Im not sure how the performances are going, but I did mine on Monday. Im a fairly experienced classically/jazz trained singer and I've performed solo at the Opera house (sick)... By the way, Im not trying to toot my own horn, just demonstrating this is a fairly reliable source.
If you have any other tips, or wanna say hi, please make a commenty thing. Good luck for all the musicians and drama's out there who are probably either stressing their little heads out or celebrating (like I am at the moment)
Please give it a read, it will probably help you perform your best.
Just some tips for the singers out there:
Hope it helps, I know it helped me. Hope I didnt get to you too late.
GOOD LUCK!
<3 Peta... class of 2004, Newtown HSPA
If you have any other tips, or wanna say hi, please make a commenty thing. Good luck for all the musicians and drama's out there who are probably either stressing their little heads out or celebrating (like I am at the moment)
Please give it a read, it will probably help you perform your best.
Just some tips for the singers out there:
- Get patches: don't smoke the at least for 2 days before your performance. Its just horrible for your voice. And this isnt part of some anti smoking campaign either, im a smoker and ive lost alot of my range and ability since starting.
- Sleep: get an early night the night before. Your voice gets tired with the rest of your body. And also, you need energy to perform your songs to the best of your ability, whether you're doing 1 or 4.
- Steam: steam your throat after you wake up, this will help dislodge the crap that will have accumulated the night before. If you havent done this before, follow these steps:
-put some boiling water into a large bowl
-with a towel over your head breathe in the steam through you nose (does not scorch your throat) and out of your mouth about 10 times
-have a break
-repeat this process until the steam subsides and the water cools down.
- No Moo!: DO NOT HAVE ANY DAIRY (it'll just give you extra mucus you don't need). If you're looking for something hot to replace coffee and other milky stuff, drink peppermint or camomile tea with honey to sweeten. These will also help clear unneeded mucus and open and unrestrict your throat.
- Soothers?: dont use any cough lollies around the time of your performance, as while they give you a temporary clear and moist feeling, they eventually strip moisture from your throat - and probably when you need it least.
- Warm up: warm up properly and dont rehearse too hard as it will strain your voice. If you're unsure how to warm up, get someone to help you, ask your music teacher, or if you can play broken chords and scales sing along to these on 'la', 'ng', a throaty 'eh'. A siren while blowing a rasberry is also good as it promotes air circulation as well as warming up your voice.
I find also taking a deep breath in with your diaphragm then letting it out on a 'shh' and then 'zzz' is a good way of warming everything up. Remember, don't even go at this too hard, warm up in a 'half voice' otherwise you may not have a voice by the end of it if your technique is not perfect (and who's is?)
- Drink: drink lots of water and pineapple juice until about 20 minutes before your performance as it will dry out your throat (believe it or not).
- Tounge: if you're a bit dry close to your performance, bite the tip of your tounge which will stimulate saliva.
- Eye direction: sing above the markers, not to the roof as it will strain your throat and look silly. Try not to make direct eye contact to the markers as its unecissarily intimidating to any audience.
- Performing relationship: make occasional reference to your accompanists unless you're singing classically, in that case sing directly forward, or slightly facing any vocal accompanists. Make sure you keep a balance between your reference to the audience and performers as this is essential to a successful performance.
- Relax: while sometimes nervousness can aid a performance, it also dehydrates you a little, so remember the tounge tip. If you know you're going to have major problems with nerves, have a look at the song's lyrics and try to get into the character of the songwriter during the performance, from doing this on top of solo performance experience, I no longer get nervous in performances (except for the dryness unfortunately)
Hope it helps, I know it helped me. Hope I didnt get to you too late.
GOOD LUCK!
<3 Peta... class of 2004, Newtown HSPA
