Sharpen Your Performance Skills With These 6 Daily Tasks

Sometimes, rising artists find it hard to get into the habit of performing and lack the knowledge as well as skills for throwing an awesome performance. A performance that will not only put them on the map but also leave an unforgettable experience for their fans.

As a young artist, you constantly strive to become better on stage, you watch your favorite artists and how they control the stage, wondering how much time and effort it took them to achieve such abilities.

Well, I can assure you one thing, no matter how much it took them… they never stopped practicing.

When it comes to performance skills, you must practice frequently to achieve that on-stage dominance, the confidence, to be unshakeable and give your fans a show they will keep bragging to their friends about being a part of.

To prepare for your next performance (and the following ones in the future), I suggest building a daily practice habit to sharpen your skills. One that will make it easy yet effective for you, and it’s built off 6 important tasks:

1. Perform for your family and friends

Your friends and family might not always be the most supportive people, so this particular task might not be as beneficial to some.

Despite that, you should know that to get into the habit of performing, one must get in front of any kind of audience.

Have a small living room gig for them, ask them for opinions. 

Did you come off shy or boring? 

Did you have unintentional small acts that could distract the crowd and jeopardize your performance?

Anything you can think of.

They might not be experts but they are people, and they’re the same as your potential fans who come to your shows.

2. Always visualize a successful show

Overthinking is a tempting habit most people have, but once you use it for your good, it can massively develop your confidence and world-view.

Don’t let those shaking thoughts of a bad show get to you, instead, turn the negativity to positivity. Shift your thoughts to think about your next successful performance and that will skyrocket your confidence and self-belief.

Psychology suggests that thoughts produce the same mental instructions as actions, what that means is… once you start building the image of success in your mind, it becomes so much easier to fulfill it in reality.

So before you start practicing your voice/instrument, practice your mind a bit. It’ll even help ease your anxiety and get you in the mood to practice better.  

3. Take notes from your favorite artists

One of the best ways to be prepared for a live show is to watch and take inspiration from the performer. His moves, energy, presence, etc.

Learn the drills your favorite artist applies to his practices or warm-up, try to add them to your daily practice, watch how the artist moves across the stage and engages the crowd in the show.

Performing isn’t followed by ground rules, so try to mix up your performance and see what you can do to make it a better experience for you and your fans.

4. Work on your energy

This is the most important one.

No one wants to go to a show where the artist isn’t putting off the energy the crowd is seeking. 

Of course, it depends on what kind of artist you are and what kind of music you put out. I wouldn’t expect Frank Ocean to get on stage screaming and chanting like DMX.

Think about what kind of energy you can deliver to leave a memorable performance for your fans.

Understand your audience, what are their favorite songs of yours, communicate with them and Involve them in your performance. Don’t limit yourself and sing with the same emotion you had when you sang in the bedroom.

5. practice in front of a mirror (or record yourself)

The purpose of doing this is obvious. You want to track your body language and the confidence you display throughout the performance.

However, it sometimes helps by also stopping you from doing unintentional little habits. 

Things like touching your face, holding the mic in a weird non-confident way or anything that you wouldn’t want to display to the crowd.

These little actions might be little to you but they do distract the crowd from your performance.

6. set aside time for your voice

Make time during your practice session, to focus on your vocal strengths. When working on a performance, a lot of artists focus on delivering the right energy, as supposed to great vocals.

That might be better for some, but if you’re a vocal artist, set aside time to warm up your voice, work on the right notes as well as pitch and volume levels.  

That will keep you entering a performance with confidence knowing you are going to shock the crowd with your vocal abilities.

These are the 6 habits I want you to include in your daily practice.

It’s important to remember that you must allow yourself to make mistakes, or else you wouldn’t see progress.

So start today, be patient, give yourself time to get better and you will see results!

This post was written by Wassim Awess- Founder of Alien’s Note and a freelance blogger passionate about the Music Industry.

Sharpen Your Performance Skills With These 6 Daily Tasks