Question Everything: Audience

Who do you peform for? And how does it change your output?

Most performers don't consider their audience very much, they just perform for whatever group of people is watching at an event. There's nothing really wrong with that, but what about looking deeper?

It's easy enough to modify your performance for your audience - a quiet room of corporate employees usually won't outwardly *seem* to enjoy your performance, so maybe you don't put yourself out there as much. Related to that, a closed-off audience like that is hard to bounce ki off of, so you often don't feel like you're getting any energy back from them.

What if you just put it all out there and maybe affect a few of them who can't openly enjoy your efforts? Give them something to think about for the rest of the day, maybe make them fans from that one performance? Holding back can easily mean you touch less people, and what's the point of that?

There's a mental trick to putting more out at a performance, and that's pretending you have loved ones in the audience (of course, actually having them there works, too.) There's something about wanting to make them extra-proud that usually has an affect on you. It usually surpasses any sort of nervousness that may accompany their presence, too.

Along those lines, there's an interesting observation at seeing guests (known or not) at a practice. When people know they're being watched, they usually feel they have to represent themselves/the group better. Even if it's just one person watching a rehearsal, I see people chatting less and pushing a little harder. So what would happen if you ran all your rehearsals with someone watching (or pretending that someone was)?

And lastly, you are always your own audience. Figuratively, you always have your mind's eye watching you, thinking about how you look, how you appear. You are also usually your own worst critic. Literally, you can watch yourself if you tape your practice/performance and critique yourself later! The camera becomes your surrogate audience.

Whether it should or not, who your audience is can affect your output. How often have you relaxed because you didn't have someone watching? How often have you held back because of the type of people watching? What'll happen if you always pretend your parents/children/spouse/etc. are watching?

Psychology is full of examples how who's watching you shapes who you are. So shape yourself and see how you shape your audience in return.