There is nothing that makes the road to being a better performer easier. Nothing you can buy. No lecture you can attend. No workshop. No tactics, gimmicks or a slicker promo package. There is really only one way to better yourself as a performer, develop your onstage persona and learn how to connect with an audience. And that is...just work. I wish I could hold a convention where aspiring performers would come so I could have the one and only lecture where I would reveal the secret to being the best you can be. The lecture would have one powerpoint slide that would say JUST WORK, and then I would send everybody home. Everybody wants to know if there is a secret formula to get around all the work involved in developing an act, being a better performer, etc. There is none. Just work.
Amen.
ReplyDeleteYou must surely have heard the anecdote about when American author Sinclair Lewis was engaged to lecture at Columbia about writing. Lewis began by asking "How many of you here are really serious about being writers?" Several in the audience raised their hands. "Well, why the hell aren't you all home writing?" said Lewis, and sat down. (source: Barnaby Conrad, "Party of One")
ReplyDeleteJoko,
ReplyDeleteThat's a great quote/anecdote.
Thanks for the post Bill. My experience performing often and committing to focused practice is a mind set change - it's so easy to get sucked into watching other peoples polished work and stop creating your own.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog
Colin