Now, if you have come back from a show and
absolutely blown away by the performance that you have witnessed, let us share
a secret with you – it is harder than it looks. The flawless and almost natural
stage presence is the consequence of rehearsals and practice. Here are few
things that happen before a memorable show.
1. Practice till you drop!
The only way you feel comfortable and feel natural
when playing your part is by putting time to practice relentlessly until you
can play your part almost unconsciously. No matter how long it takes, musicians
put their time until they can hit every note without even thinking about it.
They practice their part separately and master their individual parts. They go
through each and every part in detail, play them over and over till they get it
to sound they want. They work on their tone, sound dynamic, practicing when to
play loud and when to play softly - to give the song more depth.
2. Jam Sessions
Once each member of the team is ready with their
part, it is now important that everyone plays as a part of the band and not for
themselves. Being ‘tight’ as a band is an important aspect of performance.
Being able to participate, contribute and coordinate with each one of them in a
band is what makes the song alive on stage. So the key is to do regular jams
and able to hear each part of music from different instrument and able to
complement it with just the right amount of participation through their
instrument. Band dynamic plays a very important role in making a show stand
out.
3. Rehearsing antics on stage
To be able to attract a crowd in front of you, it
is important to interact with them and work on stage presence. From crazy
antics to small gestures to be able to introduce a sing along, everything that
you see a band doing on stage are, in fact, practiced off-stage and are
rehearsed in the jam room and on the stage before the show they are about to
perform. Take any band you know and if you ask them, they will agree that they
do practice. Although it feels impromptu, it is not. It is rehearsed so that
when they do it on stage, it doesn't feel unnatural to them. Having said that,
yes, there are some things that they tend to do according to the environment
there but majority of it is rehearsed and that is how it feels so natural to
look at them and be mesmerised.
4. Investing in the right Instruments
Nothing would sound the way they do if the
instrument they are playing is not up to the standard. Every professional
musician does their research and invest in the right instrument to boost the
sound of the whole show. They also keep information and tabs of the speakers, P.A.
and monitors that will be available in the show. Most of them even check out
the place one day before the show and do a sound check to understand the
capability of the equipment available on the stage. The band then sets the
sound to what they like best. Thus, everything you hear and see on a
professional show are planned. So it is important for any of us playing in a
band to cultivate these habits before playing live and prepare the best way
possible for any show.
BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools.
The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.
