Preparing for a great live performance
If you want to give your best singing performance, you need to know how to behave, so here are a few tips to help you out.
Rehearsals
Rehearse with the band. You should have at least one dress rehearsal and several more practice rehearsals before a live performance. Don't read the lyrics on your last dress rehearsal, sing everything from memory.
Outfit
The outfit you select needs to be a good one, because it can make your show. When you practice, be sure to wear the outfit that you plan to wear for your singing performance. It is important to ensure that you are able to move comfortably in your outfit.
Stage Walk
After you know where to stand it's a good idea to practice walking into place. Knowing how to walk across a stage and land in place isn't as easy as it sounds. When you walk across the stage, you want to stop in place, but at the same time you need to have good posture when you do so. Walk to the spot and keep your posture.
Keep the speaker turned away from you
The experience of singing with a band will be a lot of things, but initially it will be confusing. The speakers will probably be turned away, in which case you will have trouble hearing yourself. For the first few times you could ask to have a speaker turned towards you. Remember that bands often play pretty loud, and turning the speaker towards yourself can be distracting if you have a huge wall of sound coming at you. If a specific instrument plays the melody line, you may have to get used to picking out that sound from the other instruments.
Smile
When you make your entrance, look at the audience and smile. You appear far more confident if you look straight at your audience as you walk across the stage. Make sure your smile doesn't look fake as you cross the stage.
Acknowledge your audience
When singing in a concert, knowing whether to acknowledge your audience or stick to your own little world can be tricky. As a singer, you will perform in many different places, and not all of them will be small. Take cues from professionals to get a better idea of how you should perform.
Don't let distractions put you off
In a normal concert there can be a lot of distractions. People might enter late, cough, get up and leave, or any number of other things. People in the audience often don't consider how this distracts the performer. When you practice at home you might want to intentionally stage some distractions. If you have any friends, you can have them try distracting you, and over time you will learn to ignore it.
What to do with your hands
Make sure you don't do anything strange with your hands while you are performing; keep them at your sides if you can. The safest place is at your sides, even if that's not the most interesting place. You can gesture if you want, just make sure your gesture is complete. Clasping your hands in front of you is another option for your hands.
I hope these performance tips were helpful to you. In order to wow your audience you'll need to work hard to perfect your singing skills. You can either take private singing lessons or use a professional home-study singing course like Sing With Freedom. And if you want to know the best way to make your mark on the music industry, to ensure you get plenty of gigs lined up, check out Social Bandmaker.Â