Performance Tips For Songwriters by Anthony Ceseri
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Table of Contents Tip #1: Attach Emotion to Your Vocals. 3 An Example....... 3 Your Turn... 5 Tip #2: Stop Forgetting Your Lyrics... 6 What s the Next Line?....... 6 Focus on the Appropriate Emotion.... 6 Practice, Practice, Practice.... 7 As a Last Resort, Improvise.... 7 Your Turn.... 8 Tip #3: Make Cover Songs Your Own... 9 Vocal Delivery......... 10 Change in Tempo........ 10 Adding Lyrics........ 10 Instrumentation........ 11 Your Turn.......... 11 Final Word........ 12
Performance Tips For Songwriters 3 Tip #1: Attach Emotion to Your Vocals One of the most important jobs a singer has is to attach emotion to his lyrics. The lyric should not be separated from the actual delivery of the words. If you ve ever seen a local performer reading his lyrics off a sheet to a cover song he s playing, I can guarantee you ve seen a singer who isn t fusing words with emotion. How can he be, if he doesn t even know what words are coming next? An Example Let s look at an effective example of connecting lyrics and emotion. For me, one of the best rock vocalists out there is Dave Grohl, of Foo Fighters. When the energy of their guitars and drums demands a powerful vocal, he matches (or beats) it with equal intensity in his singing. One of my favorite examples of this is in the song Monkey Wrench. You can follow along with the video below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7rcniinpxa Fast forward to right after the second chorus. We d probably refer to this section as the bridge. My only hesitation in calling it a bridge, is there s actually two separate parts here, where usually there s only one part to a bridge. Regardless, the part I m referring to starts at about 2:45 in the attached video. In the first part of the bridge, we simply hear Grohl repeat the word temper three times. He does it in as calm a voice as Dave Grohl s capable of. This is fitting, because the simple, repetitive use of the word temper is implying Okay, don t lose it here. I need to control my anger. I can t let it get away from me. And that comes through in his voice tone. Especially when it s compared to what we ll hear next. My only issue with this first part of the bridge is if they were trying to convey a truly calming vibe, they should have calmed down the music in the background behind the vocals as well. Not only should the vocal and emotions go hand in hand, but so should the music underneath. Right now, this part of the song s still rockin, when it should probably be more subdued to match the vocal. But let s overlook that. After all, I AM talking about vocals here. Plus, this is a Foo Fighters song and they need to rock at every waking moment.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 4 Okay, so Dave s calm. He s repeated temper three times. Now he can breathe into a paper bag and walk it off, right? Whoops Maybe not. Check out the second half of the bridge, starting at about 3:10 in the attached video, where the lyrics start with One last thing before I quit Okay, NOW he sounds like a guy who s blown off his steam. Within both parts of the bridge, we ve gone from the calm Dave desperately trying to control his temper, to the crazy outburst of the second part of the bridge, where he just HAD to get his thoughts off his chest. The two parts of this bridge together remind me of a guy who tried to start a fight with a second guy. But then his friends hold him back. To get his friends off him he says it s okay, it s okay I m calm. As soon as the friends let go of him, he flips out and tries to attack the second guy again. That s basically what Grohl s doing here, except in this case he s both the guy who wants to fight AND the guys holding him back, because he s battling with his own temper before letting it rip. It s clear in the power and passion in these vocals, he means what he s saying. Say the lyrics, and decide if it would be okay if they were delivered any other way. I d say it wouldn t fit. Picture a 14 year old girl reading these words off a page, as she lightly strums her acoustic guitar and sings them with a happy-go-lucky la-la sort of voice. It wouldn t work, right? Why? Because the appropriate emotion wouldn t be there. To prove it even further, what if Grohl had sung the second half of the bridge ( One last thing ) with the tone and emotion of how he currently sings the first half of the bridge ( temper )? And vice versa. Would that work for you? Nah, me either. I should also mention that Grohl has a bit of an unfair advantage in the second half of the bridge, because of modern digital recording. Clearly they ve edited out all his breaths and recorded this vocal section in chunks (although it s still fun to TRY singing it all the way through when you re listening in your car just sayin ). This aspect gives the section an almost unrealistic wow, he must be the kind of pissed that can only be enhanced by computers kind of vibe. Like the Incredible Hulk! Eliminating breaths typically tends to make recordings sound unnatural, and that s magnified in this case because of the length and intensity of the section. But you can make of that what you will.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 5 Your Turn Consider that generally in our spoken words, the actual tone of our voices carries much more meaning than the actual words we say. As shown here, the same applies in singing. Singing is an exaggerated version of speech, so emotion in vocal delivery is critical. Listen for it in your favorite songs, and decide if the lyrical intent matches the vocal emotion. Then apply this idea when you re performing your own songs.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 6 Tip #2: Stop Forgetting Your Lyrics A lot of performing songwriters share the fear of forgetting their lyrics when they re playing in front of an audience. Even though you probably thought that s an incurable problem, there are things you can do to help keep those lyrics flowing. What s the Next Line? A lot of times we start to think okay, what s the next line? when we re onstage. We don t normally think that way when we re at home practicing, but on stage we get so afraid of making a mistake and risking social rejection that our fear forces us to ask ourselves these questions. As if it s going to help our performance be perfect. Quite the opposite happens, though. Normally when we ask ourselves questions like what s the next line? it makes us more nervous, 1. Because it s reminding us that forgetting the lyrics is a possibility (we weren t even thinking of that when we were practicing at home) and 2. It s not what we normally do when we re practicing by ourselves. It s a break in our routine. And the last place we want a break in our routine is when we re up onstage. Focus on the Appropriate Emotion So how do we alleviate this from happening? The key is to focus your mind on the emotion of the song, and what the lead character is experiencing. This is a similar idea to what we just looked at with the Foo Fighters example. Your mind can only really focus on one main thing at a time. When you focus your mind on your emotions and what your lead character is going through in your lyrics, there s no room for the question what s my next line? because you re busy thinking about other (more important) things. Get involved in the story you re presenting. Think of yourself as an actor. Not only that, but when you get into thinking about your character s emotions, the lyrics will be there, because you re thinking in terms of a full story and not just a bunch of lines. You re thinking in terms of a whole and not just a few small parts. You re experiencing a story as it happens, as opposed to listing some lines in your head.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 7 Another great side effect of thinking this way is your stage presence will be better. Why? Well, one of the most important jobs a singer has is to fuse emotion with his lyrics, as I mentioned earlier. The lyrics and the delivery of the words need to be working together. I m a big proponent of not using a lyric sheet when you re onstage for this exact reason. It tends to create a disconnection between your delivery and your lyrics. Plus it usually looks unprofessional. In the spoken word our voice tone carries a lot more meaning than the words we say. Singing is an exaggerated form of speech, so this concept applies to singing as well. If you start to think about the emotions you should be feeling when you re singing and telling your story, it ll improve your vocal performance. Practice, Practice, Practice That being said, don t think you can get up on stage completely unprepared using this technique and think the lyrics will just come to you. Practice is crucial. Practice at home without your lyric sheet. A lot. Change up the way you practice to focus specifically on your lyrics. Try singing your songs a cappella. Then try singing them a cappella at double their normal speed, just to see how you can handle that change while you re at home practicing. It ll better prepare you for the hectic nature of the stage. And if you re someone who currently plays live with a lyric sheet in front of you, you can slowly get away from that habit. If you normally perform five songs with a lyric sheet, next time you have a gig, try only playing four songs with the sheet. When you re confident with that you can drop it down to only three songs with the sheet, then two, etc. Before you know it, you ll wonder why you ever needed the lyric sheet at all during your live performances. As a Last Resort, Improvise For the moments when you slip up and forget a line, just be cool and throw something else in there. Most people probably won t notice anyway. Especially if it s your own song and they re not familiar with the lyrics. If you forget a lyric DON T stop playing, or laugh
Performance Tips For Songwriters 8 and say something like I m so stupid, I forgot my own words. You don t want to draw attention to something that everyone else probably hasn t noticed anyway. It s also important to realize that if you forget a line, it s no big deal. You don t want to make a habit of it, but all performers experience some form of forgetfulness from time to time. Just realize it s okay. It doesn t define you, it s just a silly slip up. Then forget it and move on. I can t tell you how important it is to not dwell on small mishaps like that. Your Turn Remembering your lyrics is a conquerable feat. Just be persistent and remember to focus on the emotions that your lead character is going through. And practice! Nothing worthwhile happens overnight. Most importantly, have fun and try not to take each performance too seriously. Just let it be what it was and move forward to the next one.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 9 Tip #3: Make Cover Songs Your Own Performing a cover song can be an art in itself. If you re looking to fill out your set when you re performing, you may throw in a couple of covers played almost identically to the original version. We ve all played cover songs like that. They re fun, and easy for the crowd to get into because they re so recognizable. But sometimes you really want to make a cover song special. You want to make it your own. You want to treat it as if it were something you wrote and you want to breathe a whole new life into it. And why not? That s what some of the best cover songs ever recorded have done. A familiar one is Joe Cocker s version of the Beatles With a Little Help From My Friends. Cocker completely reimagined that song to give it his own feel. It s as if it were completely stripped down and rebuilt, with only subtle hints of the original left intact. There are a lot of solid cover versions that have reinvented the original. Another big one is Marilyn Manson s version of the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams. Let s take a look at how Manson made this one his own, so you can take a similar approach when you re performing your cover songs. First, check out the original Eurythmics version and Manson s cover: The original Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qemfqkcpycg and, later, Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6vojygrnpg If the Marilyn Manson version is a bit too over the top for you, I can see that. But that s his style. And what we re talking about here is doing an existing song in your own style. So let s check out what he did.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 10 Vocal Delivery A big change between the two songs was in the vocal delivery. The simple thing that Marilyn Manson did in his version was he sang the song the way he normally sings a song. He wasn t doing an impression of Annie Lennox. He wasn t trying to cater to what the old version of the song was. He sang the way he sings. If you want to make a cover song your own, you have to sing it in YOUR voice. Don t do an impression Unless of course you re an impressionist, in which case this advice is probably not for you. In the previous sections, I ve talked about fusing emotion with your lyrics. It s such an important aspect of vocal delivery. Manson has said that he s covered this song because the lyrics are so dark. That fits his style. When he sings the words they sound dark, because that s how he delivers a song. The lyrics meant something to him, so he was able to easily attach emotion to them. Change in Tempo Another change Manson made in his version was the decision to slow down the tempo of the original. Changing the tempo of a song can greatly affect the mood of a song. What he did worked to his advantage. The slowed down tempo of the song fed into the dark, creepy vibe he was looking for. Had he kept the tempo the same as the original, a lot of that dark mood would have been lost. Tempo is a MAJOR mood setter. Figure out what the mood of the song should be, and adjust the tempo accordingly. Adding Lyrics Sprinkling in some of your own applicable lyrics can be a cool staple to make the song yours. Sometimes it s as simple as the Ataris updating Don Henley s song Boys of Summer with the line I saw a Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac. They used Black Flag as an updated replacement for Deadhead.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 11 In Sweet Dreams, Manson adds the line I wanna use you and abuse you to play into the original chorus. He s implying HE S the one the chorus is referring to when it says SOME of THEM want to use you, etc. It s a cool twist to what s being said in the original song. Instrumentation Marilyn Manson used his own style of instrumentation. Sweet Dreams was originally an 80 s song with an 80 s synthesizer sound. Marilyn Manson s version came out in the 90 s, and it sounds like a 90 s song. But it sounds like Manson s own special style of 90 s. The drawn out sound and the distorted, wah wah effects on the guitars lend a huge hand in the overall arrangement of his version. They re also along the lines of what Marilyn Manson s songs typically sound like. Your Turn You can see just enough of the original song intact here to make it recognizable. But, Marilyn Manson did a solid job of changing a lot of the song s original elements to make it his. Can you spot anything else that he changed from the original version that I didn t mention here? Next time you re planning a cover song, think about what elements you can change to give the song your style. Maybe you ll start small by changing the key of the song, so it best suits your vocal range. Then you can keep pushing it using some of the elements you saw here to see where it takes you. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy them.
Performance Tips For Songwriters 12 Last Note You now have some new tips to incorporate into your performances. Practice them, and get them into your live shows as soon as you can to give your fans an awesome experience. Good luck and have fun onstage!