Today I want to share with you 3 simple tips to ensure a strong performance.
- **Hold the microphone directly in front of your mouth. You’re probably thinking… DUH! But sometimes our arms get tired and we hold the microphone at a slant or below our mouth, causing poor sound quality. Your lips and the head of the mic should be perpendicular. When you hold the microphone perpendicularly to your mouth, you will not have to strain. When singing at different volumes, you can manipulate the microphone by holding it closer to you when singing low volume notes and further away when you are signing loudly with force.
- **Be over-prepared (another obvious tip). If you are singing with a guitarist, make sure he or she has extra strings on hand. If you’re singing to back-up bring a CD, iPod, and laptop in case one of them doesn’t work with the sound system. Bring a lyric binder and a music stand as a safety blanket to protect yourself from “stage fright brain.” Of course, you shouldn’t rely on the lyric binder, just put it to the side of the stage in case you need to take a quick glance. Rely on yourself to bring all of the proper equipment. Be ready with extra material, but also have a plan of which songs to cut first if asked to shorten your performance time.
**Bring someone to record your performance. When I know my performance is being taped, I feel extra pressure to make it special so I could potentially use the footage on my YouTube. I’m also more motivated to perform well when being recorded because I want to lighten the agony that I’ll feel when I make myself watch and learn from my performance.
Now… go out there and break a leg!
