Craig asked whether I also performed at the open mic that Vanessa, Dennis and I attended in Seattle. I had originally posted these lessons learned in that thread; Vanessa's 2016 IGC report. But, I realized that I was being a bit of a pirate so I transferred them here instead; here are my takehome Learnings from the Seattle Open Mic.
I'd be interested in the things you all have experienced and learned during your open mic adventures.
Craig wrote:
Craig,Vanessa,
Thank you for sharing those videos with us. It's great for us that didn't attend camp to get to see you perform. Your enthusiasm and the amount of fun you are having really shows through! Very cool!
Craig
P.S. Did Michele, Suzi, and/or Dennis do the open mic?
Dennis and I both got up too. Dennis's set was before Ness. Mine ... was directly after ...
Can you imagine having to follow Ness at an open mic?
Well the Seattle open mic was the first time I'd gotten up on stage during my US trip. OMG I was SO nervous. My 'performances' are best considered "opportunities for growth and learning".
Lesson 1 - mic management; Vanessa, Dennis and I started Den's set by doing Seven Bridges Road. Ness played guitar and we all sang. It sounded great in Den's lounge room. The three part harmony sounded great. Ness and Den sounded great on stage. I couldn't hear myself and therefore I wasn't sure I was singing the right thing. Who knew you had to sing INTO the mic?!
Lesson 2 - make sure you're hands aren't too tired before you get up; Well I was holding the phone up to film both of Ness's performances. You might notice that at times Ness's isn't in the shot. Sorry Ness. Well that's because I was holding the phone up and my arms were getting tired. When it was my turn to perform I suddenly realized that my right hand wasn't working. I was so nervous and my hands were so tired from holding up the phone that I had trouble actually making my fingers play the picking pattern.
Lesson 3 - Warm up your voice; I was so nervous being up on stage and realizing that I'd been an idiot and wrecked my hand that by voice was really sharp for at least the first half of the song. I also hadn't warmed up my voice so hadn't remembered how to relax it and I was screechy. Little Song has never sounded so much like a cat being strangled. It wasn't pretty. I'm doing you all a favour by not showing it.
Lesson 4 - check your capo is on properly before you start playing; believe it or not, I actually stayed up on stage to do another song. Ness joined me and brought a guitar in dropped D tuning with her. I slapped my capo on but didn't check it. It wasn't until I was well into playing that I suddenly realized why I couldn't hear the top string. I'd put the capo on in a way that was pushing the top string out rather than holding it down. That was pretty distracting.
Lesson 5 - trust your intuition and stick to your guns; I knew that following Ness in the performance order was a terrible idea. I'd said that when Dennis told me the order. I should have gotten them to change it. The best part of my performance was my first introduction where I told the audience that I knew it was a bad idea to follow Ness.
Lesson 6 - oh there's a sound check!; I didn't realize that we had to do a sound check and so once I had done my 'fabulous' intro and I was ready to play Farida leans down and says "don't start yet, we need I do the sound check". Damn! Nervous again. And ... we'll you can hear Farida playing the mandolin beautifully on the video - but you can't really hear my guitar.
Lesson 7 if you're going to borrow someone else's guitar make sure the strap is adjusted for you; yep! When I borrowed Den's guitar for my second song... the strap for too long for me and it changed my playing position; just another things to distract me. Idiot! .
Lesson 8 - keep it simple; Dennis and Vanessa both told me that fingerpicking songs probably weren't the best choices given how nervous I was just playing in front of them. They were right of course.
Lesson 9 - remember to introduce and thank the people playing with you; I didn't, not while I was on stage anyway.
I think the second song went better; Naked As We Came. I felt that my voice was better; I'd relaxed a little. But in truth I don't remember much, except the relief of getting off the stage. We don't have video that I'm aware of. So it was probably fabulous right?! I do remember that Ness was up there with me, which helped me relax. Thanks Ness you're a sweetie.
So - if you're planning to get up on stage - number one recommendation - don't follow Ness unless you're a confident player. Or get her up there with you. It was still fabulous to get up and challenge myself. I really did have fun; terrifying fun. And it was incredible playing with Ness and Den and seeing them both perform. I won't ever forget that night.
Ness - I'll be a happy puppy if I can perform half as well as you one day.
So - what have you all learned from doing open mics?