Do Musicians need audience feedback:

[Dr. Ellwood]

Do musicians need some kind of feedback from their playing? Do they need a way of presenting their ideas or performance to a audience of some kind to make their work seem worthwhile? Some of us write lyrics and music for ourselves but how strong is the need to perform this work for other people or other musicans? How long can a player practice his or her instrument before they feel the need to perform to the public. We are all different of coarse and there are different levels of this need but I personally think it would be difficult to not perform for anyone. How do you fell about this?

[Griffinator]

Depends on how much of a drama queen you are.

 

Me? I've craved the spotlight since the day I played my first piano recital, at age 5.

 

Draw your own conclusions...

[Michael Patrick]

For me, all of my efforts to learn guitar has been geared towards playing in front of people. It all goes back to when I was a wee lad and got my first guitar for Christmas. By the time the first warm days of spring had arrived, I had managed to learn "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals and "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After. So as soon as it got warm enough, I took my guitar out onto my front porch and started playing those two songs.

 

Wouldn't you know it, the girls who usually sat on a porch down the block ignoring me came down and sat on my porch and listened to me play my two songs. And soon thereafter I lost my virginity to one of them.

 

If that's the kind of audience feedback you are talking about, then hell yeah!

[miroslav]

While I haven't played in a gigging band in awhile...when I use to, YEAH...it was very important to get audience response...BUT...you have to please yourself first!

 

Now...with writing and recording, I feel the same way.

 

I think most artists need to have audience response in some form.

Just playing and creating for yourself, in a vacuum...is of little value, IMO, thought there are some things we do not want to share with others...and that's OK as long as you don't spend your entire life playing and writing and recording in your basementand nowhere else.

 

Some may feel differently

 

[miroslav]

 

Wouldn't you know it, the girls who usually sat on a porch down the block ignoring me came down and sat on my porch and listened to me play my two songs. And soon thereafter I lost my virginity to one of them.

 

SEX, DRUGS and ROCK & ROLL....

 

Yeah...performing most any music so other can hear it tends to work like a "crowd magnet".

And then after that, it's just a matter of picking your favorites out of the crowd!

[Michael Patrick]

But seriously now...

 

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that the validation of the response from previous audiences provides motivation to play better and to write better material (or learn better songs if you are in a cover band). No, in the sense that I'm going to do what I'm going to do (which is rock my ass off) whether there is an audience for my kind of music or not. Trends in musical tastes shift with some regularity, but I'm not interested in following the latest trends just to please a fickle audience.

[miroslav]

... but I'm not interested in following the latest trends just to please a fickle audience.

 

I think you can always set your own trend/pace....and the right audience will follow.

[Griffinator]

I'm of the mind that if you play what comes forth from your soul, and you play it with conviction, you'll find an audience. It may not be a big audience, but it'll be there.

[Guitarzan]

it is nice to recieve a response but once the groove kicks in and i feel the drums i kind of zone out and get into the song anyway.

unless i am nervous for some reason.

having feedback back is nice though.

but i would still play even if everyone in the world thought i sucked. i enjoy it too much.

now if you excuse me i have to go out and play on the porch (thanks for the tip Mike)

[picker]

For me, it's nice but not necessary. Even before I started playing Christian music, my playing was more about trying to match what I heard (on a record at first and then later in my head) than trying to impress an audience.

The first time I knew I HAD to play guitar was when I was about 13. I saw a movie with the Animals playing "House of the Rising Sun', and my brain went POP!, and I said to myself, "I have GOT to learn how to do that!" Now I had heard the Beatles and the Stones and everybody else long before then, and I loved the music, but this was the first time I knew in myself that I wanted to do this, and the reason was because I loved the sound I heard and wanted to make the same sound myself. So, My impetus to learn to play was mostly about pleasing no one as much as myself, really.

Playing for an audience can be stimulating, though. When you know an audience is really listening and enjoying what they hear, that's a pretty cool feeling. Unfortunately, most of the time the audience is there because they wanna get drunk or pick up someone, or both, and rarely there to pay much attention to the music beyond showing of their dance moves.

I really don't have a problem with people who are in it for the money. They usually have to work a whole lot harder than I do, often for less than I make. If that's what they're into, cool. There was a time whenI would have been into that too. These days, I am too old and tired to want to put as much as it would take to make a decent living at it, as if anyone would pay an old fart like me enough money to make a living at it in any case.

[Gruupi]

This is a good topic, I'm sure everyone has varying degrees of how they respond to an audience. I get stage fright bad enough that I don't go out of my way to play in front of people. If I play out alot I start to get comfortable enough to enjoy myself. But live I always play safe, I don't take chances or improvise. I'm just too concsious of trying to play all the right notes.

 

I think we all deep down would like to be appreciated for our hard work and talent. Whenever I am sitting home and playing really well, I start to get that little voice in the back of my head saying "this is good, people should hear it". But I know as soon as I get in front of someone, the safe factor comes in and changes the way I play. Theres that feeling we all get when we know no one is listening and we just play for ourselves, we are freed up to just play. I remember reading a Jeff Beck interview once where he stated the same thing, he said you should hear what he sounds like when he is in a room by himself playing. Now thats a scary thought, Jeff Beck can get wilder and crazier than the stuff the public has heard?

 

Most audiences just want to recognize the song and maybe get up and dance. The musicians are usually happiest when they play something new and different with great emotion. Only the greatest artists can do this and connect to the audience at the same time on a consistant basis. I personally don't want to always compromise for what an audience wants.

 

I gave up a fairly succesfull cover band to just jam and write songs. I just had much more fun playing for myself and my musical partners that I just couldn't get motivated to play the same old songs again. I really miss the sense of accomplishment that you get playing live. It kind of justifies all the time spent. I will probably seek to get in a band again, but I know deep down inside I will be bored in a year and be itching to just jam. The other whole thing is that most of my former bandmates and musician friends just don't have the time or motivation to start something up again.

[miroslav]

I get stage fright bad enough that I don't go out of my way to play in front of people.

 

I think most players experienced stage fright at one time or another...and it can also pop back up from time to time, depending on the venue and circumstances.

 

But...with time, most of it tends to fade away and you get more and more comfortable so that even when you do flub something live...your experience kicks in and allows you to recover quite fast.

 

I my gigging days...if there was ever a night where I felt a bit nervous at the start...I would go to the bar and slam down a shot of Hennessy cognac, straight up...with a Coke chaser.

That killed the butterflies in like 10 seconds flat!

Then after the first few numbersit was smooth sailing the rest of the night.

 

We had this really good guitar player in one of my bandsand they guy smoked at practices.

But on our first gig, he chokedtotally.

Okso we rolled over that and back to practicesand again, he smoked.

Next gigmore choking. Not as bad.but still, not smooth just yet.

By the third gig he let it get to himand he developed a total phobia after thatthat not too long afterwardshe just up and quit the band.

And it was sadcuz he was totally heartbroken about it, but he convinced himself that he couldnt shake that monkeyand so he gave in to his fears.

He never played out after that as far as I know.though we did do some jamming and recording together later on.

 

HeckI think Clapton use to kinda hide in the corner of the stage in his early yearseven though he could play without any problem.

 

[Michael Patrick]

This one band I was in, the rhythm guitar player froze at the first gig. I felt sorry for him, but the show had to go on...

 

I guess I've never really had stage fright. Maybe I was too stupid to realize I was supposed to be afraid, or maybe I'm just a ham.... Before a gig I do have lots of nervous energy, but it's a positive energy. I can't wait to get up and play, the hanging around waiting for show time just kills me...

[Zuben]

A good audience, large or small, will help energize your performance. (At least most of the guys I know. There are the players who are spooked at playing live and live in studios) Some players will tell me they don't hear the audience while they are playing but definitely hear them after a lead, solo or a song.

 

My 1st band I was too young to know I was scared! HS dances with the audience mostly our friends.

 

This story is on topic but pretty funny, and embarrassing.

 

I opened with LF at Margaritaville New Orleans last year and had a blues solo in the 2nd song. I was feeling it and I heard the crowd start to go crazy. I normally wouldn't hear them but it was that loud. I put even more into it and was feeling pretty damn good. My balloon was filling! I looked to my left and Jimmy Buffet had joined us on stage and was standing next to me. Talk about putting a pin in a balloon! LOL

 

There is a video of it somewhere. I will have to run it down.

 

Peace

[Guitar55]

I enjoy playing in front of people and have been doing it for about 33 years. The scenario has definitely changed during that time. In the 70's, if you were playing in bars, you had much more freedom to do what you wanted to and to be more musically adventurous. I was in bands that would take a song and extend it with a combination of written and improvised parts. Some could go up to 15 minutes...and the crowds loved it! These days with less choice of venues and the quest for higher pay, you need to consider the audience a bit more, but that's OK. I'm still looking for an alternative though to act as a release for my need to improvise and interact with other players. I'd love to organize a small community of player who could get together in various combinations just to play for ourselves. It's not easy to do considering people's need to balance work and family schedules and their desire to make some cash in the small amount of time they can dedicate to playing. Sigh.......

[Zuben]

Ellwood,

 

You brought this up and you definitely play in front of people. What is your personal take on it? Can a crowd take you places in your playing you have never been to before? Can they degrade your playing? Do you notice the crowd a any special times in a performance?

 

 

Peace

 

[Michael Patrick]

I've given up on trying to make money playing original music on a local scale. The gigs we get in town are for next to nothing, and the price of gas makes driving long distances for a gig not worth it most of the time, either. We take the low playing gigs in town because it beats the hell outta sitting around with our thumbs up our butts, but we'll ony take out-of-town gigs if the money is right.

 

Fortunately, there are other avenues for making money with original music these days. TV shows, movies, and commercials all use original stuff to a greater or lesser extent. If Internet radio survives, that's another potential revenue stream. And let's not forget selling downloads over the Interweb, if some dude in Taiwan or New Delhi wants to hear our tunes, I say

[Dr. Ellwood]

Ellwood,

 

You brought this up and you definitely play in front of people. What is your personal take on it? Can a crowd take you places in your playing you have never been to before? Can they degrade your playing? Do you notice the crowd a any special times in a performance?

 

 

Peace

 

I play better in front of people because if feels like everyting is complete. I started out playing guitar so I could play for audiences, it didn't matter what audience or how big that audience was or where it was LOL! Pretty much everything I've ever done in music has been for live performance of some kind. I like the recording process but live performance,entertainment has always been my passion. The audience can push me to do more on the instrument, lots of times it's like being a quarterback on a football team and having a room full of cheerleaders, that's what it feels like to me. I notice the crowd all the time and I encourage my guys to do the same while on stage, there are times that we all get inside ourselves on stage but I like to watch how the music makes the audience react.

[Zuben]

Michael,

 

You have touched on something a friend and I have been working at for about 10 years. The Internet. It is an incredible way to get your music out and heard and make some money too!

 

Peace

 

 

[fantasticsound]

I love performing. I love an audience. Doesn't matter if it's a few friends sitting around together or people at a concert. I love hearing music and I love creating music. I can think of no happier time playing my guitar than the days I spent in highschool and college playing for small groups of friends with everyone joining in.

 

One of my favorite performances ever was in the hallway of a hotel near O'Hare Airport that hosted Beatlefest just outside Chicago. It was my first real date with my wife. We were both big fans of Beatles music but she and her best friend had gone to several of these conventions together. This year we went. While she checked out the merchant area I sat in with an ongoing jam in the hall. There was a small, seating area which several attendees had taken over. Everyone going to the gallery and merchant rooms had to pass us. I was there over an hour playing ad hoc arrangements with a few other guitar players, a bass player (who shared his instrument with another bassist) and all of us singing. How I wish it had been a recent event. Alas, all we had to record with was my wife's micro-cassette recorder. I have a few songs I listen to, in particular the Macca song, Band On The Run with me singing lead. The recordings are horrible but oh to get back the feeling of singing as the crowd grew to fill the space solid during that song and the cheering when we were through. (sigh)

 

Yeah... I don't perform in public much, but it's certainly important to me.

[Michael Patrick]

Michael,

 

You have touched on something a friend and I have been working at for about 10 years. The Internet. It is an incredible way to get your music out and heard and make some money too!

 

Peace

 

 

Yeah, it's a brand new world in some respects. Selling downloads ain't the same as playing in front of a real live audience (I like the mental picture of playing for a room full of cheerleaders...), but it's at least a way to be a not-quite-so-starving of an artist.

[Billster]

I think people need an audience. Ever notice how much of people's behavior is influenced by whether or not anyone is watching, or whether or not something will be visible in public?

 

So I think musicians could be very able to survive without an audience, but the human side of their personality (that is, the part not consumed with melodies, rhythms, and so on) needs the feedback. Most people like to be popular. Beware of music that is too ingratiating, designed for easy approval.

[Eric Iverson]

I don't know if I NEED an audience.... it's fun to just play alone with musician friends... but I enjoy it more if there is a group of people listening.

 

I certainly don't mind if someone says, "you play, nice, man" or something like that, but if the band sounds good, I am happy. I like it best when someone says "the band sounds great" or "I really enjoyed listening to you guys". And if they get inspired to sing along or dance, that's great, too! (Actions speak louder than words.)

 

But if no one says anything, and I see a smile on the face of a bandmate when we achieve a sublime synchronicity or something.. a minor musical moment that is major to US... that's great with me.

 

I like playing alone, too, but I am hopelessly addicted to playing in a band... so sue me!

[A String]

I love an audience.

 

Nothing was worse then pulling into some crummy little town, that we had never played in before, to play a full week. Setting up and playing on that first Monday night. Nobody would have heard of us and the place would be dead. After the first set, we would often spend most of the evening, sitting. As the weekend came, more and more folks would show up and we would enjoy it more and more.

 

I love playing guitar for me, but I love it even more, when someone else can appreciate it and gain happiness from it.

[Dr. Ellwood]

"Beware of music that is too ingratiating, designed for easy approval."

 

And WHY is this?

[A String]

"Beware of music that is too ingratiating, designed for easy approval."

 

And WHY is this?

 

Yeah, actually, songs like Sweet Home Alabama, Free Bird, Move It on over etc... etc.... really get the crowd going. When they are happy, the bar owner is happy. When the crowd and the bar owner is happy, I am happy.

[Billster]

"Beware of music that is too ingratiating, designed for easy approval."

 

And WHY is this?

 

Yeah, actually, songs like Sweet Home Alabama, Free Bird, Move It on over etc... etc.... really get the crowd going. When they are happy, the bar owner is happy. When the crowd and the bar owner is happy, I am happy.

 

I'm not talking about songs like that, that are already well known and are staples on the cover circuit.

 

I'm talking about the calculated knock-off stuff. Like when you turn on "hot hits" FM radio, or anything written by Diane Warren

 

My preferred music is the stuff that comes from within, expression that flows naturally from internalized influences.

 

As opposed to calculated assembly of parts that have been successful for others.

[Gruupi]

A similar question is, what if you knew you would never play for an audience again. Would you still play guitar every day with a sense of passion, discovery, and delight?

[mdrs]

I've really enjoyed reading all of your posts in this thread.

 

I come to my music from a different direction than many of you. I've played various instruments, and guitar since age 8. Somehow, I've not often played in front of more than a few others. I've never played in a band on a regular basis. I've pretty much always played for myself. I have played in front of crowds as large as about 3 or 4 thousand, but only on an intermittent basis. I have no problems playing in front of an audience. I've very much enjoyed it the few times I've done it. I've done some lecturing at medical conventions for a while. So, I don't have a problem being in front of people. I guess I just always had other things I had to do that may have kept me from doing the band thing. Sitting here today, I wish I had done the band thing, at least more than I did.

 

My main passion has always been the music, and learning to play the guitar better, and to be able to play music that inspired me. I've always loved improv, and playing lead. So, I'd learn parts of lots of songs. I bet I don't know any song start to finish!! Although, if I was sittin in with a band, I could do it.

 

So, my musical drive has been pretty much all from within myself. Without the audience feedback driving me, I've still played consistantly over the 43 years I've been playing. Except for a 3 month period where I had to stop playing due to a serious bout with tendonitis in my fretting hand, I bet I haven't gone more than a week without playing!

 

Now, after hanging here with YOU GUYS :grin: I must say, however, that I find myself, more and more, thinking that I REALLY DO WISH I was playing with others on some regular basis. I think it's the interaction with other band members and players that I crave the most. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy some good old fashioned audience appreciation. That would be awesome!!

 

So, you guys have been a BAD INFLUENCE on me!! :grin:

 

And, thanks Michael...I'll be playing on my porch a lot more this summer!! :grin:

[Justus A. Picker]

A similar question is, what if you knew you would never play for an audience again. Would you still play guitar every day with a sense of passion, discovery, and delight?

 

That gets a hearty YES! I love listening to what comes out when I play, simple as that.