Tips for Performing On-Stage

When you perform on stage, your audience sees you as a star. For a moment, you bring them to a different world. You help them escape from the pressures of school or work. You help them forget about pain. In fact, your power as a performer can bring a monumental loss of reality for the audience.

It may at first seem like a dream, but the reality is, the audience is keeping an eye on you. Are you scared of performing? Here are ten on-stage music tips that can convert you from an insignificant musician to a phenomenal superstar.

10. The First Three Crucial Minutes

The first part of your performance creates an impression. The first three minutes of your appearance on-stage are crucial. You may consider this your introduction. Why not create a positive impression and consider the first three crucial minutes as fame or rock heaven?

This is the perfect time to give your best shot because this is where you will see the audience at their most excited state. They have been waiting for you, so don’t waste the moment -show them what you’ve got!

9. It’s Show Time!

Think about what you are going to do on your first three minutes on stage. If you think it’s as easy as ABC, don’t forget about how crucial those first few minutes can be.

Showmanship is the key to making sense of the first part of your presence onstage. Consider how you will enter the stage and how you will end and then exit after your number.

Showmanship is not just about showing your skills. It is also about the position where the speaker stands, the location of devices like monitors to help you in posturing, and the stage layout in general.

8. If You Are a Rockstar, Look Like a Rockstar

Performing on stage is a battle between you and your self-esteem. If self-esteem and confidence seem to escape the rockstar in you, performing is something you might feel wrong about doing. It is not yet the end of your rockstar dream.

Have you ever heard of people saying that they have to look good in order to feel good? Grab that principle like your own. Don’t just act like a rockstar. Look like a rockstar and your costume will help you and your lowly spirits get away with any screw-ups on stage.

7. Think Happy Thoughts

As a performer, you need to have inspiration to face your ultimate fear when it comes to performing on stage: the audience.

While some people delight over the thought that a lot of people are applauding, screaming and singing along with the band’s songs, you may be one of the many performers who shakes and rattles because of too much nervousness while on stage.

You can think about your grandmother who needs some medication and the proceeds of the concert are the only way left to pay for the hospital bills. You may also think about your girlfriend or boyfriend who is so proud of you. You can also think about your favorite musician and try to perform like him or her.

6. Never Look at Your Toes While Singing

Lest you look stupid, by all means, stop looking at your feet!

You don’t need to impress your beautiful and newly-polished toes with the way you sing or the way you project on stage. Who you need to interact with is that big crowd shouting your name. Do not talk to the floor ever again.

Try imagining your favorite singer who, upon entering the stage, looks at his or her feet. Doesn’t it turn you off? It doesn’t just make a singer look lame, but it also makes a performer look as if he/she has never been introduced to the concept of self-confidence.

5. The Crowd Must Be Your Best Friend

If you think you have just turned into the newest rock star icon of the millennium, humble yourself and think twice about your assumptions. Who said it is you who decides how you perform on stage?

As you perform on stage, the crowd can be your best friend or your worst enemy. If you give your audience more than what they expect, be ready to be treated like a god. If you perform the way you do inside the shower, then expect a whole crowd of sleepy creatures who’ve mistook the music hall for a bedroom.

The secret here is to work the crowd by begging, entertaining, pleading, torturing or whatever it is the you have to do to keep them on your side.

4. Techniques Lead You to Your Minutes of Fame

Whether it is an expensive guitar or just an air guitar you are holding, it is important to use your techniques to wow your audience. Your position in the band is never a hindrance to showing your audience what you’ve got.

If you are a vocalist, belt it out. If you are a drummer, get all the drum fills rolling in. If you are a bassist, show your slapping and hammering skills. If you are a guitarist, slide your fingers on the strings, use your teeth or tongue for working on the strings or smash your guitar (but make sure you have a replacement guitar and do it only the way world-class guitarists do).

You can make a mark in music history if you know the moves to rock the stage out. One secret to fame: make sure that you memorize your moves. Remember, complex techniques are never spontaneous.

3. You Call it “Attitude,” Dude

Sensing attitude in you will bring out an audience’s killer instinct. If they think you do not have the attitude, they’ll easily tag you as a boring performer. Cultivate that interesting and unique attitude by making your fans believe that you really are a star.

If you can’t make yourself believe that you are a star, hypnotize yourself or do whatever it takes to show that attitude. If an elfin demon is consuming you inside, release it. A classic tip you’ll need to hear over and over again: believe!

2. The Power of Passion

The audience will feel whether you like what you are doing or not. If they see that you are not passionate about performing on stage, they may feel like you do not like your audience, too. These people paid for a ticket to enter the hall, and some of them probably canceled important appointments because this was their only chance left to see you live. These people took the risk just to reach the venue, so give them the quality performance they deserve. Show some love!

Passion is the fuel for all these tips. If you don’t have passion for your craft, where else can you get motivation for performing or for memorizing your techniques? If you are not passionate about what you are doing, what makes you think you can pull it off with a good costume?

1. Confidence is “The” Priority

This is indeed a classic tip for all performers out there. Confidence is priceless. It works on all occasions in all places at all times. Confidence is what gives life to the stage. It is what makes your voice louder. It fuels your limbs to beat the drums and try out new drum techniques. It is what motivates your fingers to slide through the guitar strings to show off.

Confidence is energy. Your confidence is half of what the audience has paid for.

While your performance is your audience’s long-awaited dream, it is your moment of reality. Give a performance that’s mind-altering, face-melting and soul-stealing. Simply think of performing your best and forget everything else. The audience will go wild.

 

If you end up owning the stage with your performance, you could consider joining a band. And together with your confident singing you’ll need a drummer willing to learn to Play Like A Pro and a guitarist that knows the Difficulties Of Playing Guitar.