beginner mind

Ran across a fascinating article about how young brains work that really sheds light on the ideal performance state of mind.  It's not every day I read an article that pulls together and explains so many of my pet topics, like being in the moment, creativity, and flow! 

Here's the first quote:

Got a great question from George Nowik, a ensemble-singing friend of mine, which he posted as a comment to this article. Here's the question:

How does an ensemble who is excited about the latest and greatest masterpiece arrangement get to the point where they can perform said piece without an audience looking for more popcorn and being detached while watching a curiosity rather than watching a performance? you’ve touched on needing to be able to balance the technical and the emotional with the “just get out there and perform it and stop worrying about it”, however what kinds of steps can a group mentality take to achieve that?  Do you find resistance to these concepts in your coaching of groups?  There are obvious barriers that prevent otherwise-well-intentioned machines from being able to achieve that (age, vocal limitations, untrained voices, people uncomfortable with vulnerability, and so on) but what about getting people to step beyond those barriers and release the performance of a difficult chart so that the audience has a great experience rather than a circus act?

Fantastic questions, George!

Your first question boils down to, "what makes a performance engaging."  I don't think the answer is any different for a difficult chart than a simple one.  There are many ways to frame the answer, but my favorite is to take the audience perspective: if they experience real, intense emotions, they will be engaged.  The act of singing is very powerful for people, so singers have a certain advantage here - singing is like a direct line to the audience member's inner self, even more so than instrumental music.  So if you're singing a song and it's authentic and truthful and passionate, it has every chance to be engaging.

Of course there are lots of things that can get in the way.  For example, most audience members will cringe and lose the plot if you sing out of tune, or if your synchronization is bad, or if you do anything that doesn't appear to be "on purpose" - so you do have to execute everything correctly, and that's naturally harder with a more difficult chart.  But unless you're a total singing geek (like... uh.. you and me) the game is to get your technique to a high enough level so that it's not a distraction.  The technique is not an end in itself for 99% of the audience members in the world, as long as it's not a distraction.  So the "obvious barriers" you list above may be smaller issues than they seem to be at first.  After all, common sense tells us that you only have two choices here: pick songs you can execute well enough at your current level of skill, or pick harder songs and work on your skills.  (Specifics are beyond the scope of this blog post - that's coaching territory.)

Having said that, I've had twenty years of enjoyment just getting better at singing, improving my skills, and tackling some monster charts!  That would be fun for me even if nobody ever saw the result.  And for most people, performance is a hobby, not a career, so how much they enjoy themselves is pretty important!  But I'm at a point where I enjoy myself more when the audience goes away thrilled.

Now to the mental steps.  Once you've decided that there's more to performance than executing all the technical elements correctly, you've already won half the mental battle.  That realization opens up all sorts of questions, like what is the song/scene/piece about at a deeper level, what can it offer to the audience emotionally, etc.  It's very unlikely that your performance will be truthful and authentic if you don't know what you're singing about, or you appear not to care!

Developing a great performance plan

Try this.  Pick a song.  Read the lyrics.  Listen to the music.  Try to discern three things about that song that might be engaging (or even helpful) to people.  This may not be obvious, because it's creative - it's your interpretation!  Write them down.  Even if you go no further, your performance will have more depth.  The next challenge is to create a presentation that highlights one, two or all three of the "truths" you have discovered.  Ask yourself some of these questions:

• Who are the players in the scene?
• What is the relationship between the players?  Where is the love?
• What is the urgency of need, in the relationships?
• Who are you, in the scene?  Are you always the same person?
• How do the scene and the relationships change, as the song progresses?  (If nothing changes, you need a new song or a new plan or both.)

If you do that, you'll be in the top 1% of all singing ensembles in terms of your service to the audience, and believe me, you will be rewarded.

Getting out of your own way

Do I find resistance when I coach this philosophy to people?  Absolutely!  Everyone is doing what they are doing because of what they believe, and beliefs have inertia.  One of my favorite quotes sums it up nicely:

"It's often not enough for one to simply be exposed to the truth, because the brain will actually fight to defend its attachment to cherished falsehoods."

The people who have the easiest time making the necessary changes are the ones who don't have a substantial ego attachment to their beliefs.  People who are new at the singing game (or any game really) don't feel bad if they don't know something, so they have a huge advantage - they learn quickly.  People who are able to maintain that state of "beginner mind" long term also learn quickly, and keep learning quickly!  Those are the ones who really take over the world.

I hope that was helpful George!  If you want to drill down further on something, just comment below.

Cheers - Tom