Tap, Tap, Tap...Is This Thing On?

Shut up and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey, rock stars. Reggie Dawson here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Thanks for tuning in, and happy, happy, happy new year to all of you. Welcome to the first episode of 2020. This year is going to be an incredible year. I think I say that every single year, but what can I say? If you start the year off with the mindset that it's going to be incredible, chances are you're going to take the steps necessary to make it incredible. Speaking of taking steps, you guys know in the last episode I had dedicated to try to get back on stage this year. I have a couple MC opportunities. I actually have successfully gotten back on stage for the first time in 2020. I went to karaoke last night. I know, I know. Performance coach going to some little bar, actually in Indiana. I'm traveling. I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana right now. Hey, if you're nearby, give me a shout. Hit me up. Hit me up on Facebook or Instagram. Everything's at Being On Stage. And I went to karaoke last night. I'm just like you. I get nerves. It's been a while since I've sang in public. It's been a while since I've been on stage in public. I've been battling some health issues and some physical, I don't want to say mobility issues because I don't have any problems walking, but I have a lot of pain when I'm walking, specifically in my knees and in my ankles. And so I've stepped back from the spotlight a little bit. It's really hard to get on. It's really hard to get on stage and give it your all when you're in pain. And I've focused all my efforts on this podcast and on my coaching clients and on you, who haven't even jumped on my calendar yet. And by the way, here's that cheesy plug that I always include in my podcast. Head over to beingonstage.com slash calendar. Put in your name and your email and your phone number. Pick a date. Pick a time. And I will call you. And we'll chat for 30-ish minutes. And we'll see. We'll see what you can do to make your next steps. We'll talk about your goals, your long-term goals, your short-term goals, and the steps you can take to get there. We'll set you up on a plan. That's what I do. So anyways, back to the story and that I've put that out there. You know, I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana, and I went to karaoke, and I got up on stage. I was singing one of my favorite songs of all time. It's by Three Doors Down. It's called It's Not My Time. I did all right. A little pitchy to start out with, a little microphone shy, if you will, which I think we all go through that. But especially in a place that, you know, no sound check, no nothing like that, just like get up and go. Plus, you know, karaoke music is always slightly off from, you know, if you have like a live band or if you're singing along to the track or something like that. So it was a little pitchy, but I did it. You know, I did it. I finished strong. And I got to thinking, you know, one of the things I think happens to a lot of us is we get up on stage and our nerves, kind of get the best of us, and we don't necessarily always start strong. And what happens is you don't get much of a response. And it's a vicious cycle because a lot of times as a performer, in order for you to feel the energy and to give more energy and to put out more, you're kind of feeding off that audience response to what you're putting out. And that's kind of the build. It's a give and take relationship. I'm going to kind of break it down. So in a typical performance, and listen, listen, it does not matter what you do on stage. Don't get me wrong. It matters, but it doesn't matter. Like what I'm about to tell you, you can use for singing. You can use for dancing. You can use for juggling. You can use for comedy. You can use for drag. You can use for magic. You can use for miming. OK, so it doesn't matter what you do on stage. But what happens is you go out on stage and you start your performance, and then let's say you're a little weak in the beginning, like I was last night, a little pitchy, a little microphone shy, wasn't really sure how far to hold it. You guys know every microphone is different. Some of them you've got to basically like shove in your mouth, and some of them you've got to hold like a foot away. Otherwise, you get that terrible, terrible feedback. And this happened to be like a shove in your mouth kind of microphone, and I got an issue with putting a microphone on my mouth that other people have had on their microphones. I don't know if I'm the only person that has that issue, but I know a lot of professional singers. And when I say professional, anyone can be professional. Professional just means you consider yourself – you're able to get paid, and everyone's able to get paid for what they do. I'll prove it to you. OK, another cheesy plug. I'm sorry. If you go to beingonstage.com, no slash, put in your name and email, I'll send you ten ways that you can get paid for performing, like within a week or two. So everyone can get paid for performing. So you are a professional, but most professional singers, they have their own microphone, and that's probably why, to make sure they're not germ-sharing, anything like that. So we go out there as a performer. We start. Maybe we're a little weak, a little pitchy, not necessarily really strong in the beginning. Our nerves are pumping. Our heart's pounding. Our palms are sweaty. Chances are you have to pee. That happens to me all the time, every single time I go on stage. Within about five minutes, maybe less than five minutes. Two minutes of going on, like curtain, two minutes, boom. My bladder says, oh, no, no, no, you don't. You have to go to the bathroom. I never actually have to go, and to this day, I don't think I've ever actually gone to the restroom within five minutes of going on stage. But it's inevitable. It always happens. And lo and behold, it happened to me last night. So we get on stage. We're a little weak. We're struggling to get our footing. And, hey, maybe even if you start off strong, sometimes the odds are against you. The audience just isn't responsive. And if you are one of those performers, or you have one of those performances that you did start off weak, here's the issue with audience response. And this is a big issue, I think, in a lot of audiences for a lot of performers. Your audience is not going to respond unless you make them respond. And I don't mean, like, go over there, slap somebody, and say, hey, you better scream. I mean. You have to do something on stage that elicits an applause, a cheer, whatever. Whatever you're looking for. Usually an applause or a cheer is what we're always looking for. But you have to do something to elicit that out of them. So what happens to an audience when they actually start to cheer, start to clap? Usually something exciting, something that surprises them, something they weren't expecting, something that is so incredible to watch or hear or experience. That they just cannot contain their own excitement. And that, that is what actually happened to me last night. Okay. So as I'm singing the song, I get through the first verse. I was absolute crap in the first verse. I'm going to be the first to tell you. Absolute crap. Around the second verse, I really like the lyrics of the second verse. I get a little more into it. And then someone on the crowd goes, whoo, go Reggie. All right. Now we're getting somewhere. So that fuels me. A little bit, you know, you hear a, whoo, go Reggie or a, yeah, or something. It fuels you a little bit. So naturally you give a little bit more than you were given before. And what happens without fail? Boom. It happens again. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. And then by the end of the performance, and for my case, by the end of the song, the entire place erupted, which I went early. So it was only like 15 people. But still the entire place applauded me because by the end of the show, I was stomping my foot. I was like banging my head a little bit. I was really getting into it. And like you could, I'm sure you could see the muscles in my neck tensing when I'm singing. And like I'm back and forth on the stage going side to side. I'm really getting into what I'm doing and like putting myself into it. And that, that is what you need to do on the stage to get the audience response. So you notice, you notice the title of this podcast is tap, tap, tap is this thing on. Okay. That's, you know, that's, that's usually what happens when, you know, the audience isn't responding. I see in comedy and even singers, they tap, tap, tap. Hey, is this thing on? You're not responding to me. Why? My microphone must not be on. Because if it was on, you'd be clear, cheering and laughing and clapping. And that's not always the case. Okay. I'll tell you from years of experience, it is rarely the case that the audience just isn't interested. Or worse, that they have something out for you. That happened to me once. Like I said this, I've shared this story before where I actually had a vindictive audience. It was full of people that thought I backstabbed them. And so they all got together and decided not to cheer, not to clap, not to react. It was awful. But you still have to put yourself out there and you have to continuously build in your performance. Okay. That's how you get the reaction. Now, assuming you don't have a vindictive audience, that's very rare. Honest to God, unless you have backstabbed, and I didn't backstab these people, they thought I did, but unless you are in this dramatic situation where you see the same people at every performance and you're all friends and something big dramatic happens and they're like, nope, not cheering, it is very rare. And as I'm going to say, non-existent to have an audience of random people not react at all, unless you haven't given them something to react to. So if you're questioning, hey, is this thing on? Are they even watching me? Why aren't they reacting? You need to stop looking at what they're doing and start looking at what you're doing. Because. Is this thing on? Are you on? Like, that's that's what you got to think about. Are you on? What do I mean by are you on? Well, come on. I mean, it's your performance. You're you're going out there and you're putting yourself out there and you're giving everything you got and you're sharing a piece of yourself with these people who may or may not know you. You can't put this on them to automatically clap just because you can carry a tune. You can't put this on them to automatically cheer you on just because you could do it. No. So you can tell a couple of jokes and do a couple of magic tricks, maybe flip, do a backflip or a cartwheel or juggle. So what? What have you given them for them to react to? That's the question I want to leave you with. That's the question I want you to burn into your head next time you think, why isn't my audience reacting to me? Why don't they like me? No. What have you done to make them like you? What have you done to elicit the reaction? And what are you going to continue to do and continue to build in your performance to get that reaction? That's what I'm going to leave you with. I think that's a good, solid final thought for you. And if you keep thinking about it and you can't come up with something and you can't figure it out, then my friend, it is time for you to jump on my calendar and let me help you figure it out. Let me help you figure out how you can get that reaction. Let me help you get that applause, get that cheer, get that reaction, and ultimately, get that next booking. Keep on shining.