Hi guys! Hippo Gnu Ears! I hope 2002 is happy one and lives up to
its promise for ALL of you. I have been a member in here for AGES
now, but haven't responded much, you all do SUCH a great job. But I
am beginning to feel a little more confident and there are several
threads currently where I think I might be of some small assistance,
so here goes. Hope I don't drive you all mad! LOL
(And btw, there is another drama diva here, she is dramadiva2002 and
I am drama_diva_au aka Michelle. I'm an Australian, I have taught
singing full time for 15 years this year! OMG :-O! I have had vocal
probs for two years now, resulting in almost no "singing voice".
Guess what? It's ALL down to gastric reflux, at first 'silent' and
eventually not so silent aka CHRONIC! (And extremely painful!) I'm
trialing medication now and hope to be a "singer" again by mid year.
Wish me luck!)
Anyhoo, what I wanted to address this post, was the plea for dealing
with audiences. At a personal level, I know what it takes most of
all, is just jumping in boots and all and doing it till you feel
comfortable. However, given that you are asking for help, it is
obvious that this approach simply won't cut it in the short term.
SO, as a teacher, I would recommend a couple of approaches. The most
basic one is to "coreograph". That is, sit down, do some research on
your audience and/or songs, composers etc, or any topic of interest
that is relevent to a "good show" and script it. If you aren't
confident of doing this on your own perhaps you could brain storm it
with a teacher or friend? In a perfect world you could hire a script
writer! ;-)
Then when you have your script you can either memorize it word for
word, or ad-lib it. It only needs to be a couple of lines intro to
each song and once you are in the swing of things, takes no more
effort to learn than the songs themselves. At first your delivery
might be a bit stilted but as time goes by you are certain to loosen
up. Repetition breeds 'contempt' AND comfort! Practise bits of it in
front of anyone who is willing to listen to you also. Be it teacher,
friend, kidnapped victims er hang on, that might be illegal!
As time goes by, you will probably find that no script is neccesary
and you will be able to say things off the top of your head and
interact with the audience more spontaneously. Don't expect this
overnight. I have found it is more likely to come the more you have
to do it and the more you relax into the task and just "let it be".
I used to be paralysed at the thought of public speaking. My personal
solution was to accept the presidency of the Parents and Teachers
Association at my daughter's school years ago. So as a teacher I can
also recommend anything that makes you HAVE to get up and speak
whether it be a Toastmasters Club (They are a public speaking, speech
making organisation where, simply put, the whole purpose is to make
speeches. Do you have them in the States?) or the local branch of
Greenpeace, whatever floats you boat will do, as long as you are
getting up and expressing yourself outside of singing.
I once read an article where the journalist described his dread at
being sent to interview Robert De Niro. De Niro had a reputation for
being a total pain to open up. De Niro himself said he was painfully
uncomfortable with the whole process, even somewhat shy. Said
journalist (I just WISH I could remember WHO!) thought for a moment
and suggested this to De Niro, "Bob, you're a great actor. Why don't
you simply ACT the character Robert De Niro for me?" (Or words to
that effect.) Result? A wonderful interview!
So....., why don't you ACT like your favourite anyone to do your
speaking? Act like Robin Williams, for instance or Eddie Murphy,
Frank Sinatra or ANYBODY? Act like a professional, confident YOU? As
a singer you MUST have some acting ability, exploit it to create the
character you wish to be, and then play it for all it's worth.
Best of luck nfiniti2001, you CAN do it you know, shy or not. The
performing arts are riddled with people who are painfully
shy 'offstage', regardless of their on stage persona. Just remember
that, and resolve to be BRAVE and you'll go far.
Hope these suggestions can be of some use
~Michelle
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