Captivating An Audience

Learning proper singing technique is of course vital to your success as a performer. However, more important than this is the sense of your core, and your empathy with others -- in short, your humanity. Without these traits, a performer cannot hold an audience's interest, let alone captivate an audience. How do you develop these traits?

Be a social creature. Mix with people and nature, and realize that you are a member of both groups. When constantly engaged in a dialogue with your fellow humans, you will recognize the essence of a great singer; it is the same as the essence of a great human being.

To develop this recognition, simply meet and greet people with warmth every chance you get. Greeting audience members before or after a performance is a good start. There are opportunities throughout your off-stage life for you to do this, also. Consider that even though you may be in a checkout line in a supermarket, or eating a meal in a Chinese restaurant, you're still on stage and still performing. The personas we unconsciously don when we interact with the external world can help us connect with others, or distance us from others. The choice is yours. Decide to connect, and you'll discover resources that penetrate your persona. These resources can only help your singing.

Recognize that you are your first audience, and critic. You may not be your best audience or critic, but you can develop greater objectivity about how you sound. First, identify what it is about your singing that you like. Are there particular songs, or songs by a particular composer that make you value your singing more? Conversely, are there songs you sing that make you cringe at the sound of your voice? Write these distinctions down, and find patterns in them to help you discover what exactly it is you like best about your voice.

Take the time to record your singing, and listen to it. Many singers can remember their surprise when they first heard their own voice on a recording device. This surprise comes from the change in perspective from singer to listener, and due to the physics involved in listening to yourself while singing.

A metaphor to illustrate this can be found in the sun. The sun is obviously the primary source of heat for all people on the earth. Yet, different parts of the earth experience different amounts of heat. Why? Because the media that the sun's heat is "communicated" through are different for those living near the Equator, for example, and those closer to the North or South poles. Among other factors, the ground near the Equator is a more directed and thus effective reflector of this heat than the ground near the Poles. For both the voice and the sun's heat, the source is the same, but the perception of it differs, based on the means of communication.

The key point to gather from this is the following: the perception others have of your singing is an invaluable source of feedback you can apply to improve your singing.

Love all creatures and savor nature. Everyone has their own distinctive key to their inner humanity. The path to discovering what interests and even captivates another is different for each person. That said, there are some things that make everyone respond with warmth. This warmth radiates through us when we perform.
Pets, for example, can bring out everyone's friendliness and warmth. A pet -- whether a dog, cat, hamster or goldfish -- can stir feelings of compassion and devotion in you. When we feel these things, they manifest in our body, gestures and expressions. How could such feelings not draw an audience's interest when you manifest them in a performance?

During the Second World War, when a young man, I had a dog named Jerry. He was my constant companion since I was about six years old. I cherished him as a playmate. I knew he loved me innately, yet I took his love for granted. A short while after being inducted into the Air Force, I received a letter from my family. Jerry had stopped eating after I left home, and had died from hunger, pining for me. To this day, every performance I give has a bit of that pain I feel from Jerry's death. Never underestimate the power and resonance of love, and how it can affect your performance, no matter the source of that love.

The effects that other elements of Mother Nature have on us can also help us engage our audience's interest. For one thing, it's said that being near water is a boon to solving many problems. I can't explain this, but can testify to it a bit. Remember the last time you were at the beach? (When your enjoyment of it wasn't hindered by a horde of people.) Do you remember the feelings of calm and release that you felt then? This is nature