September 2002 Table of Contents

Your Voice To God
Helping Soloists Be Their First
Part II

By Chris Beatty

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
In the last article we addressed areas of the songs, range etc. This issue deals with other critical aspects of preparing your soloists to be their best. I will address these principles to the singers themselves.

The first area is facial expression. What does your face look like when you sing? Scared, bored, phony, relaxed, distorted on high notes? Do you think your facial expressions visually help or hinder the message?

It is necessary here to be brutally honest with yourself if you are to be your best. The vast majority of successful singers have to work at looking relaxed, and having facial expressions that are consistent with the message. It's a mechanical skill, and takes practice. The right kind of practice!

We're going to use four exercises to awaken your facial expression skills. And, if you're asking yourself it this will feel a little silly, the answer is, yes! Absolutely. Will you feel unnatural doing some of this? Yes. But how did you feel and look the first time you picked up a golf club, or baseball bat, or tennis racquet? Getting comfortable was a process, and facial expressions are the same way. And besides, if you want to perform in public, you have to risk feeling foolish. It's part of the price.

EXPRESSION EXERCISE #1
So, put down your pride and, looking just like a three year old with a NEW PUPPY give a look of HAPPY SURPRISE. (Come on. You can do better than that!) Open your mouth and eyes WIDE! Think of it. Become the child. Your very own PUPPY!

You've now begun to learn and memorize the physical feeling of the look of delight. If you practice this expression it will be in your 'expression repertoire,' ready for use in a song.

EXPRESSION EXERCISE #2
Our next expression is SADNESS. The three year old was just told he couldn't SLEEP with the puppy. The head drops. The face frowns and the bottom lip gets HUGE.

Try that expression now. (I think I can hear the puppy whimpering as he's led off to the garage.)

EXPRESSION EXERCISE #3
But WAIT! The three year old was just told he could play with the puppy ALL DAY TOMORROW! What's the face LOOKING LIKE? Extreme DELIGHT! Let me see it. Now, let's exercise both expressions . . . back and forth. DELIGHT! Sadness. DELIGHT! Sadness. This is a PHYSICAL exercise, and one you need to practice. Only when you become physically comfortable with a variety of expressions will you really own them when you sing.

EXPRESSION EXERCISE #4
Other expressions to practice are FEAR-You're being chased by an angry foe. VICTORY-You just beat your foe to a pulp. ANXIOUSNESS-You're leaving for the airport and can't find your car keys. RELIEF-You found them!

Take a minute right now and write down these expressions so you can practice them regularly. DELIGHT. SADNESS. FEAR. VICTORY. ANXIOUSNESS. RELIEF. You'll find others also, and as you do, add THEM to the list.

"But," you may be asking, "won't this make my performance look phony?" Absolutely not. Communicators communicate. Expressions are expected, and part of good singing. If you feel the emotion on the inside, but it doesn't come out on your face you are robbing the audience of part of the song. If you video tape yourself practicing or performing a song you may be surprised, even shocked at how fearful or expressionless you really are. Public performance can neutralize a lot of who we are. The right kind of exercises can change that. And, if you're afraid of getting too mechanical or extreme, keep video taping your progress. Necessary changes are often obvious.

PHYSICAL GESTURES

Closely related to facial expression is body movement, or gestures. Here, though, different guidelines will apply depending on where you are performing or ministering. If it's in a church setting, like a morning worship service in a very conservative, traditional church, facial expression is as far as you can go to physically support the message you are singing. If you're on stage at a youth concert, you might be able to get away with back flips in the middle of a song. You need to know the "rules" of the setting.

My experience suggests that MOST singers need to let their bodies, especially the face and arms, be MORE involved in the song. There is something distracting, almost dishonest, about singing a joyful, victorious message while standing as if you're in a body cast. If you're going to be no more than a speaker cabinet in clothes, you might just as well play a CD. On the other hand, if you have some extreme gesture on every action verb you might just as well do mime. There needs to be BALANCE, and that takes planning, and practice.

On these exercise sentences let your entire body and face be involved. First, say the sentence, and then act it out with facial expression and gestures using the arms, hands, and rest of the body.

Gesture Exercise #1
Here's the first set-up and sentence. You're in front of a large crowd without a microphone. If you don't use your face and body the audience won't get the message and you will look foolish. Here's the sentence: "Life is worth living! I LOVE IT!" Say it, then act it! Your face should be joyful, your arms extended or lifted, and your voice exuberant. Say it, again with exaggerated expression and action.

During these exercises, EXAGGERATE what you're saying with your FACE and BODY.. You can always tone it down later.

Gesture Exercise #2
Now, you're standing in front of a group of 100 First Graders. Your job is to keep their attention and, at the same time, get the message across. The sentences are: "There was a very small mouse, and a very large alligator. Both were very hungry." What will you do with your VOICE, FACE and BODY to get this message across to the kids? Write out the sentences. Note the action verbs and adjectives, then look for expressions and gestures to make them bigger than life. Next, say it and act it out.

MICROPHONE TECHNIQUE

I want to end with several rules of good microphone technique.

1. Position the microphone about two inches away from your mouth and one or two inches below your mouth. While coving your mouth with the microphone may look cool it prevents the first 20 rows from reading your lips and lower facial expression. Should you need to move it closer for more "presence," and an intimate phrase you can still do that. If you're about to sing an extremely loud note you may want to move it slightly down and out. But these are the exceptions. Most of the song should have the microphone in a fixed position.



2. Don't play with the cord. It's distracting. If you can get a wireless microphone all the better.



3. If using a microphone stand, position it so you can maintain good posture. If it's too far away move it closer. As obvious as this sounds, we see singers at the piano, or playing guitar in very unnatural positions when all they would have to do is pull the microphone closer.

For more information on performance issues please visit the TIPS page of the Vocal Coach web site at www.vocalcoach.com/tips or get the Complete Performance CD or cassette from www.vocalcoach.com/store .

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