Tina Turner

Who Are You On Stage?

Your Singing Character on Stage

American Idol is a great place to see what does and doesn’t work. Whether you like the commercial bang of TV. and the glory of advertising or you hate it…it is still a great place to examine real performers and entertainers and where they can improve. The idea is to constantly learn fro others how to improve your own singing. One of the secrets of singing is to keep an open mind. To every aspect of singing. The good, the bad and the downright ugly.

On Idol, Nick is a classic “extreme” case of having a character on stage with Norman Gentle. He actually dresses up as someone crazy and sings in the style that he dresses as. Because he does, you can almost forgive his pitch problems, his ridiculous performance. The audience will either love him or hate him. And I would guess, they love him!

What does this do for Nick? Let me tell you. When you go out and sing you bare your soul. In our daily lives, we can usually hide behind a voice. My partner tells me that I have a “corporate voice” I use for work, a “casual voice” I use for friends, a “loving voice” I use for my family to name just a few. I can easily and without knowing change between these voices or ‘characters’. I don’t even know I’m doing it because it is so subconscious. But singing, singing is a whole other story. You cannot hide. Singing bares your soul, it shows your real being, it’s like standing on a stage naked and open to criticism, applause, teasing and critical acclaim.

This is where a character helps us to sing with more confidence. Sing with more conviction. Using a character we no longer sing as ourselves. We no longer have to bare our own soul for critique. We sing as someone else. We become someone else on a stage. We metamorphosis into another being who we can easily show inside and out on stage. It is almost like we grow another personality. And so many famous singers do this.

Changing their name is one way. Tina Turner’s original name was Anna Mae Bullock. Anna Mae never wore wigs or dressed in sparkling tasseled numbers. But Tina Turner did and still does. Others who use stage names for their on stage characters are Sting, Elton John and Cliff Richard. All of these people would have different and similar reasons for using on stage names. But they all become these people on stage. Just as an actor becomes a character on a movie screen.

So go ahead and find your alter ego. Live as your alter ego for a day, a night or even a lifetime on stage. Develop a character you want to become and then simply, become that character. Go ahead and Find Your Voice.

About the Author

Jewels Singer is a vocalist and producer for Music and Lyrics Recording Studio based on the Gold Coast in Australia. Jewels is also the host of the popular website for singers: http://www.singingforbeginners.com.au