vocal

Suffering a stage fright is a very common thing. Almost any accomplished musician will say he or she is very nervous before a performance from time to time. You won’t believe, but the tension sometimes is so strong, it can make a singer basically sick. This often happens because of the exaggerated importance of ego: we want to be accepted, be praised. That is a natural thing but has a lot to do with a stage fright. Thanks God, there are some effective ways of dealing with this state of mind.

Practice is definitely the most effective way to manage the stage fright. The more you perform, the better it gets. However, for some people this is very difficult to start out. If you are a newbie in stage performance and cannot even imagine singing in front of people, then you definitely should find a friendly audience that will accept you no matter what. This could easily be your family! Choose several songs that you perform best, and set it up just like a regular performance. Appoint a certain time, etc.

In a living room set out the chairs for your family, bring some drinks and refreshments, etc. Do not doubt that you will still be nervous.You know these people will accept you no matter what you do. So, during the performance try not to talk to them as they were your close relatives, but make it a little less personal if you can. If you have nice imagination, pretend they are an audience of strangers. If something goes wrong (you took the wrong note, mixed up the words, etc), keep going .This is very good training. Mistakes are the part of the musician’s life, so the sooner you get used to it, the better.

Make sure you learn to „roll with it“. This is even better if sometimes you can improvise and make something interesting out of it. Once this home „concert“ is over you will definitely feel proud of your accomplishment. Mistakes do not matter once the performance is over. There is no doubt you will experience this wonderful feeling in the end!

Do not stop at this stage, because you have to grow professionally and still the fear of stage is too strong to perform in front of a large crowd. Invite the neighbours, distant relatives, etc. If you attend vocal lessons or have a coach for your instrument, this is very possible you can participate in the concerts teachers arrange for the families of their students. Do not miss these. This is a great opportunity to cope with the fear of stage.

This is only the beginning however. Once you start performing for larger groups of stagers, you’ll have to find other ways to deal with the stage fright. Practice, practice, practice. The best way to be confident, is to know every piece of the songs you perform backwards and forwards. Any difficulties you experience with your piece of the music will result in some sort of fear. So the next important step is to keep growing professionally. Attend vocal lessons, improve your performance.

Some singers have fantastic voices which, however, can be easily spoiled if they don’t know how to use microphone properly. Poor microphone technique results in poor sound quality whether this is a studio record or a live performance.

Some singers think that the quality sound is the duty of sound engineers. This is not right. Any vocalist should know how to use mic and do best to improve microphone skills. This is very good if you can use a power amplifier, some sort of a recorder, or go to a rehearsal studio to practice your mic techniques. Home stereo, karaoke with a mic can also help you experiment with amplified sound if you can not use professional music gear. Of course in this case this will be difficult to get a quality sound, but at least you will get the idea and practice.

Do not forget the following when using amplification of any kind:

Mind the feedback!

• Pointing the microphone towards a speaker causes a very disturbing high pitched noise.
• The other cause of the feedback is turning the volume too high. This is also result in a distortion.

Mind your safety!

Incorrect wiring & connections can result in electric shocks, equipment breakdowns, and horrible humming. Do not be surprised if you hear the radio – this is also the result of the described above incorrect use of music gear.

Common Mistakes In Using the Microphone

Holding the microphone too close or too far from your mouth is the most common mistake the beginner singers make. In this case the sound gets muffled and distorted. The vocal track will sound too distant or you may hear no vocal sound at all. A little practice will irradiate this mistake easily.

Set your volume controls so that the vocal track is louder than the backing track.

For normal singing this is enough to hold the mic no closer that 2–3 inches in order to avoid distortion. This depends on your voice though. Some vocalists sing pretty loud naturally, so you have to consider the power of your voice.

Try moving the microphone away while singing. At some point the vocal sound starts fading and you’ll have to remember when exactly it does so. The optimum distance for singing is between the shortest and furthest points.