By Tanya Lawrence - Musical & Creative Director.
Remember the old adage that people don't remember what you said but how you made them feel? The same goes for songs.
So often when you announce your next number people will respond "Oh I love this one". Sometimes they're simply associating the song with a happy memory - reliving it for a few moments. Other times the song may have helped them express a particular feeling. The composer "hit the spot" emotionally speaking. Hearing the song again may be helping them process the event and move on.
The thing is you never know exactly what a song means to each and every member of your audience. Your job is to think about what each song means to you. That's how you make the connection. Singing with sincerity and with authenticity. Listeners will literally feel that. As they listen to your performance and watch you, they will each connect with you in their own way.
You can be 99% sure that during that few moments of emotional connection the last thing on their minds will be the quality of your voice, whether you breathed in all the right places and whether your bum looks big in that dress/those trousers. Performance is the time to transcend all of that and get into that emotional, story telling moment with your audience. That's where the satisfaction, the joy and fulfilment lie. You're there to provide an emotional experience for your listeners, not just to dazzle them with your harmony and movement skills, though they certainly help enhance the experience.
So, during the days and weeks before a performance, as well as paying attention your vocal technique, your appearance etc., climb inside the song lyric. Consider the story. Get in the composer's head. Become an emotional conduit between them and your audience. That's your job. Immerse yourself it and you'll be far too busy to get wrapped up in anxiety about your voice, physical imperfections or whatever other nonsense you habitually tell yourself is wrong with you. Get your mind busy on the things that matter to your audience, not the rubbish you imagine matters. The reality is none of that matters to the person listening and watching in the moment, their moment, which you're helping to provide. So leave your personal concerns where they belong. In the dressing room. Go out there and make someone's day.
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