I know, I know... these posts are few and far between at times. How on earth am I supposed to build up a following if I can't even post regularly I hear you cry. But for now, I suppose that is the fun of this for you, you have no fucking idea when one of these things is going to come out. It's an added air of mystery. Just like most things in this world, the question of when I actually will remember to post on these things will ever be an eternal mystery.
I thought I would discuss today something that has been playing on my mind. As I wrote about a while back there are a few things that I struggle with mentally and one thing is self-confidence. I know you're probably thinking "hang on a second Madge... how can you as a performer lack self-confidence?" Well, you'd be surprised that as many of my magic brethren, I would rather be sitting at home sometimes instead of outperforming, because the levels of anxiety it gives me really doesn't help, especially if I have a blip and can't focus. So between me and my therapist, I've come up with some good ways to help me keep focused and get rid of those pre-show nerves... or just anxiety in general. I had a discussion about some of my pre-show routines with my therapist and realised that I could apply them to daily life - and so I thought this one was too good not to share.
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I can't remember where I picked this up from originally (and hopefully some person in the future can credit this appropriately for me), but I once heard someone say that the last two songs before a show starts are not for the audience, but for them. It's a simple idea. These were supposed to be your two big "energy making" songs for you. Things that really pump you up so that when you are ready to perform you can go out there and kick some proverbial ass. One of my biggest issues though has been that at certain gigs there isn't that time to "pump yourself up" before a show. Say if you are doing a wedding or children's show. You may not have a say in what you actually get to hear just before the show or it might not be appropriate if you can't control the environment like in a stage show.
So what do you do?
I recently made a CD (yes I am that fucking old that I still make CD's - well actually my van is and doesn't have an Aux on it which leaves out my phone playlist...) of pre-show music. It's about an hour-long of carefully crafted blends of music designed to get my energy pumped up, but with a few added extras depending on my mood. It's carefully crafted with a build from "chilled (not necessarily relaxing)" music to "absolutely go mental music" with the intention that I can play these songs whenever I want or jump to a certain section of it if I need a certain part, or the journey isn't big enough to cover the entire CD.
There are some golden rules to this though.
- Each song must be a singalong song. One of the reasons why this works is because it distracts the mind from any nerves you have and a song that you can't really sing along to, well is pointless for that. The goal is not to think, but just to enjoy
- It mustn't relax me. Now what I mean by this is that even the chilled out songs that are in this album mustn't lull me into too chilled a state. Otherwise, it's extra work for the other songs to get me ready for my show - or life in general.
- The song has to be positive... or reasonably positive. Chasing Cars for example would just depress me and wouldn't be a good
- When on playback it needs to be in a system that won't distract me. I used to listen to the radio, but the inane chatter of presenters or songs I didn't like brought my focus back to any anxieties I had, or if it was something like LBC, well it just depressed me. I came out of it not wanting to do a show... So I found it important that whatever I use to play this music back won't bring me back into reality - I want it to keep me completely isolated and able to focus on the music and me.
Now with that in mind, I thought I'd share some of the groups I put my music into
De-stress Music
I was calling this section chilled out earlier, but it really isn't chilled out. I wanted a set of music that would help me reduce my anxiety, that would help settle my mind. For this, you probably want something more melodious, but the key thing is it still needs to be upbeat. So I'm not talking things like Coldplay's Yellow, or Pacobels Canon in D... but more things like this.
Friendly, upbeat, and easy to sing along to. The idea being is that they relax you and almost soothe you, but the key thing is still upbeat! I've not many examples of this one but Valerie (the original Zutons - not Winehouse) is another good one, Hey Soul sister too...
Musicals
Now I know it's really cliche. But I do like musicals. You have to be really careful which ones you pick when putting them in an upbeat playlist but I have a few gems on there which really encourage me to sing along and help pick that energy up, The idea for me is that they are sing a longs...
So we're talking about "From Now On" and songs from musicals like "The Producers" like "We can do this". It's all about getting that build up of exciting songs that encourage me to start being loud and sing a bit. It's got an added benefit of being a vocal warmup too!
You'll notice there's a build up to the different styles, as the next ones become even more upbeat, more energetic and designed to build me up even more. The next type of songs would be the kind I put into a preshow (depending on the audience).
Silly Songs
I call them silly songs, but really its upbeat feel good songs. If I was using these for a pre-show I'd select a variety of these and put other upbeat songs in. This kinda comes from my younger DJ'ing days where you have the chart stuff to entice people in, and its very much the similar stuff to that, but these songs, especially ones to motivate me can be my guilty pleasures. I'm talking Chelsea Dagger, Tribute (not one for preshow FYI), Shotgun, and of course some of my real guilty pleasures.
(Ever since I saw this with my kids, it really has got stuck in my head and I've even used it in a few pre-shows too. I'm sure theres clips of me bouncing around backstage to this floating around...)
Then it gets to the real kickers. Finally you want the real energy pumpers... Like the fighter slapping himself in the face to prepare, you need to get that final bit of energy up so you want your...
Big Hitters
These are the songs that really resonate with you, that really hype you up. That you can't not headbang to or sing along to. For me, one of my top ones is this...
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For me, it's that part about 3 minutes in and that build up of the guitar... pumping it loud really gets your energy pumped you really find yourself singing along with it and I've lost myself so much in it. I've found that putting this on before a show (or a few others depending on my mood) really gets me ready to go on stage... or just face the day.
So that's it. By the time I step out of my car I'm bubbling with energy and excitment. It's a noticable difference to when I've come out listening to say LBC. Try it... make your own CD/Playlist like this for when you go to gigs and you'll be surprised at how much more pumped and ready for the gig you are by the time you get there.
Pro Tip: Make sure you do a build up of songs, not a random selection, that way you can skip songs depending on the length, or start more built up if you need it!