STAGECRAFT!

[Tarby]

STAGECRAFT

Alrighty, figured i'd make a thread about this here, which covers two topics:

1. How many of you have performed live, in front of an audience? And, if you haven't, how many of you would like to?
2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?
3. Anyone you've seen who's had an impressive stage show/presence? This doesn't just mean music; any form of live or once-having-been live performance (eg, concert videos, etc.)

I couldn't find any threads which covered this topic on MLR, so i figured, being more of a performer/actor than a straight-up musician, I'd make a thread about it. I'd love to expand on this thread/post, but I'll need some input from MLR before I can start focusing on specific topics.

[PinkieGuy]

1. How many of you have performed live, in front of an audience? And, if you haven't, how many of you would like to?

I have and do perform. Love it.

2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?

I'd like to know about movement across the stage. I suck ass at it, and if you watch any footage of me, i suck at it.

Also, how does one improve performing an instrument and singing at the same time (other than raw practice)?

Tips wise, I'd suggest making sure that your performance has a dynamic range. The worst performances are ones where there is too much upbeat or too much slow, as it become monotonous.

3. Anyone you've seen who's had an impressive stage show/presence? This doesn't just mean music; any form of live or once-having-been live performance (eg, concert videos, etc.)

Dream Theater put on a hectic show, but probably the best live performance I've ever seen was Cirque De Soleil. There was a moment when the whole stage blacked, and performers in black morph suits came on stage holding giant LED frames, which in the darkness looked like fireflies. There was then the most transcendent orchestral cresecendo over the next 2 minutes. Absolutely amazing.

[Facade]

1 i want to but i dont know how
2 can any one tell me what i would need?
3 deadmau5 stage setup is pretty epic

[Calamus_Dash]

The only experience I have with playing onstage was when I played keyboard (and occasionally guitar) for my friend's band in 9th grade XD
I have a tip, AND a question. Tip: Don't get nervous, you'll do fine. Question: Does anyone else get incredibly nervous right before going onstage? The band I was in played probably a dozen gigs over a year or so (not much, but we were busy with school and stuff) and every time I started getting really nervous before playing, even though I knew I wasn't gonna screw anything up.

[Dr_Dissonance]

I used to perform a lot of classical guitar on stage back in the day...my only advice I can think of is to immerse yourself in the music...I found if I was enjoying the music, I did a much better job!

Recently, my only performances as such have been conducting an ensemble or choir...that's a tad nerve-wrecking! Everyone checking out your arse as you keep everyone in time...

[X-Trav]

Everyone checking out your arse as you keep everyone in time...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Besides recitals I used to play piano for a church band (and i'm an atheist trololol), though they never had any piano parts so I would just play the chords and a loud bang on the lower keys every chord switch. Everyone loved me because of how much I complimented everybody else, but that was all. Being in a church I the audience didn't react much due to all the prayer and, for lack of a better word: wailing.

For live performances i've seen, I just recently saw The President's Own Marine Band, The highlight being a xylophone soloist just shredding the instrument. The whole band is comprised of sublime talent, and is very selective. That band doesn't joke around; they are military personal after all.

[Versilaryan]

1. How many of you have performed live, in front of an audience? And, if you haven't, how many of you would like to?

I've been all over the stage, though almost exclusively for concert band/orchestra. I've been in a couple plays and musicals and a good handful of a capella performances, though.
I have yet to perform my guitar actually onstage. I've just been too lazy to make/find a band. >.>

2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?

I agree wholeheartedly with Slow Clap Processor and a bunch of other people here -- stage presence is huge. Move around, loosen up, don't be that band that might as well be filled with cardboard cutouts with recorded music blaring through those speakers.

As for tips? People tell me I have huge stage presence, but I'm usually singing when people tell me that, and I really don't know what I'm doing. xD I guess, don't be afraid to dance, move around in time to the music. Be an arrogant prick onstage -- you know your shit, and you're not afraid to show it.
Moving around, identify some key moments in your music that you want to get across. Obviously, if you're soloing, you're probably going to want to step forward and not move so people can see you (and so you can focus on your solo). But if there are any breakdowns where the music lightens up, move around to increase that loose atmosphere in the music, or find key points where the music changes or something to move a few steps to the left or right.

Also, if you're relaxed, you're going to play better. True fact of life, no matter what you play.

Also, PinkieGuy, what I do if I need to sing and play at the same time is I get the playing down to the point where I can do it in my sleep and focus on the singing. If you focus on both at the same time, your singing's going to suffer and poor singing is something the audience can pick up on really easily, moreso than poor instrument playing.

3. Anyone you've seen who's had an impressive stage show/presence? This doesn't just mean music; any form of live or once-having-been live performance (eg, concert videos, etc.)

I wish I wasn't, like, two when the Brecker Brothers were still touring. If I'm lucky, I might be able to catch Randy Brecker in concert if he happens to be touring for some reason, but the Brecker Brothers are gone for good. =/ Their live performances in the early 90's are just phenomenal.

I've also seen the Canadian Brass a few times. If anyone knows how to make fun of themselves while playing serious music, it's them. xD

[Tarby]

2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?

I'd like to know about movement across the stage. I suck ass at it, and if you watch any footage of me, i suck at it.

Also, how does one improve performing an instrument and singing at the same time (other than raw practice)?

Movement's an awkward topic; as an actor, one of the things I've learned about being on stage was that, If you're gonna move, have a REASON for it; have it be to get from point a to point b. The audience will be much more forgiving if you spend 30 minutes at the microphone because you were glued to the spot due to either singing or messing with effects than if you kinda just wander aimlessly and without purpose around the stage; the latter gives the audience the impression that you have no idea what you're doing, or are at least unsure about what your doing (The same goes for almost moving somewhere, then deciding it's a bad idea and stopping almost mid-step; the audience sees that, especially at smaller venues, and if that becomes a regular thing, the audience will again get the impression you have no idea what you're doing).

One good rule of thumb is this: from the microphone to about 4-5 feet back and 3-4 feet wide, is "Home Base." That's where you should plan on spending most of your time on stage. Thrashing around on stage is fine (to an extent, personally i think it just looks silly after a while, especially if that's the extent of what you do xD), as long as you try to keep it to this area. As the lead singer of two bands, guitarist in one, I tend to have the home base go from the mic to the front of the drums, but depending on the venue, that might be too deep of a space, so that's something you need to judge for yourself.

If you leave home base, have a reason for it, and be confident in your movements. If you go to stage left, have a reason for going to stage left, even if it's just to heckle the audience a bit; don't go for no reason - you have much better things you could be doing, and a lot of things you should be doing that you're not if you're wandering. And if you don't have much, if anything, to do (Like, it's time for the singer to do his acoustic ballad, or it's a solo, or you just don't play for some reason for a verse or chorus or something), DON'T DRAW ATTENTION TO YOURSELF. This goes for people of any genre or performance: one of the most impressive clips i've seen of a show was the stage setup of the artist Amon Tobin (god i hope i spelled that right...), where he literally just sat in a box surrounded by a shitton of other boxes while stunning images were projected at all angles upon his little fortress of solitude. It looked fucking EPIC, and took a lot of time and effort to design, but, if he got up and started dancing and fucking around during a song, that would take away from the visual effects and break the suspension of disbelief - a term i'll explain in a moment. So, the BEST THING for A.T. to do is to sit down and let his music play. And from one extreme to another: Don't feel you constantly need to be doing something. It's not a sin to not move around too much, as long as you're not doing your best imitation of a tree growing. Act in accordance with the music you're performing. With some music, it's okay to be silly, but walking out in a chicken costume during a song about a young girl overdosing on drugs is...well, it's inappropriate xD (This is from experience, too. I've seen a band do this, and the guy in the chicken suit during a sombre piano ballad was...well, i couldn't take the band seriously).

My three biggest tips are as follows for any form of stage production, be it a band, solo act, stage show, musical, play, even stand up comedy act:

1. Every movement should have a purpose. Even if you're winging it, don't go somewhere or do something unless there's an end to the means. Which brings me to...

2. Try to get a good idea of what you're going to do during your performance. This includes making a set list and deciding on song placement (Which is also very important), but also covers deciding what'll be done where. A lot of bands i've come across refuse to plan out their stage show even slightly, because they feel it "takes away from the show" or that the "audience will know they're scripted" or some bullshit like that. Well, a) putting in that extra effort might mean the difference between a good show and a bad, especially if you're really active. and b) THE AUDIENCE DOESN'T KNOW IT'S NOT IMPROVED. Everything is acting, and unless you're a long-time veteran actor/performer or someone inately good at improvization, it might not be in your best interest to try (no offence). The Occasional on-a-whim act is fine, but in all honesty you're much better off with at least a skeleton of what you're gonna do. It also doesn't need to be "third measure of 2nd chorus, to this, then this, then this, then 30 seconds later do this, then do this" etc etc. Just, like, "kick stand during breakdown" or "antagonize audience" is fine, if even that.

3. Realize that, despite how much you might want to connect with the audience, there is and always will be an invisible barrier between you and them. The 4th Wall is a very real thing, and goes hand in hand with an idea taught to me by my old director called "Suspension Of Disbelief". Essentially, when a person goes to see a show, be it live music, theater, standup comedian, or even a movie, all their attention is focused on you. When you're performing, they don't notice the things around them nearly as much - their attention is (or at least should be) on you, be it your band, your theater troupe, your movie, etc. This presents itself as a double edged sword:

a) It allows you to take a bit for granted: for one, the audience will always be at least mildly entertained. also, if you can role with the punches, blunders aren't an issue as long as they're not consistantly happening.

b) It means you have to gauge your audience to an extent. There is such thing as a dead audience, but a dead audience doesn't mean one that isn't entertained. If you're playing post rock or floyd prog, chances are the dudes in the audience aren't gonna be moshing. You have to gauge your audience by genre and also by show (since a lot of booking agents don't care for genre when booking new or small time acts), and decide what kinda performance is appropriate, and what's gonna bore them or scare them away. As a smaller band, you need to be somewhat flexible in your performance (not necessarily your music) - it's not "selling out", it's recognizing the market you've been put against and trying to make a proverbial sale with what you've already got.

My brain isn't working, and i've had this saved as a draft for a while, but I'm all over keeping this up. xD This is fun!


AS FOR PLAYING AND SINGING AT THE SAME TIME:

Regardless of the instrument, I'm not gonna lie: it takes practice upon practice upon and heaping plate of practice. The more complex something is, the more difficult it is to do. If you have an issue with singing while playing more complex stuff, opt to let a second guitarist (or even bassist) take over the riff or something so you can focus on singing for a bit. It helps at times, and allows for movement and interaction

[Tarby]

1 i want to but i dont know how
2 can any one tell me what i would need?
3 deadmau5 stage setup is pretty epic

And to answer your question, first a few questions of my own:

What kinda music do you produce? What would your target audience be? And what would you be hoping to do live?

[Sugarholik]

Does anyone else get incredibly nervous right before going onstage?

I do.
I think the only cure for that is just to get on stage so many times you stop getting nervous.
If there is a magic trick for curing stage fright I want to know it!

When I'm on stage with a band It's very relaxing actually. But if I'm alone I start to panic.
A couple of days ago I had to play just one song in a meeting of some rich and important tuxedo guys. Before the performance I was nervous within a healthy scale, but once I got on stage my left leg started shaking so much I was afraid I'd fall ^^ Which in turn probably increased my panic even further. As a result I screwed up million times but luckily I was the only one to notice it.

[PinkieGuy]

3. Great live bands for me have been: The Chariot, Explosions in the Sky, Envy, and Dillinger Escape Plan (they literally tore the roof down at the last show I went too). Chariot and Dillinger just go berserk when they play. Explosions and Envy play with a lot of emotion.

OMG how good are the Chariot?!?! They supported Oh, Sleeper at a local pub here, one of the best live shows i've seen. Can't believe I forgot this.

[Whitetail]

1. How many of you have performed live, in front of an audience? And, if you haven't, how many of you would like to?
2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?
3. Anyone you've seen who's had an impressive stage show/presence? This doesn't just mean music; any form of live or once-having-been live performance (eg, concert videos, etc.)

1: I've performed on stage many times with my school bands, the Jazz band performed fairly often before it got cancelled my last year of high school. I really like performing on stage but it's fairly difficult to get into without some sort of school connection, especially seeing as I'm a bassist and solo bass is fairly difficult to pull off well - so basically if I want to do a good performance I'm going to need to find a good guitarist or other instrumentalist who's both as dedicated and interested in live performances as I am, which anyone who's tried to get a band together probably knows it isn't the easiest thing.

2: Nope, haven't actually had the chance to perform any of my own music with a band so I've only done it in ensemble settings where everything's already coordinated.

3: I find Tool's live presense to be fairly interesting, unlike most bands which normally put the focus on the band itself, they instead try to put the focus on the music and thus often have themselves very poorly lighted and use other forms of multimedia (such as laser light shows or projectors, etc.) to try to put the focus on the general experience, and much less just directly on the band. I think it's a fairly interesting stage philosophy since it gets away from the conventions of stage shows and often enters into territory of electronica and IDM type live shows (think Aphex Twin, that sort of thing) and provides an experience most of the rock audience isn't accustomed to.

[2clop]

STAGECRAFT

Alrighty, figured i'd make a thread about this here, which covers two topics:

1. How many of you have performed live, in front of an audience? And, if you haven't, how many of you would like to?
2. Do you have any questions, tips, or general discussion which revolves around or involves even remotely the topic of stagecraft?
3. Anyone you've seen who's had an impressive stage show/presence? This doesn't just mean music; any form of live or once-having-been live performance (eg, concert videos, etc.)

I couldn't find any threads which covered this topic on MLR, so i figured, being more of a performer/actor than a straight-up musician, I'd make a thread about it. I'd love to expand on this thread/post, but I'll need some input from MLR before I can start focusing on specific topics.

1. I have, more than a dozen times but less than, say, 30 times? That sounds about right.
2. In my somewhat limited experience, there are two ways to go with it. The first is to engage the crowd heavily, feed off them, interact with them, open up completely.
The second is to be completely absorbed by the music, imagine the crowd isn't there at all, and just play.
While the second option sounds ridiculous, I've found it can work depending on where you're playing, who you're playing with, and what you're playing. It also depends a lot on your state of mind.
3. I saw Atmosphere in concert, that was really good and probably the most memorable concert I've been to. I saw Blue Oyster Cult live once and it was easily the worst show I've ever seen. They were ponyloving terrible. I guess that's not relevant though.

The only experience I have with playing onstage was when I played keyboard (and occasionally guitar) for my friend's band in 9th grade XD
I have a tip, AND a question. Tip: Don't get nervous, you'll do fine. Question: Does anyone else get incredibly nervous right before going onstage? The band I was in played probably a dozen gigs over a year or so (not much, but we were busy with school and stuff) and every time I started getting really nervous before playing, even though I knew I wasn't gonna screw anything up.

I used to get incredibly nervous before shows, but the more I played the less nervous I got. And of course, the more we practiced beforehand the better I felt too. Like everything related to music, practice practice practice.