Stillness, performance energy, and control

If you want to experiment a bit with performance energy, here's something to try.  (Please note: I'm a scientist, and I realize there may be no such thing as performance energy in the same way as there is kinetic energy or electromagnetic energy.  Think of it as spiritual energy if you're comfortable with that, or think of it as a metaphor.  Whatever you like.)

1. Walk on stage
2. Stop and face the audience
3. Be still

You don't have to freeze like a statue - just find a comfortable place on the stage and stop moving around.  But the stillness will give you some time to play.  Be open to the energy that the audience is sending you, and feel the effect of that energy on your body as you absorb it.  Do what comes naturally to you at this point - thank them for the energy!  Reflect it back to them.

Try feeling which parts of the audience are sending more energy than others.  Is there a strong, steady stream from the front rows, and only a trickle from the balcony?  Try reflecting more energy into the areas that need a bit of encouragement.

The stillness has more than one purpose.  Another thing it does is let the audience soak up your appearance and all your non-verbal communication, and get comfortable with who you are.  They can't release themselves to your singing or your music until they are comfortable.  They will also mirror what they perceive to be your inner state, and your stillness makes you seem confident and full of focused energy.  If you do stillness right, it asserts your right to be on stage in a way that is hard to deny.

As Livingston Taylor put it in Stage Performance,

"More than anything else, stillness is essential to establishing control.  Stillness is the straight line, the horizon from which all the angles and curves of a performance flow."

Once you're aware of the audience's energy, start paying attention to your own.  As a performer on stage, you're like the filament in a lighthouse bulb - everything you're doing is focused and magnified as it gets witnessed by the hundreds or thousands of people who are giving you their attention.  It's amazing how much energy you have to throw around.

I recall one time when Realtime was singing at the civic auditorium in Dortmund, Germany.  It's an amazing space, and it seats about 2,500 people in a small space by packing them vertically into four levels - one orchestra level and three balconies (if I remember correctly).  So the whole audience is much closer to the stage than in a typical theater.  On this occasion it was packed with some youthful and enthusiastic singing fans, and the energy was pretty amazing.  The applause would feed on itself, and go on for what seemed like forever!

On the spur of the moment, I decided to move some energy around.  I shifted my attention to one side of the venue, and they cheered louder.  Then the other side.  It turned into a bit of a competition, and an unforgettable stage experience for me.  That's one example what performance energy can be like.

Perhaps more important though is witnessing and learning to control the ebb and flow of performance energy during a piece, instead of between pieces.  That's where the real meat of a performance exists, at least if your material is any good!  And because during the piece the audience will give themselves over to that reality, they are also giving up control to you.  Treat them well!  You have more power than you may realize.