7 Tips To Elevate Your Performance

There are some tips I find myself telling student after student to help them really elevate their performance of a song and these tips apply across the board, no matter if you are recording, auditioning, or doing a gig, they are equally important. The same applies to an acting piece, for example a monologue. But for the sake of this article, I’ll refer to music.

1. KNOW THE SONG - That means know your lyrics, know the notes you are singing (the melody) know where you can take a breath before a big passage, basically know it like the back of your hand. That way all of your energy can go to connecting to the song and to your audience, you don’t want to waste effort remembering lyrics or hoping you make that high note in the chorus and so on.
 

​2. THINK ABOUT DYNAMICS - What do I mean by dynamics? I mean parts of the song that might get louder or softer, more dramatic or more reserved. It is colouring the song, you don’t want the song to sound all one level, all same-same, the next step will help you achieve this.

3. WHAT ARE YOU SINGING ABOUT? -What do the lyrics actually mean to you? If you wrote them then this is the easy part, if you are singing a song written by someone else, then how could the lyrics relate to something going on in your life that can help you connect with them more? For example, you are singing a song about heartbreak, pretty easy to connect to this right? Think about that person who broke your heart while you sing and watch the emotion of the song come to life.
 
 
4. HAVE AN OBJECTIVE - What do you want from the song? Who are you singing it too? What do you want from them? Have this in mind as it gives you focus.
 
I worked with two students doing a duet recently, and once they knew what they were fighting for in the song, it came to life. They weren’t just singing the notes, they wanted something from the other person. For example, one student wanted the other to say yes to the major life change they were proposing they share, the other student wanted them to give up, back off, well initially anyway, as the first student got their objective and by the end of the song, the other agreed to give it a try.

5. REHEARSE - Put all the pieces together and rehearse it, know it, love it, nurture it, iron out any remaining technical difficulties,
 
 
6. CONNECT - Now you know the words, know you know the melody, know you know what the lyrics mean to you and how they connect to your lived experience, plug into it. Allow yourself to be emotionally vulnerable and open, forget about being vocally technically correct, you have rehearsed all of that in remember?
 
 
 
7. HAVE FUN -  This is the most important one. Now you have put all the pieces together, settle in and enjoy it. Trust the process, trust you have done the work and you can now shine.
 
I know some of these concepts might sound intense or a lot for just singing a song, but they are tools you can use to stand out from the crowd and grab an audience by the heart when you perform and remember I am always here to help you out.