In Performing Barbershop - Does the Spirit Move You?
If not, let me help.
If moving your body to the rhythm or the soul of a song doesn’t come naturally it can be hard to do the things being asked of you by your showmanship or presentation team. With a little focus and attention, you still may not be the best performer in your barbershop chorus or quartet, but you can learn to move your body and fit in to the overall look of your group. Of course if you can master these techniques, you may be the best performer yet.
Let’s talk about some easy things that you can do to help move you in the right direction. (Keep in mind that these are the things that you do when there is no “planned” choreography move)
Legs and Feet:
This is a simple as shifting your weight from one foot to another.
Try picking a foot up and shifting to the outside of your stance instead of just shifting. Even on the risers, you have a small box of space that is yours to use. Step forward slightly; step back slightly, to the right or to the left. You should find that it frees you up vocally when you allow yourself to move this way.
Bend your knees and grow upward at the end of a phrase or where your dynamic plan has a shift.
Arms and Hands:
Make sure that you let your arms hand where your thumbs are pointed out to the audience, not the backs of your hands. It looks unappealing and it tens to accentuate poor posture.
Allow your arms to move freely at the sides of your body instead of having them plastered to your sides. Don’t get overzealous and move to the point of distraction, but a slight lift of the hand at the end of the phrase, or letting your hand float slightly upward so that you can make a “move” out of bringing it back down to your side can be very effective.
Remember that your hands are a separate extension of your body above and beyond arm movements. Allow for a slight turn of the wrist, turn your hand out slightly so that the palm can be seen and bring it back.
Bend your elbow slightly – it will, in turn, bring your hand up above or at your waist. You can also do any of these suggested moves with both hands at the same time.
When bringing your hand up in a slight move, think about leading with your wrist and thumb instead of your fingers. It will put more presence in your move than just a “fan-type” hand move.
If you happen to stand on the outside of a row in your chorus or as the outside person in your quartet, always be conscious that you don’t move your hand in one similar way over and over. For some reason that tends to happen and it can be very distracting during a performance. Try to switch things up.
Head and Shoulders:
Never move your head and shoulders in a way that would negatively affect your singing instrument.
However, a slight tilt to shake of the head in a plaintive or passionate movement is very effective. Try a slight shrug of one should and then bring it back down. Or, a very slight chin down and then bring it back up within a line of a song.
Putting it all together:
Now, of course, I haven’t mentioned every possible way that you can move, but you get the idea with these suggestions of ways to move from head to toe.
My challenge to you and/or your group:
Take these moves, and others that you know or have seen done, and try to sing a ballad with them. Stay in CONSTANT motion. Not jerky, big moves, but small, subtle, and smooth moves. Keep moving from note to note, word to word, phrase to phrase. At first it feels very uncomfortable, and it may, in fact, be too much. But, if you do this enough times, you will free yourself up for movement while experimenting and finding the moves that worked for you and work for the song that you are singing.
A trick that you may, or may not know, is the “planned unplanned move”. You will see people that are tremendous performers that move and make it seem so natural and spontaneous. 9 times out of 10, they have moves that are not part of the “planned” choreography, but they are “planned” for them. They will do the same move in the same place of the song, every time that they sing it. They have found something that is comfortable and tells the story of the moment that they are sharing and they stick to it.
Once you find moves that are comfortable for you and fit your music, you can put them in as your won “planned” moves even though your choreography didn’t dictate those moves.
Work this concept, over and over and over. It will help. I am a firm believer that if you can‘t move with the rhythm of the moment of the song (not the actual rhythms and beat, but the emotional rhythms) then you cannot portray the song to its fullest potential.
Keep Moving !!