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by Mark Willman
Mark Willman has spent the majority his life playing bass and piano in many bands over the past 30+ years. Mark has lived in Hawaii for 20 years and often finds himself on stage playing spontaneous sets with the house band. He has come to realize the tried and true “rules” of putting on a good show. He shares his revelations here.
Commandment #1 - NO PAUSES
Let’s assume you’ve done your homework as a musician, can play your instrument and know the songs. Then what is the extra factor that causes one band to whip the audience into a frenzy while another technically-equal band gets nowhere? A few simple rules of stage performance separate pros from amateurs.
If we had to choose just one of the Commandments, this would be it. It’s the musical equivalent of Thou Shalt Not Kill (The Mood). Play songs back-to-back with no more than seconds between them. Those silent seconds constitute the dreaded dead air that can get radio DJ’s fired and is just as deadly in a club. The human mind shifts rapidly from one mental state to the next and the trance-like state that music induces is quickly destroyed by silence. After all the effort you’ve put into practicing, getting the gig, and filling the dance floor, don’t let it all dissipate because some band member isn’t ready for the next song, or worse yet, wants to talk on the mic. Mics are for singing. Although you may be a funny guy in real life, right now you’re a musician, not a comedian. Keep that trance momentum intact at all costs. Every rule has exceptions, of course, and if you really are Mr Funny, by all means make a wisecrack, as long as you can do it in under 2 seconds.
OK, just what constitutes too long of a pause? Let’s go to the source. What’s the biggest rock & roll band in history. Everybody has their personal favorites, but if you’re honest, the consensus answer is going to be the Beatles. Listen to the Beatles when they were in Hamburg before hitting the big time. They already had it. How long do their pauses average between songs? Three seconds. Once they stretch it to 8 seconds laughing it up, once it goes to 20 seconds because of a broken string, but the average is 3 seconds. Shoot for that - any longer and the air is escaping from the balloon.
Commandment #2 - DANCE
The last article was about the 1st Commandment of Band Performance, NO PAUSES (between songs), which beyond having pragmatic guideline value also captures the whole philosophy of what the purpose of the stage is. It’s not about the performer. It’s about the audience, which requires observing every action from the viewpoint of the crowd. They’re there to be entertained, not to stroke your ego. Of course, as a delicious side effect, if the job’s done properly your ego will glow like a campfire, but your professional assignment is to produce a particular group mood.
This mood is inherent in the human psyche and has ancient evolutionary roots. Thirty-thousand years ago, the Aurignacian period burst with artistic expression through Venus figurines and European cave paintings. Whether this reflected the full maturation of homo sapiens sapiens intellect or was just a cultural summit isn’t certain. In any case, from that point on, humans have been partying in a standardized way. All the basic elements of a modern rock concert can be found in those early cave parties.
First, a spectacular setting: these spacious limestone caves had dramatic torchlighting and art on a gigantic scale, sometimes 20 feet above the floor. Second, getting to the show required a long difficult hike, sometimes miles, through narrow, dark passageways lit only by your lamp. Third, upon arrival you were confronted with a large group of people dancing, as deduced from their footprints. Fourth, presumably where there is dancing there is music and singing. A 43,000-year-old bear femur flute has been found in Slovenia, a 60,000-year-old mammoth bone skiffle comes from Belgium, and 90,000-year-old whistles from Crimea were played by Neanderthals. The cave acoustics would amplify the volume. Fifth, although there’s no direct evidence of intoxicants, their use is common among more recent hunter gatherers in such rituals. Sixth, the Venus figurines with their enhanced T&A also imply a certain mental attitude familiar to us.
That’s it, rock & roll in a nutshell: bright lights in the dark, loud music, lots of people dancing, drugs & sex. These are the ingredients of an ancient form of human social bonding, a vital act for our kind. Be aware of this primeval tradition and incumbent responsibility when you step on stage. You’re a cheerleader for community spirit, the mood maestro.
This prehistorical discussion has eaten our space, so for the 2nd Commandment let’s pick a short one: DANCE. In the same way that NO PAUSES between songs avoids boring the ear with dead air, DANCING by the performer is essential to avoid boring stasis for the eye. Animals’ visual attention is keyed to movement. Provide them with some. You’re a guy that’s embarrassed ‘cause you’re not very good? Tough. Practice shaking your booty just like you practice playing the songs. Admittedly, playing an instrument is constraining and drummers are screwed on fancy footwork, but they get to thrash their arms about. Mimic the pros on video. Engage the eye. Move.
Commandment #3 - LIVE LARGE
Let's dust off the rock tablets and see what Music Moses wrote on the 3rd Commandment. A theme begins to emerge from this serial soliloquy on the nature of "mass funny entertainment" as Mick Jagger put it back in the day. One by one we're cycling through the ways your performance affects the audience.
Starting with overt physical senses crudely engaged at a superficial level of consciousness, NO PAUSES dealt with the ear, DANCE dealt with the eye. Our prehistoric diversion dealt with the external environment of approach, light, dark, and volume, and the internal environment of intoxicants and sexual potentiality. Now worm deeper into the mind past primitive mechanisms, down to where the wild things grow. After fundamental eye & ear candy is in place, how do you stimulate the discernment that notes actions & attitude?
The 3rd Commandment is LIVE LARGE. When you hit the stage walk on/off fast, no meandering, this is a mission. Make no bad sounds tuning or warming up. They are repellant while currently you are attractive.
Regardless of your lot in life when the sun is shining, at the moment you're a hero, so be heroic. You're confident and in charge, your movements are purposeful and decisive, your (limited) comments are wry and insightful, your mood is expansive, you're delighted to be in the company of this fine audience sharing this deeply significant experience. Love flows out from you like endless rain into a paper cup.
Make eye contact with the crowd. Everyone there needs a little attention from you for that special feeling. Until this becomes habitual do it mechanically, work stage left, then center, then right. Sing to the people up front then move across stage and project to the back. Vary expressions from sly grins to 100 watt cheesy smiles. It's infectious - when you smile at people they automatically smile back. Even if you must summon the effort to put on a fake smile, it will instantly transform to the genuine article. Try it right now. Look in the mirror and do a fake beauty queen smile. You just cracked up, right? Never frown no matter what disaster unfolds, laugh it off, it's all good.
Make eye contact with the band. Regardless of musical coordination, the crowd wants to see you communicating, working as a team. Never quarrel on stage no matter how bad the screw up. The Stones played
How often have you seen band members totally ignoring one another as if they're playing alone in the bedroom? Audiences love watching musicians go head to head or stand shoulder to shoulder moving in unison. However, besides the crowd's desire to watch human interaction, you do need constant communication when playing live to keep it tight and spontaneous.
There's no hiding on stage. Every minute emotional detail, good or bad, is clearly visible to the crowd. Contrariwise, from the stage, all in the crowd is visible. Use that information, absorb nuance. If the crowd is edgy and needs calming down, then play a dreamy ballad. Are they bored, looking for excitement? Rock out with fast party songs. Do they find a particular move amusing? Remember that. If the dance floor is packed, then it's not time for a break. Read the mood and gently nudge it towards that special island. LIVE LARGE!
Commandment #4 - SOUND GOOD
This commandment seems like dwelling on the obvious but is so consistently violated that it bears spelling out. Let’s start with volume. Rock bands are almost always too loud, leading to endless conflict with club owners, cops, etc... It’s so stereotyped as to have become a caricature, the rite of demanding excruciating volume considered as a statement of individuality and freedom, when the actual result is an alienated audience and lost opportunity. When you insist on blasting your
Dynamics go hand in hand with Goldilocks volume. There's a time to be loud, during the later choruses in a song. Then drop down to whisper quiet again for the lead singer. Amazing how much more punch loud has when it's sandwiched between quiet. Non-stop loud is mentally exhausting. Think Nirvana who epitomized the loud-soft trick.
Which brings us to...the sound man. Befriend your sound man, buy him a drink. Compliment his artistry. He holds your fate in his hands. If he's good & is so inclined, he can make you sound like Elvis, or, with different adjustments, you can just as easily come out of the PA like Pee Wee Herman. I've seen a touchy soundman dealing with a rude singer ...well, let's keep it positive here. Your obedience should be total and unquestioning. If he asks for guitars turned up to 10 and played hard during soundcheck, do it, don't be sly and hold back at 6. He already knows that little game.
If you must offer a suggestion, adopt a supplicatory tone. "Do you think it would sound good if I had just a wee bit more bottom on my vocal?", or, "In your professional opinion would it be a good idea to boost the keyboard a little during her solos in the first set? Just between you and me, she tends to hold back until she gets plastered."
Mic technique: Never point a mic at a speaker or cup your hand over a mic. The first creates a feedback loop and the second establishes a resonant cavity. A resonant cavity is an enclosed space into which a sound wave of the right size will just fit. Any disturbance close to the pitch corresponding to that wavelength will then grow because it's being fed through an amplifier. What frequency corresponds to a wave that's the size of your cupped hand? Let's do the math.
When a beginner is alarmed by a tiny hint of feedback, the first instinct is to cover the hand over the mike head, creating a cavity about 3" across. Frequency equals sound speed divided by wavelength. Sound speed is about 1100 feet per second. So frequency is 1100 feet per second divided by 1/4 foot. That's 1100 times 4 which is 4400 cycles per second. Middle A on a piano is 440 cycles per second. Going up an octave doubles the frequency, so one octave higher is 880 cycles per second, two octaves higher is 1760, and three is 3520. 4400 cycles per second is then almost 3 1/2 octaves above middle A at roughly a C#, almost off the fretboard of a guitar. All the energy the PA can muster is now packed into nearly the highest note a guitar can play. This equates to pain for everyone within earshot. You just traded the sex-god rock star hat for the bumbling fool hat.
Avoiding this outcome is one good reason for a soundman. Another is there's no way on stage to gauge what the mix sounds like in the center of the audience. Third, developing an ear for proper balance and equalization is a skill like playing an instrument, requiring focus and practice. Most performers haven't had time to develop that skill. Nevertheless, we all start out at the bottom, crammed onto a sliver of stage in some hole in the wall joint running a ratty little PA ourselves while playing to 15 broken down drunks. And what glorious fun it is!
PA technique: Thou shalt not feedback. When handling the PA, the main and each channel must be on zero when powering on, then bring volume up slowly and cautiously while someone responsible (in a rock band?) supplies enticing test sounds (singing, for instance, not "CHECK, CHECK, CHECK ONE TWO" thirty times in a row). Prearrange who dives for the volume knob upon malfunction. Keep someone with cat-like reflexes within arms reach of that master volume knob at all times. EQ as best you can and have someone whose ear you trust standing in the center or back of the room giving you signals about balance.
Balance means every instrument and vocal should be audible. If anything is dominant it should be the lead vocal. EQ deals with the knobs or sliders that divvy up the spectrum to control tone quality. There can be from one to many of these, typically at least 3, low, mid, and high. Roughly put, EQ is right when, as you twiddle the knob for each band with the intended instrument or voice coming through that channel, you hear a sudden shift in tonal quality. The center of that transition zone is the sweet spot you're listening for. Thin, high voices need extra low end or bottom, deep, gruff, voices need more highs. Then there's reverb and on and on, but this gets beyond our scope here. Well, ok, one comment on all types of processing. Less is more. It's like make-up, most effective when unnoticed. You want the sensation of hearing a naked human voice, one that just happens to be particularly commanding and alluring. We'll cover actual make-up under the 5th commandment and yes, I know, Kiss' whole schtick revolved around buckets of make-up and platform shoes. Whatever.
SOUND GOOD.
Commandment #5 - LOOK GOOD
The commandment list is growing: NO PAUSES, DANCE, LIVE LARGE & SOUND
GOOD. The 5th commandment is DRESS UP. I once roadied for the Jerry Garcia band at a concert in
Also once saw Jerry sitting alone at the King Kam Hotel Sunday buffet in Kona. On the table before him was the largest plate of bacon I've ever seen. Nothing but bacon, a mound 3" high, filling the plate. Thought to myself, "Duuude, don't do it, that'll kill you." Sure enough. The heroin was bad enough, but ...bacon?? Yikes!
Lesser mortals, though, should always look better than the audience. This doesn't mean tuxedos. Whatever genre you're part of has an accompanying uniform. You've got to ratchet that uniform up one notch higher than the crowd. It's about status, clothes making the man. Whatever slovenly sartorial style you sport in the real world must transmute into flair on stage.
The Clash didn't dress up, you say? Sure they did. It was just ostentatious, over the top, in your face sloppiness in keeping with the anarchic theme. Every bit as much thought and care went into those piercings and ripped fabric as into the gaudy plumage of any glam band.
In the 2nd commandment we delved into the musical instruments of prehistory, but our forebears not only pumped out the jams, they looked marvelous while doing so and when you look mahvalous, dahling, you feel mahvalous. The archaeological record for body adornment is much more extensive than for instruments. Sewing needles go back 25,000-40,000 years and recent archaeological discoveries involving lice suggest humans may have worn clothing 70,000 years ago. Stone Age hunters wore mollusk shells as beads at
You don't need make-up? Fiiinnne, no make-up for you then. Tricky Dick didn't need make-up either. For the youngsters in the house, Tricky, our illustrious president #37, the only president since polling began to score lower than the current loser, #43, declined make-up for his 1960 TV debate with JFK. This cost him the debate and the election. If you still need convincing check out celebrities with and without make-up at www.ebaumsworld.com/celeb.html (warning: scary). Don't overdo it, you're not in a drag queen contest. Tasteful is the byword, some mascara, eye liner, blush, easy on the lipstick. Girls can get away with more than guys because of cultural expectations. If you've never applied make-up, get help from a friend.
You can fill in the blanks on haircuts and shaving at this stage. The general principle is to clean up and present yourself in the most flattering light possible. Again, although the image of rock and roll is scruffy iconoclast, the reality is highly contrived illusion. DRESS UP.
The 6th Commandment of Band Performance
We're halfway there; the first five commandments of performance are No Pauses, Dance, Live Large, Sound Good, Dress Up. Number six is VARY TEMPO.
Note that once again we've returned to the principle of change. Rocks are static and eternal. Life is flux and therefore fleeting. The essence of animals is rapid response to an environment of other life. Other life presents both danger and opportunity, both requiring quick action and therefore quick perception. Perhaps we assign undue preeminence to mammals in this arena. Birds, fish, even reptiles are quick. Dinosaurs were probably fast. Our nervous systems are attuned to shifting patterns, patterns themselves soon recede from awareness.
When one plays a sequence of songs to entertain homo sapiens, let's say ten songs in 45 minutes, the tempo must vary to stimulate different emotions. There is wide latitude depending on circumstance. As a first order approximation to variety one could play a slow song, then a fast song. Overlay on this pattern a tendency to play more slow, mellow songs early in a gig as the sapiens gather. A certain density and intoxicant level must be achieved before the average crowd member is able to shed inhibition and revel in the moment. This takes time. This progression can be utilized in each set and overall between sets. Concentrate ballads early in a set and more in the first set. Fast dance tunes tend to wrap up each set and consume the entire third set. Save your best ballad for late in the last set though. If all goes well by then you hope to make people cry. It's been said that there are only four emotions in the movies; you can make people laugh, cry, get scared or get a hard on. Same applies to rock & roll minus the getting scared hopefully.
The above technique is stock, but changing tempo within a song is more controversial. Some say tempo should be locked from first note to last. OK, now we're talking about disco. Certainly has it's place when you're the dancing fool out clubbing. But live performance is supposed to go beyond machines and if you clock the great live acts there is often a slow acceleration through a song. In extreme cases you can shift into double time, then back again. Think Tina Turner or Prince. But pulling this sort of stunt off requires turn-on-a-dime tightness, the average band is better served sticking with a slow speedup and maybe a little retard at the finale.
Under VARY TEMPO let's throw in some loud-soft like Nirvana. Keep the two separate. When you go soft don't go slow too, hold tempo. Include rhythmic change, four on the floor becomes reggae dropping the down beat becomes funk, staccato becomes legato. Set lists must be made in advance with this in mind. Oh yeah, keys should shuffle around too, every song can't be in A, rarely should two back to back be in A.
Set lists aren't set in stone though. Say you've struggled for 30 minutes in the second set to get people on the dance floor and they finally pour out to your hard rocking anthem. That's not the time to go all dreamy eyed with a love sick ballad. Or take a break. Keep on rocking through three fast songs. The instant you detect flagging energy (from the crowd, your energy had better be up) and see that people need a refreshing cold beverage, call a break and walk smartly off stage to universal acclaim for your remarkable powers of mood control.
Music Moses
The 7th Commandment of Band Performance
SHOW LOVE is the 7th commandment of band performance, courtesy of Aaron, lead singer for Lushion, who all put on a fine performance the other night at Katie Whitman's 808 Scene Zine Production at Don Ho's Bar. When performing on a bill with other bands, fill dead air with thanks to those preceding you, who undoubtedly made a fine effort, touching the audience with their sincerity, and tout those succeeding you, to arouse expectations and increase the psychosocial level one notch for the performers to come. None of us can really peak until we feel love and enthusiasm for life coming back at us. We're a hopelessly socially dependent species. We can do things en masse that we can't do alone. Alone is fine, alone is good, but when you want to walk through the doors of perception with your fellow humans on this little planet, it's good to have booze, it's good to have a group with single purpose - bonhomie.
After all, this merry band is all we've got. We don't know anything about other life in the universe. This thing called the Drake equation, where you multiply seven factors of likelihood of habitable planets, likelihood of life arising on a habitable planet, likelihood
of civilization, blah, blah, blah... It's total nonsense, we don't really have a clue. We're as ignorant on this subject as people were 100,000 years ago.
In fact, it's worse than that. We not only have no clue about how much stuff out there is like us, we know even less about what comes after something like us. Nobody even talks about that, hardly crosses anybody's mind. Bizarre, huh? We're on our way to Something! Not to be teleological or anything, granted history comes from a push, not a pull, but the situation isn't static, trendlines are exponential, this cozy state can't last.
Anyway, when you're on stage rocking out, between songs thank those contributors not on stage: sound man (as noted previously, this one's in your immediate self interest), promoter (somebody's gotta organize things), other bands, the MC, your mother, Dubya, whoever's involved. It's just nice, thanking people puts people in a cooperative mood, creates positive emotions, brings out the cool side in everyone.
Plus, local bands in Honolulu are getting pretty good. Maybe it's not quite Austin yet, the history of Honolulu's development being, well, let's not use the word 'sordid', that would be a value judgement, and who among us is ready to cast the first stone? Perhaps we should just say that Honolulu's evolution has been unconventional, allowing at this stage of history a mindset blending post-modern American imperial ennui with Polynesian vitality and youthful exuberance. A good time can be had by all. But wasn't it ever really thus, in 1944 with the sailors thronging the port, weren't there good parties? I'd guess yes. This has been going on a long time, people have been enjoying themselves in spite of war, privation, and problems. Maybe we just have a good time because we can. And in any case, we probably don't want to delve too deeply into Austin's history. I mean, Davy Crockett was a childhood hero of mine, but let's face it, the man was fighting
heroically for the institution of slavery. Ah well, who survives close examination? You might even find something objectionable about me if we hung around long enough. It's always a shock ... Be nice to your companions in the house. They're flawed but it's not their fault, they mean well.
Commandment #8 - Roadie Fast
Ignore the recent commandments hiatus, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Let's review where we left off:
1. No pauses
2. Dance
3. Live large
4. Sound good
5. Dress up
6. Vary tempo
7. Show love
The 8th commandment is ROADIE FAST. When a band reaches U2 proportions they no longer roadie their own equipment. Long before that lofty status though, they do. At the club level playing to 100 people, you hulk your own gear. When you reach 300-400 people, there will be a hired PA. No stigma here, all roads begin in clubs. However, when you set up your own gear, you switch hats. You are not at the moment, an artist, you're a mechanic organizing space. Not surprisingly there is an art to it. Do it well in order to simplify the segue into performance. Think of it as the zen of stage maintenance, high-speed, hi-tech tai chi.
"Words are for catching ideas. Once you've caught the idea, you can forget about the words. Where can I find a man who knows how to forget about words so that I might have a few words with him." Chung-tzu clearly had stage setup in mind. Talk is cheap, what counts is hands and feet in a blur of motion. Execution should be fast, smooth, efficient, relaxed, flawless teamwork, fluid motion, gracefully choreographed moves.
Use a van, not a truck, for reasons of rain. Heavy items low and in front, just like a grocery bag. Increasingly smaller, lighter stuff in layers backwards and upwards. Equipment size, well, smaller IS better, it leads to faster, is easier on your back, and is more compact. Save big for when somebody else is hauling the stuff.
Use a standard moving dolly, say a P handle 600 lb hand truck, about $70. Keep all small items tidy in bags. Cord technique involves treating it like fine silk, transfer graceful free-hanging loops from one hand to the other, don't force it, velcro strip each coil, gently laid atop other coils. There's a roadie aesthetic of minimally facilitating the natural inclinations of objects so they flow along logical geodesics to their final resting place.
