“Masterful performers exhibit ease in all that they do on stage.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 21
There’s no better way for us musicians to make our audiences receptive than to project ease and enjoyment from the stage.
What’s more, by embodying ease, we facilitate our technical execution and help dispel any nerves.
To transmit ease, though, we have to not only master our material and be fluent with stage deportment but also draw on the following 6 inner skills.
6 Ways to Project Ease in Performance
1. Be Positive
Always bring a positive attitude to the stage. If your dressing is room frigid, project warmth. If you’re having a rough day, be grateful for the power of music.
Throughout a performance, let your audience know, by your phrasing, body language and words, that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.
2. Lengthen and Release
Audiences detect our feelings via physical cues. Added to that, our movement habits impact our emotions and technical ease.
By deliberately lengthening our spine and freeing our muscles on stage, we generate positive energy, facilitate playing or singing, and convey an assured stage presence.
As an illustration of how our muscular actions impact our emotions, try this:
- Raise and hold your shoulders, and then attempt to take on a calm frame of mind. Doesn’t work, does it?
- Now, release your shoulders and note how your mindset transforms. It’s crucial, therefore, that we reinforce easeful habits in practice as well as on stage.
3. Expand your Focus
When we’re stressed, we unconsciously tend to narrow our attention.
To counteract that tendency, we should employ an expansive focus as we perform, hearing, feeling, and thinking ahead as we send each emotion-laden phrase washing over our listeners.
4. Lighten your Touch
Technical freedom comes from allowing rather than forcing.
When you’re on stage, trust in your preparation. As you get louder, for example, get looser. Foster a sense of lightness in everything you do.
“Masterful performers exhibit ease in all that they do on stage.”
5. Support Coperformers
Encourage easefulness and creativity in your group by steadfastly sending positive energy to your fellow musicians.
Even if things get rocky, be musically and emotionally supportive so that your musical message stays vibrant.
6. Celebrate the Moment
We performers have special relationships with music. And listeners crave chances to hear what we’re up to.
With that in mind, every second that you’re under the lights, be a beacon of soulfulness, a fountain of imagination.
Celebrate your role as a performing artist, and your listeners will be carried along in your musical wake.
Concepts for creating ease are covered in detail throughout The Musician’s Way.
Related posts
Awareness, focus, concentration
Balanced shoulders, open heart
The benefits of accessible music
Mastering performance skills
Practicing performance
© 2010 Gerald Klickstein
Photo licensed from Shutterstock
Nice tips! There is a certain kind of satisfaction when a performer is at ease onstage. They might not be the best performers, or the best musicians, but when they project ease and you can clearly see they’re enjoying their time onstage, you can’t help but get onboard.
Thanks, Gretchen – glad you’re back.
Very inspiring! Happy to have caught up.
Gretchen
Alexandra – Let us know how your experiments turn out.
Bear in mind that, on the harp (as with acoustic/classical guitars), to attain more volume you have to move the string more. So, when you play with fuller sound, your muscles generate more energy. Just be sure to release that energy as soon as the strings are sounded.
For me, part of the pleasure in making music entails playing with the least possible effort and the freest, most open sound.
Of course, we’re human, so sometimes we might get a bit tense. But we can learn to notice unnecessary tension and enjoy releasing it the moment it arises.
I was interested in your remarks about lightening your touch; when a passage or several notes, need more emphasis, I generally force it through a touch that is more tense, more muscular and strained; By that, I mean my hands, and reach are tightened to achieve the “depth” of sound or expression I want. I am going to try to lighten instead and see if I can get the impressions I want.
As to Evan’s question, I never heard that tense shoulders were in order; It was drilled into me to always have relaxed shoulders, no matter what the difficulty; I suspect it is the same answer for my tight fingers/hands; untighten and relax, and don’t strain, even if it is a more demanding passage; ( I play celtic harp now, but was a serious pianist for many years).
Great question, Evan! As you imply, we direct our actions differently depending on the sound and volume we desire. But we always want to use ourselves in the most coordinated way, free of unnecessary tension.
In other words, we aren’t limp when we play because music making involves the use of our muscles. But we shouldn’t feel ‘stiff’ – stiffness usually indicates that better coordination is possible.
I encourage all performers to take some lessons at their instrument with a teacher of the Alexander technique or Feldenkrais method – such movement educators help us become aware of our movement habits and equip us to move with optimal freedom.
I can totally agree with the loose shoulders bit. I’ve been studying this a lot recently from top teachers. Lose shoulders on the piano mean your not holding up the weight of your arms with your shoulders but can apply your arm weight on the keys. A useful reminder that relaxation is important.
On the other hand some passages or phrases require a more controlled sound, this is where tighter shoulders can be used, right?
Thank you for the post!
Evan