To me, a good musical performance is about three things. One is being comfortable with your body. One is being comfortable with your breath. And one is being comfortable with yourself.
One tip I give my students is to listen to their music while they walk around the city, or ride their bike to work, or even take a bath. By allowing your music to, in a way, infiltrate your entire being, you can feel like it’s really inhabiting every cell of your body. Walking out on the street, dancing throughout the day—all of these things are enmeshing the music and your identity together, which is a really important part of your growth as a performer.
Another thing I suggest is to listen to music while you’re working out. If you go to the gym, there’s a musical exercise you can do while on the treadmill. As you’re going at a nice slow pace, for about three to five minutes, just start singing to yourself, “la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.” Sing these notes in time with your breathing, and it will allow you to feel your breath.
Alternatively, you can do the same exercise, but instead of doing it on the treadmill, you can do it while you’re doing sit-ups. Either way, it will allow you to feel connected to your breath. It’s about the breath, and it’s all about understanding how your body works.
During a performance, you’re speaking very quickly. The volume sometimes has to be very loud, and it’s also rhythmically challenging. As a result, the tendency for singers and also for hip-hop artists/rappers is that they sometimes forget to breathe. Then, what happens is that the breath becomes short. No air is getting down. All of a sudden, you’re gripping from the outside, and eventually, the voice reaches a point where it can’t take it any longer, and the performance falters.
We’ve got to breathe deeply and move on that breath. And move on that breath, and move on that breath, continuously. We find the rhythm within the breath. The breath truly sets up the rhythm—really, it’s the breath that creates the rhythm.
I usually tell my students that they should be able to sing their entire set while they’re running, doing sit-ups, on the elliptical—during all of these different types of physical movements that we’re so used to doing. We should be able to do them while singing and listening to our own music.
And eventually, at a certain point, the rehearsing of these movements together will make it seem like second nature. We don’t ever want to walk on stage feeling like we aren’t prepared, so preparing through all of these everyday activities will help us feel like it’s no big deal. It’s just breathing.
With online music education, you can learn much more about improving your musical performances, as well as a wide variety of lessons about building a career in the music industry. Your high-quality music education is right there, waiting for you to seize it.
