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What singers should look at when collaborating with others
Collaborating – Collaborating with Other Musicians: As a singer your only instrument is your vocals, which you will want to accentuate as much as possible. That is why it is really important that when you are performing or recording music that you are collaborating with singers that are going to accompany your vocal at least at the same level and highlight your voice to its best potential.
Collaborating with Other Musicians
Collaborating with a musician who plays out of tune or is inconsistent with timing is only going to reflect on you and in most cases put you out of tune or mess up your timing.
HOT TIP! You are only as good as your worst musician!
Collaborating – Things to Remember
When collaborating with others it’s important to remember that they need to suit your whole brand. If the musician is part of your act on stage the following is important:
- There is a synergy of image i.e. they look part of your act.
- There is a synergy in the performance, that they do perform and they feel part of the act.
- An engagement and understanding between singer and musician.
When collaborating, the above will all come together if you practise hard, communicate well and have the ability.
Collaborating – Useful Tips
A “good” musician doesn’t just mean that they are technically advanced or experienced on their instrument, obviously that is important, but it also refers to your compatibility with them. As a singer you need your accompanying musicians or band to work around you. When you’re into collaborating, you must remember they’re there to support you as an act. If you make a mistake a good musician should be able to improvise around it making the mistake appear intentional. Experienced musicians who share a good rapport know each others strengths and weaknesses when collaborating.
HOT TIP! Collaborating isn’t a quick task, to get the right person it’s going to take a considerable amount of time. Be patient, a good musician is worth waiting for.
Collaborating is not always an easy task, due the number of elements that need to be considered, an important one being communication. Communication between singers and other musicians is also really important. Singers need to be able to indicate when the musicians need to slow down, speed up or stop the music often through signals that can be integrated into their performance so that the audience are unaware of their directions. Singers need to be able to indicate their preferences with a nod or a look and the musicians need to take action to the new direction whilst keeping the flow of song. Building relationships can often take a long time, but working with good musicians is essential to giving the best performance you can.
HOT TIP! Collaborating is a strong way to gain networking opportunities!