How Aspiring Singer Songwriters Can Break Into Actually Performing
The best way to get over your fear of beginning to play and sing in front of a live audience is to progressively work your way up to a large audience. Consider using these tips as a guide:
1. Once you’re comfortable enough playing your instrument while singing in your bedroom or practice area, and you have a few cover songs and perhaps an original one in your repertoire, start playing in front of a small audience such as your significant other and maybe 1 friend. The idea is to initially keep your audience small so you can gain confidence and immediate feedback.
2. When you become confident playing in front of that small audience, graduate to playing a few songs at a small family gathering or a setting with a few more people when the time is right. Be careful with family members though, because they will call you out onto the stage in their living room moments after uncle Charlie and his family of 23 people walk through the door, tired and in a bad mood after a horrible 5 hour flight from Minneapolis.
The point is; don’t let friends and family pressure you. You have to make the call on when the time is right. When you do play your songs, make it a short set-3 songs at the most! This is because after 2 or 3 songs 10 minutes will have probably elapsed and people generally have an attention span of 10-20 minutes before their minds move onto something else unless you’re absolutely phenomenal!
Even if you eventually stink up the place, you’re making progress because you’re actually performing in front of a live audience, you will have finally gotten it out of the way, and you’ll be more and more comfortable with every performance.
3. Know when to stop! Whenever you play, if you have 3 killer original songs and 2 “so-so” songs, don’t play the last 2 originals! Instead, play a couple of cover songs that people know and love if it gets to the point where they want to keep listening.
4. You’ll know when you’re ready to finally perform in public. You’re consistently getting a favorable reaction while playing in front of your friends, you’re comfortable playing in front of them, so the next logical step is–yep! You guessed it. Invite all the people you’ve been playing in front of, to an open mike night. It’ll be almost like playing in front of them once again, only this time with a few invited guests (the bar patrons) at an unfamiliar but friendly house!
There’s nothing worse than getting up on a stage unprepared only to fail miserably! Prepare yourself logically, by working your way up to finally playing on a stage. An audience clapping in approval will inspire you like nothing else on this planet to continue making music!
