Performance Based Critiques

[hookjawbrown]

My co-writer and I try to perform songs while they are still new in the writing process. We perform them in small rural clubs and at jam nights in town (there are jams Monday thru Sunday at different venues). We look for performability of the songs and for audience reaction as a critiqueing tool. Once we tweak them and perform them again we go to the studio.One of our problems is that most jam musicians can't play our songs because they have never heard them, so we perform as a duo or hire some guns. The time between the idea and the finished composition becomes rather long.Does anyone else use performance this way, and does it help in getting forwards?

[mojobone]

Don't know about forwards, but my band usually takes new songs out for a few test spins before committing to a recording. Can be a bit deceiving, cuz bar/club audiences are different from TV/radio audiences; they listen for different reasons and use the music a different way.

[fullbirdmusic]

There's no harm in using the performance reactions in getting a bearing on the potential for a great song. They can also lead to performance-based changes in any recordings that result from the songs. In my opinion however, it's somewhat difficult to judge an audience reaction to "songs in the works" and should be received subjectively by the songwriters. But I think a great song is a great song is a great song. Clear as mud?

[kg]

I would think that it depends on the type of song you are writing and the audience it will eventually end up in front of. I've never shared a song before it's done, but the way I write is not typical either. I've been a part of songwriter circles where the critical feedback comes from the other songwriters, but not so much the audience. I've also played for people who looked near dead and found out that they loved my performance, but who would've ever known based on the complete lack of visual response in either direction. I'm interested to hear more about what kind of reactions you've received if not directly commented on by an audience member. Please share if you have a chance.K

[tuite]

Hey,I hate to break up the party, but I can't imagine this type of audience critquing to be beneficial at all. I've played at and attended a countless number of gigs and I've never seen the audience react in a way that would let me know if they liked it. Im my experiece, if the song is upbeat, they will dance, if it's slow they will listen or more likely, talk over it.A lot of the time, the sound at these gigs is pretty poor and you dont have a time-based delay or nice reverb on your vocal and the guitars sound like crap cos theyre DI'ed etc. All of this is partly what makes a great song sound great on a recording. Put this with the fact that your song in in its infant stages and I can't see why anyone would want to gig a song like this?A song is improved by sitting down and analysing it, re-writing it, trying different melodies, adding harmonies, making up a great drum beat, interesting bass lines......not by gigging it straight off the bat in a bar where most people can't make out what your singing.Sorry for the rant!Colm.

[hummingbird]

Like Kelly, I'll play all night thinking I'm just background music and no one cares about what I'm singing, newly minted original or old favourite cover... only to find the tip jar is overflowing. I thread my originals between covers because I try to encourage people to sing along & I enjoy seeing them tapping their feet or bouncing to the beat. I perform originals I feel are relatively close to being finished.If I were interested in taking a song to the "forward" level, the feedback I'd be more interested in is that of songwriting peers (like on this forum); and pros I can access thru TAXI custom critique, and/or John Braheny, Pat Luboff, Jason Blume.

[mojobone]

I think if I'd never gotten any audience reaction of any kind, I'd have given up live performance thirty years ago. Yeah, input from other songwriters and professionals is more valuable at the nuts and bolts stage, but only an audience can tell you when you've really got something.

[hookjawbrown]

Comedians polish their acts by performing dialog written with the help of other comedians. If it bombs then it gets rewritten.Musicians write for an audience, not for musicians, although there is a lot of input from other musicians along the way to a finished song.Performance is an art in itself, aside from songwriting. I am always amazed at the input from individuals about songs, and their comments like "the harp solo went straight to my heart". When bar owners call you and ask when you will be back, when people come up after the show and buy CD's and want to chat. Standing ovations for what you felt was 'standard' musicianship.Some songs work, some don't and need work. Performance weeds them out. What is strange is that the songs that work are not the ones you would expect to be felt.Tips in the jar is always a good sign that something is going right.

[mojobone]

Too right, 'Brown. If I wrote for other musicians, I'd be in a prog/jam band. Thing is, it can be hard to tell whether an audience is responding to your song or your performance.

[tuite]

That was exactly my next point mojo! People will come up after your set and praise you if you were good, because its always nice to hear a good singer or player when your in a pub listening to average joes all night. It could be because your a great entertainer, but I find it's rarely because they are saying your lyrics and arrangement is good."the harp solo went straight to my heart"First of all, we are talking about lyrics here I thought? Not harp solos? Secondly, without trying to sound arrogant, I could play guitar on a song in a pub, and 9 times out of 10 I would probably get a compliment saying we were great. But thats because I can play at an above average level, its got nothing to do with the actual song. The song could be terrible but be sang with a great voice and have an awesome guitar solo and people will think its brilliant. But play that same song for them on a broadcast quality recording and their opinions will change.Also, an audience will for the most part be made up of people who don't study the music industry and they wontt be educated on how short a song should be to get airplay or marketing etc. So if you get their approval, why do you hold it so highly? I usually just smile and appreciate their enthusiasm, because just because they say your song is good.....it doesn't make them right?