When you sing for an audience, you want the story to come through and the listener to see and hear you connect your story and singing. All the movements you make on stage should relate back to and enhance the story telling of your song. Being able to move and sing is important, yet starting small is best. Here are some tips on coordinating movement with music:
Practice singing at home while you do general household tasks like folding cloths or washing dishes, so that you get used to doing other things while you sing. Once you can move around easily while singing, try speaking the words to your song and take note of what gestures you use. The way you move your hands when saying the words to the song will help you to identify the most natural gestures for when you sing the words.
Some songs don’t require much movement at all. Err on the busy side at first when you’re practicing and then pare down the movement until you’re moving in response to what you’re saying. Movement simply for the sake of movement can detract from your song, rather than enhance it. Classical songs don’t require much movement and usually not many gestures. You needn’t take more than a few steps when singing a classical ballad.
For those of you who have just begun singing, your first priority should be to concentrate on your singing and technique rather than movement. When you first begin singing before an audience, don’t try to tackle to many things at once. Just developing your vocal technique will most likely be enough to keep you busy. When you’re ready to go from just good technique to coordinating that technique while telling a story you need to know how to move. You will need to know how to move and to engage your audience with your song.
Beginner singers tend to move their hands a lot when they sing because they believe that gestures make their song more appealing to the audience – and gestures can do just that, when they are used effectively. Just remember it is not just your hands you should be moving, move your entire arm so that your elbows are not glued to your sides and make sure that your hands are not clenched but open.
Especially if you tend to move your hands when you speak, you will feel uncomfortable and unnatural if your try and keep your hands by your sides when you sing. Read the songs lyrics aloud like it is a part in a play so that know what is going on in the story and how the character feels and would react to what is happening. By becoming the character in the song, gestures will be part of your natural reaction to what is happening you can use those same gestures when you sing to help tell your story. However, you should never gesture simply for the sake of movement.
I hope you found this information helpful. There are loads of great ways to learn how to sing online. Yes, that’s right, now you can affordably teach yourself how to sing with video lessons from acclaimed vocal coaches like Per Bristow. Best of luck!
