Singers Playground

The one thing that we seek to contain as human beings is what will both liberate us from our head games during live performance and move the audience to identify and feel our music the deepest is MESSY, UGLY, RAW EMOTION!!! :) 

BUT Getting OUT OF OUR HEAD and down into THE MESSY CHAOTIC INTENSE PASSIONATE place is really hard for most of us!  Its not how we humans are programmed or how we like to act. 

IN fact we tend to try to act like everything is fine-everything is working-everything is going to be…

All creative people seek a way to control the process of making art. Just like a sculptor approaching the clay, we singers  are in the habit of shaping, molding or creating a performance.  We believe thats how we can make the music strongest and express who we are to the larger world. To some extent this is true. But this belief (which most of us hold on an unconscious level) is also a way to allow our perfectionist full reign! 

Art built from fear is never as strong as art built from trust- courage-…

A few words about “Timing”. 

Nothing happens until we are ready! We are constantly pushing for our dreams to come true faster and impatient that we are having to wait, when in truth reaching our goals is a slow step by step process, and every step is built on the one before. You don’t get to the top of mountain without climbing every step. 

Our creative ego’s want everything right now. A manager, a record deal, a world wide tour etc. All of this is good to desire, to be working towards as our vision…

 "Why wont they call me back?  How come no one is coming out to the shows? Why am I not further than this by now in my career? "

These are the burning questions most artists will ask themselves...obsess over, stay up nights worrying about..

...when we need to be asking ourselves WHAT CAN I IMPROVE IN THE PRODUCT I AM CREATING?

We are asking ourselves the wrong questions!!

The simple fact is that the deeper we dig in and upgrade our skill sets the more "power and reach" we are creating in our…

A Few Words On Social Media 

I deal with a lot of artists who are resistant to using social media- (which is always indicative of something larger in terms of their arguing for comfort and safety and not being willing to experiment!) 

Social media platforms are a way for us to tell our story, build a community around our music and be engaged with the world. But they do ask us to clarify who we are, what we stand for and what we want in our careers! 

Curated with our own sensibilities our social media…

 What Kind Of A Ride Are You Taking Us On? 

Once you have created a basic sketch of your showcase set sit back and take the time to ask yourself some important questions. 

*What kind of a ride are you taking the audience on? 

*What emotional experiences are you asking them to join you on? 

*What do these songs tell the audience about who you are and your identity? 

IF it becomes clear that the songs are all similar in tempo you will want to consider switching some of the songs in order to build…

Giving an audience of industry folks a snapshot of who we are as artists is a daunting task.  However I challenge you to do the hard work of distilling your world down to a short set of 5 or 6 songs. Its a very useful exercise that will teach us a whole lot about what we have to offer our audiences. 

Don't worry about getting it right the first time. The "perfect" showcase set is a rubicks cube that will take time and lots of trial and error to figure out! 

WHAT KIND OF PARTY IS THIS? 

Some…

Talking On Stage or "Help! I Don't Know What To Say"! 

After all the practice we do to prepare the music most of us are caught in a terrible bind when we hit stage and suddenly have to talk to the audience between songs. As good as our musical performance may be, if our stage craft doesn't include preparation for the conversation with the audience we have left a huge part of our performance up to chance. And that usually leads to feeling awkward, saying stupid stuff we didn't mean, long wandering intro's…

Top 5 Tips for Singers from Vocal Coach Micah Barnes 

 Tip #1   The most important secret to being a  good singer is in working your breathing.  If you can breath without tension then there will be no "difficult" note or challenging song that will be outside of your ability to sing it.  Breath is always the answer. 

 Tip #2   Your job as a singer isn't to impress anybody with your voice but instead to make a powerful relationship with your audience. We're not interested in high notes or lung power, we…

Developing Our Own Material: (Being Willing To Suck!) 

We're not all composers. But we all know a good song when we hear one. Maybe thats what stops us from taking those first awkward steps towards developing ourselves as songwriters? The first couple of songs we write can feel tentative, unformed and generally leave us feeling like we'll never become songwriters, with our first attempts unfinished and unheard.  Thats normal and a natural part of learning a new skill set, it's really challenging to compare…