I went to a theatre performance the other day. It was basically one actor on stage for over two hours.
It was coming to the end of its seven-week run, but it still felt as fresh as the first time it was performed. How do you manage to keep a performance alive after so many repetitions?
Seeing the show for the first time, it felt like it was a brand new performance, just for me. I worked out that the actor must have done the show at least 40 times in the current run. That’s not including the many previous runs since the show was created in 2019.
How did the actor keep the performance so fresh and alive?
It’s the same when a choir performs regularly and has several favourites in their repertoire. The singers must have sung those songs many, many times, yet they must somehow keep them alive for the audience.
It might be the hundredth time you’ve sung a particular song, but for most of the audience, it will be the first time they have heard you sing it.
How can you keep your performance fresh and alive?
It’s a simple answer (but maybe hard to put into practice): be in the moment.
It’s what Zen Buddhism calls “beginner’s mind” or Shoshin. It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when approaching something. Even if you’ve done it hundreds of times before.
It counters the feeling that you know it all already and have nothing new to discover. It helps when you’ve become so familiar with something and accustomed to a certain way of doing things that you’ve stopped considering any new possibilities.
When you’re not using beginner’s mind, you’ll be repeating something habitually. You won’t be in the moment, but on autopilot.
One way to avoid this is to imagine this is the first time you’ve ever sung this song. What is it about? How can you use dynamics to express the feeling of the song? Can you listen more intently to the other harmonies to hear how they all fit together? How about aiming to get a perfect balance between your voice and everybody else’s?
There are many, many new nuances to discover every time you perform a song, no matter how many times you’ve sung it. If you approach it with open eagerness, you will reveal hidden delights and discover elements that you never knew existed.
Another way to avoid staleness is to choose one aspect of performing and focus on that each time you sing the song. It could be the balance of weight between your feet, the spot you choose to look at when you’re singing, noticing the acoustic of the performance space, listening out for the breathing of other singers. The list is endless.
If you don’t find a way to be totally engaged with a song each time you sing it, then there won’t be much point in your performance.
Good luck!
Chris Rowbury
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