Stage Presence Help!

[Mr. Jelly]

Look like you have confidence. Look at the audience. Talk to them. Look like you are having fun. Put on a show. Give them an experience. And I learned that one from a bar maid last night so I'm sure you can pull it off.

[Twitch]

Good unobtrusive banter between songs always helps.

Early on I was given this advice to use while playing:

Instead of the 'hundred mile stare', scan the audience and pick out those looking in your direction. For a full 4 seconds, make eye contact and smile and sing to that person only. After 4 seconds move on to the next person and repeat. As you do it you'll feel like a full 4 seconds seems like a long time to devote to just one person but the personal connection you just made leaves a (hopefully good!) impression.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Twitch

Good unobtrusive banter between songs always helps.

Early on I was given this advice to use while playing:

Instead of the 'hundred mile stare', scan the audience and pick out those looking in your direction. For a full 4 seconds, make eye contact and smile and sing to that person only. After 4 seconds move on to the next person and repeat. As you do it you'll feel like a full 4 seconds seems like a long time to devote to just one person but the personal connection you just made leaves a (hopefully good!) impression.

This! I have used this for years - I used to regularly do a club which was in a long thin room with the "stage" in the centre of the longest wall so you effectively had audience to your extreme right and left as well as all points in between.

I observed that other performers would sing/play to the folk in front of them and that the rest of the audience seemed "disconnected".

I decided to seek out "friendly faces" (usually ladies) in five or six places around the room, and to play/sing to them in short bursts then move on before it could get creepy.

Thing is, there were probably ten/twenty people around those folk that would also think I was looking at/singing to them.

Later, I got some acting jobs at a large theatre which was almost in the round so the performance had to be much "bigger".

[jseth]

I'm assuming you aren't wanting to go the "Show-Biz" route... (Hey there, anyone here from Iowa? See Bill Murray on SNL :Auto Train" sketch)...

Just be yourselves and do what comes naturally... as many have stated, there are hundreds upon hundreds of performers who are excellent and do nothing at all to "have an act" or put on a show... their music does the work for them.

Being into it, being confident, knowing WHO YOU ARE and WHAT YOU STAND FOR will serve you very well... both in the "Biz" and in making authentic music.

A world famous opera singer gave a friend of mine a great piece of advice which I will pass along...

"GO ON STAGE LIKE A LION, NOT LIKE A LAMB"

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by oneshot1405

I really like the part about not being someone you're not. I think we as human beings have been designed to see right through that facade. Normally results in cringy performances

Right. Even some professionals can't get away with it.
It's when you see performers doing something that looks like a practised move they've seen others do, that's supposed to be cool. There's all kinds of cliche moves and mannerisms that have become part of pop or rock stagecraft, copied by almost everyone, and very few can actually do them and make them look natural.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Twitch

Good unobtrusive banter between songs always helps.

Early on I was given this advice to use while playing:

Instead of the 'hundred mile stare', scan the audience and pick out those looking in your direction. For a full 4 seconds, make eye contact and smile and sing to that person only. After 4 seconds move on to the next person and repeat. As you do it you'll feel like a full 4 seconds seems like a long time to devote to just one person but the personal connection you just made leaves a (hopefully good!) impression.

Nooo!! Really?? You serious? It might work for an old-fashioned night-club singer, but it's cheesy enough even there. For rock, folk, country, pop, etc. - no. It would really make me squirm if I saw someone doing that.
Wow
Mind you, if it was a really attractive guy singing, and he caught my eye, smiled and sang about how much he loved me.... yeah I can see that working....
Hang on, I'm a guy! And I'm not gay!!!!! Wow, you're right, that's powerful stuff!

[slewis]

At a minimum, consider that a decent degree of eye contact with the audience, and the occasional nod and smile, even at no one in particular, are nice touches that help connect with people.

[Chipotle]

Play in front of a mirror. But even better, as suggested, video yourself. Often what you think you are doing on stage and what you actually look like can be very different. You thought you were smiling or moving or making a grand gesture but it didn't come across as much on stage. Seeing what you really look like is the only way to figure out what you want to do differently.

[Laughingboy68]

Enjoy yourself, play with emotion, move just a bit.

I often play from a seat. It’s a fairly tall Quiklok adjustable stool that puts me at a little above my standing height. Even from a fairly static position, I try to move - sometimes I’ll stand or bounce on the footrest.

If you look nervous, bored or unmoved by what you’re playing, it’s hard to expect your audience to feel any different.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Laughingboy68

Enjoy yourself, play with emotion, move just a bit.

I often play from a seat. It’s a fairly tall Quiklok adjustable stool that puts me at a little above my standing height. Even from a fairly static position, I try to move - sometimes I’ll stand or bounce on the footrest.

If you look nervous, bored or unmoved by what you’re playing, it’s hard to expect your audience to feel any different.

i was once told by a fellow muso's wife that if a performer played standing , she felt ghe was performing for her (i.e. the audience, but if he was sitting - she was watching a rehearsal.

I always stand now (but rehearse sitting).

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Nooo!! Really?? You serious? It might work for an old-fashioned night-club singer, but it's cheesy enough even there. For rock, folk, country, pop, etc. - no. It would really make me squirm if I saw someone doing that.
Wow
Mind you, if it was a really attractive guy singing, and he caught my eye, smiled and sang about how much he loved me.... yeah I can see that working....
Hang on, I'm a guy! And I'm not gay!!!!! Wow, you're right, that's powerful stuff!

Yes, seriously. the "ART" of stage craft is to avoid being either amateurish or "cheesy".

It seems that you are misinterpreting making eye contact with the audience as if the performer was eying up groupies or something.
that is exactly what it isn't - it's all about story telling and making contact with the audience.

p.s. I don't think I do it for four seconds - just long enough NOT to be creepy.

[ChrisE]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

i was once told by a fellow muso's wife that if a performer played standing , she felt ghe was performing for her (i.e. the audience, but if he was sitting - she was watching a rehearsal.



I always stand now (but rehearse sitting).

I agree completely. I always stand. I played a duo gig with a friend once and he wanted to sit. I could only make it through a few songs before I had to stand up.

[Mr. Jelly]

Act like you have stage presence and charisma. Then you will look like you have stage presence and charisma. You will feel more confident also.

[Gordon Currie]

The advice to video performances is good - you need to see exactly what you currently do in order to make any meaningful changes.

In addition, since we all can have big blind spots about our performances and presentation, if you are really serious about upping your stagecraft game, consider hiring a pro who specializes in stagecraft analysis to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and suggest methods for improvement.

One I can recommend in Portland OR: http://www.vickiambinder.com/

[Silly Moustache]

Here's a thought about stagecraft.

We are storytellers when we perform, both in our singing and in our playing.

There are people who can "recite" a poem like a reluctant school kid, and there are the spell binders.

When we sing a song cover, (frinstance) that isn't a personal confessional, we are telling a story, but to be convincing, we have to "act it out" as IF it is our story.

Singing and playing is a performing art, just like acting and dance etc., and each requires similar talents to "captivate" you audience.

Think about the performers that captivate you, and how and why.

Worth thinking about ?