You've probably heard of the term "selling it." Do you have a cold and have to perform on stage in an hour? Sell what you got! Are you new to a part and unsure of the sequence? Sell it!
The idea behind "selling it" is not to show the audience whatever the deficiency is. If it comes to the point where you have to "sell it", then it's too late to fix whatever caused the situation in the first place. If you let the problem show on your face while you're performing, the audience is going to not only notice you, but will most likely share in that feeling of uncomfortable-ness with you.
"Selling it" serves as a necessity but is never an optimal situation. It mimics confidence, which is something that can waver for even the seasoned player at times. Think about the people that you really enjoy watching on stage or command presence when they perform. It could be a dancer, a musician, a martial artist, etc. That presence you feel comes from them believing in themselves.
Or does it?
Find me a seasoned artist who hasn't had a bad day and still had to perform. The more experienced someone is, the more likely they've dealt with issues. In my own experiences, I've seen people perform taiko or test/compete in martial arts with 105-degree fevers, stomach flu, blisters, smashed knuckles/bleeding flingers, and the list goes on and on. Did the audience know? I bet 98% of the audience were unaware anything was off, because the people performing "sold it". Odds are, you've watched more than one performer who was "selling it" and you never knew anything was wrong. Heck, I've known people to drop a bachi and some people in the audience had no idea, simply because that person acted like nothing was wrong!
So the really great artists may truly believe in their skills, but if you can't tell when someone is at 100% or faking it, that should tell you something! "Selling it" is a skill we all have to practice, just like believing in our own abilities. If you wait for that magical day when all of a sudden you'll start believing in yourself, you're missing the point.
You don't need to wait for a big problem to arise before you "sell it"; you can start doing it the very next time you practice. Feel ok with a part? No, you feel great about a part! Sell that! You may just find that in short time, you're no longer faking that you feel great, you truly believe it.
This ties in with something I was thinking of asking.
ReplyDeleteDo you ever *really* feel prepared to perform, or is it always a matter of just doing it anyway and making it look good? It seems like an extra week of rehearsal would *always* be welcome.
Granted, my group's had a very hectic month; when I joined in December I was told to expect about 20 performances per year, but tomorrow will make 7 for April alone (mostly disaster relief benefit shows). Obviously our usual course of pre-show rehearsals has gotten compressed considerably. :)