse, are complaining). So be gracious. Thank people for their time after they’ve heard you. Smile before and after your performance. Be excited to be there! These are all great qualities that the “judges” cannot help but notice, even if they act like they don’t (and they probably won’t).
Have Something About Your Dress that Sticks Out
Just like a pleasing personality, this little trick helps people (and judges) recognize and more easily identify you. If you wear a unique hat, a bright colored ribbon in your hair, a scarf… really anything that sticks out, people can’t help but notice and remember you.
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
Give up and go home. Ok, I’m totally kidding. Of course, try, try again. Let me share something with you that I tell all my vioce students.
You should never go into your first audition at a new place expecting a lead role.
I say this strictly because the director doesn’t know you. Being in a show is a huge responsibility, and honestly, it’s not something that everyone can handle. Because of this, many directors absolutely will not cast someone they do not know in a lead position because it’s unclear as to whether or not they can depend on them. So, if you aren’t cast, don’t get down. But more importantly, if you get in the ensemble, do it and take it seriously. Show the director how reliable you are and how fun you can be to work with. This will help the director become more confident in your ability to sing the lead the next go around.
Well, that’s it for today! I hope that these tips help your audition go smoothly. Break a leg (unless you’re a dancer, of course!) and as always, happy singing!
