As I play out more and more, I realize that many audiences listen with their eyes first. I'm learning that our stage show plays a big part in audience perception. If we just stand up there like a stiff, people don't care what we play. But if we can move and dance, it takes ordinary playing to the next level. It's exciting for the audience.
Do you have any go to "moves" on stage? When you're building up a solo, what do YOU do?
If a musician fails to realize that how he listens to live music is different from the majority of the "citizens" out there, he will miss opportunities to further his live performance career! ---------- The Iceman
On the TV show The Voice, Bette Midler says the very same thing that people listen with their eyes and from real gigging experience, this is absolutely true!!!! Look at how people get EASILY FOOLED into thinking a harp player is playing ridiculously hard if they're moving around on the bandstand, and truth is that the players who stand on the bandstand like a total stiff or a mannequin are often the ones playing much too hard to begin with and the ones that move around are doing something most players NEVER learn to do and that is to make both the mind, body, and harmonica all work together as one.
When I was in my teens, I worked at a fast food joint and the store manager once told me something that many professional chefs teach in culinary school and that's people often eat with their eyes, meaning that the way the meal is presented on the plate, if the plating of the food is lousy, the customer is automatically going to think the food is going to suck.
Unfortunately, in jam situations, that is often going to be the very worst place to learn these things because in most of them, your chances of being properly mentored by a pro in order to learn these things are slim and none. Just look at how many harp players are scared to death of even just walking into the crowd and playing and whenever harp players do just that alone, they go freaking nuts. You are both a musician as well as an entertainer and an important job is not just playing well, but also getting the audience involved and that means you gotta be learning showmanship and not jam hacksmanship. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
