Performing Music to an Audience and Why It’s Important

There are numerous studies to prove that learning to play a musical instrument increases grey matter volume is various regions of the brain. It strengthens the long-range connections between them. Music training enhances verbal memory, spatial reasoning and literacy skills. 

That’s a whole lot of advantages coming out of something that’s so much fun! Imagine yourself on a weekend or after a tiring day, finding yourself a quiet corner, sipping onto your favourite brew, and practicing the soothing notes of music on your musical instrument. There is nothing more relaxing than music. And imagine the satisfaction and confidence when you master the piece of music you’ve been working on! If you go a step further and perform for your family and friends, or an audience, it takes your experience to a whole new, elevated level.

Music brings with it an extremely heightened social experience. Performing music is a fundamental and essential part of any musicians journey, irrespective of what level of expertise the player is at. Music as an experience is meant to be shared and performing makes it a deeply profound shared experience for both the performer as well as the audience.

Music as a performing art is probably as old as the human race itself. While it might be impossible to gather the first time humans experienced music, there are very clear visual manifestations of musical performances found in rock paintings and excavated objects. Archeologists have discovered instruments made from mammoth bones dated back to 18,000 B.C.E. The oldest written forms of music have been found on Mesopotamian clay tablets dating from at least 3,000 to 2,000 years B.C.E. Other tablets from the same era make reference to instrumentalist and singers.   

Ancient Egyptian hierogyphics, c. 2400 B.C.E comprise the earliest surviving representations of performing musicians. The ancient Greeks also had representations depicting music making and listening to music. There is enough and more evidence in Greek iconography depicting other categories of musical performances, such as music for dance and music in support of religious beliefs. 

So playing and performing music have been engraved into our DNA in some form and shape. It’s a part of who we are as social beings. However, being able to play an instrument doesn’t necessarily mean you are able to perform. Performance involved very specifies skills and requires constant practice from a performance perspective. 

Understanding the musicality of the piece, the emotion and phrasing of the written notation, clear artistic ideas, serious preparation and managing stress are all things to be kept in mind for a successful performance. What helps is to practice playing in front of others as often as you can, thinking of each of these sessions as a performance and learning from every experience to enrich your own performance. And bit by bit, you will see that your performing skills are exponentially enhanced. 

Performing music is often characterised by positive feelings of engagement, enjoyment and a strong sense of being in the moment. This is often referred to ‘being in the flow’ or ‘optimal performance’. Due to the nature of music, it affects humans at a deep sensory level where sensory, expressive, cognitive and spiritual elements come together as one. Sometimes performers get distracted by external factors or by negative feelings such as competitiveness, egotism or excessive self-consciousness. The key for all performers is to have a present-centred focus and to ensure positive feelings during practice and performance. Because when the performers feel a deep connection with their music, and their fellow performers, the joy of flow touches everyone present. Such is the power of a musical performance.

Music is a journey and each performer walks his own chosen path. Even if you are a new musician, there are huge benefits of the performance process and finding your optimal performance levels. Here are five such benefits that you can expect to achieve from the performance process: 

1. Setting Measurable Goals: Typically practice sessions mean endless hours of practice to achieve mastery in a certain piece of music. However to prepare for a performance successfully would need you to create measurable and time sensitive goals to work towards. The performance pressure ahead helps to drive lessons, practice and adds an extra something to the musicians journey. 
2. Builds Confidence: Performing live needs courage and intern builds confidence in performers music and on themselves. Standing infant of an audience and being open to critic and feedback builds character and confidence that goes a long way in all walks of life. 
3. Builds Credibility: Playing music and performing music are two separate things. Its one thing to know how to play, and an entirely different thing to say that you have performed to a live audience. It builds and boosts your credibility as a musician and a performer. 
4. Provides for a Breakthrough: Performers have to step out of their comfort zone to overcome the nerve-racking experience that a performance can be. It’s not easy to stand infant of an audience and not be worried that your fingers will not work or your voice will stop. But performances provide for that breakthrough moment when musicians like anyone else face their fears and come out successful on the other end. 
5. It’s Fun: Music is therapeutic and just pure fun! You can spend hours just listening to music, enjoying rock, jazz, pop, or spend an evening with Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. Or better still you can play it yourself and enthral an audience. Either ways, it’s pure bliss!

Jack Thomas, a leading music educator in the country, established the Performers Collective School of Music in 2003 with the view that all their students should have access to top-notch music training and have an opportunity to participate in concerts regularly. Jack strongly believes that consistent practice and performing to an audience have the following benefits to the learning process: 

Performers Collective organises Summer Concerts every year at a professional level, allowing every student to perform and showcase their musical growth. The school has a 8000 sq.ft state-of-the-art facility, a mini auditorium for in-house performances, 18 fully acoustically soundproofed classrooms, and an ensemble studio, all geared to create an exclusive environment to practice and perform music. 

Until Next Time!