Category Archives: Singing Performance

April 17, 2013

Missed The Voice Season 3 Auditions? Start Preparing for The Voice Auditions 2014 – Part 2 of 2

So you missed The Voice auditions 2012 because you hadn’t heard of the show yet, and then you were kicking yourself when you discovered that you’d missed The Voice auditions 2013 as well. Before you know it, The Voice 2014 auditions will be here, so if you already know that you want to try out for the next season, now is the time to start your preparation. This article is Part 2 of 2 that set out the key things you need to address in preparation for your audition. Part 1 dealt with your attitude, your presentation, and your song choice. Part 2 will now address your performance skills and your voice.

Once again, remember that the sooner you start working towards your audition, the better your chances of turning a judge’s chair.

Your Performance Skills

There’s much more to delivering a successful singing audition than having a good voice. Your performance includes:

  • The way that you walk onto the stage;
  • What you do in the seconds before you start singing;
  • What you do with your body while you sing;
  • How you form a connection with your audience;
  • What you do if you make a mistake, and;
  • How you behave when the song is over.

Just like singing, the art of performing needs to be practiced, and this can only be done by getting experience. Seek out local opportunities to sing in front of an audience – either more formal situations such as festivals and eisteddfods, or less formal karaoke nights in bars or at parties. All are great places to hone your performing skills. The most important thing is just to get exposure to performing, with the added bonus of how great you will feel when someone comes up to you afterwards and tells you how much they enjoyed what you did.

Becoming familiar with the inevitable nerves that strike all performers is also an important part of your journey as a performer. Unchecked, they can cripple your ability to breathe correctly for singing, but if you learn to accept and channel them, they can become a force of energy that boosts your performance. Conquering nerves cannot be taught in lessons; it’s only by getting up on stages time and time again that you’ll learn how to deal with them. The key is to get stage experience wherever and whenever you can prior to your audition. Sing in front of anyone who will listen, and be grateful for the feedback they provide.

Your Voice

Your voice is the crowning glory of all your preparation, and the one thing that absolutely must be addressed long before you audition. Look after your vocal cords by drinking plenty of water (room temperature or warmer, not refrigerated), warming up with vocal exercises, avoiding alcohol, smoking and smoky rooms, taking extra care of yourself in cold and ‘flu season, and not straining your voice by screaming at football matches (or children!).

You must be singing daily, practicing for an absolute minimum of an hour every day. If you are not already taking singing lessons, you should consider embarking on a high quality course of vocal instruction (as a music teacher, this is the program that I would recommend). Lessons are essential if you want to start developing your voice to its fullest potential. In previous television singing competitions (think back to the early seasons of Idol), it was often enough for the judges to hear a decent voice with the potential to become something special. Shows like The Voice are far too competitive for that now. If you don’t have a great voice when you walk in the door, you won’t get on the show in the first place, and you certainly won’t get through the blind auditions.

Many singers brag that they’ve never had a lesson and sing just great. It’s true that some people are blessed with natural talent, but natural talent combined with sound vocal instruction can only produce an even more astonishing voice, which is exactly what shows like The Voice are seeking. If you choose to audition, you will literally be competing with some of the best voices in the country, so anything you can do to improve your singing voice will likewise improve your chances of being successful on the show.

Good luck in all your endeavours, and I hope to see you on The Voice next season!

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April 21, 2011

How to sing in public – ways to get used to singing in front of an audience

This post about how to sing in public actually started out as a response to a comment that a reader posted here on my blog, which said:

“I do not sing in public, no guts. Some people say I have a good voice… Are there any websites you recommend?… I would like to sing in public just for the joy of singing. I joined a church choir, but it did not work out for me.”

I answered the comment, but have expanded on my response here because the fear of performing in public is very common – most people would vastly prefer singing in the privacy of their own shower than singing in front of an audience. Just like public speaking, public singing can be more than a little terrifying, but it’s not just about having guts, it’s about building up your confidence, and that’s largely based on experience. If you want to learn how to sing in public, there’s only one place you’ll learn, and that’s on the stage itself.

Some people hold mini-concerts, or recitals, in front of family and friends, just to get used to having others in the room while they sing. Sometimes this is helpful, but some people find it more stressful to sing in front of people they know. The nice thing about singing in front of strangers is knowing that if things aren’t perfect, there’s nobody to remind you of it at the next family barbeque! Colleagues of mine who are now professional singers even busked in the street in their early days – not for the cash, just for the experience and exhilaration of singing in public places in front of people they were never likely to encounter again.

I believe one of the best ways to build up your confidence is always to start small – maybe try entering a local music festival (sometimes they’re called an “eisteddfod”) so you’ll only be singing for a small group of people. These are easy to find if you search on the internet. You will notice that after a while people will start coming up to say that they think you have a good voice, or that they really enjoyed your performance of a particular song, and bit by bit that helps to build you up. Positive feedback is one of the BEST confidence-builders ever!

At the same time, you will be getting used to the practice of actually standing on a stage in front of an audience, and the more you do it, the more natural it feels. It really is one of those things you just need to work at, and looking out for suitable, small-scale opportunities is the first step. The first time I entered a music festival I put my name down for six different categories (yes, it was a long and exhausting day!). At my first performance for the day I was an absolute wreck of nerves, and it showed, but by my fourth piece I actually started feeling an eagerness to get back up and try again. I was already thinking about things I’d done wrong earlier, and how I could avoid those mistakes the next time around.

Singing in a choir can be a good way of getting used to singing in public without feeling exposed, but there’s still a pretty big leap between singing along with 20+ other people, and taking the stage solo. Looking for a quartet or someone to duet with might work better – just having an extra person on stage for both moral and musical support can be helpful as you get started. Alternatively, find an accompanist (usually a pianist) whom you trust and work well with – having them on stage supporting and performing with you can be a huge confidence booster.

Finally, to address the last part of the reader’s post I was answering – in terms of web site recommendations for singing and performing, if you can’t find an experienced singing teacher such as myself to work with you, I’d go with Brett Manning’s excellent Singing Success program. No matter how you learn to sing though, the important thing is to start getting exposure singing in front of other people as soon as you can, even if it’s just in front of a couple of friends to start with. If you have a good voice then you’ll soon learn that there’s much more pleasure in sharing it with others, than keeping your talent all to yourself.

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