The singer as actor by Tom O'Brien on The Pipeline at IndieMusicPeople

The singer as actor
It occurs to me that, even though we may be totally heart-felt when we pen a song or are in the throes of recording it - when we perform it, we are assuming the role of a character that we present as real. Most of us try and just be ourselves when we sing, but simply because we have sung a particular song 1000 times until we know it by heart, we necessarily are acting a little. We don't go around singing through our lives, so when we do sing, it's already a different language, a script that has already been written. We are some kind of actor. That isn't to take anything away from the sincerity of the song or the singer. It's just that I've been listening to what makes the great singers great. And it's not technique. And it's not talent. It's authority. When you sing with authority, the audience believes who you say you are. They accept the part you're playing.

What do you think? Should we consciously act a part when we sing? What if the character you invent has more authority than you? Can you just sing with authority because you will yourself to do so?

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Stoneman

3/23/2013 7:21:46 PM

I teach my students to assume the role of the song. A sad song should be sung sadly. An uplifting song with a look of hope and confidence. If the song is bigger than them in relation to age or life experience, I tell them to find another song. Nothing as odd as seeing a teenager singing about something they couldn't possibly know about yet. More importantly, I try to push them to write their own songs so that the material will be personally relevant to them. But some are not going to be songwriters. That may not be their gift. However, interpretation of the song may be their strong point. Truth be told, not everyone can act either. So, in those cases, song selection becomes a seriously important part of their performances.

In regards to me personally, I always assume the role. My last tour (over a decade ago as I am retired from touring) was a tribute to the many styles of music I write. I actually became a quick change artist and when I performed my Hip-Hop material I went shirtless with gold chains. Reggae? Dreads, Reggae gear and a cane. Rock? Rock & Roll Wig, Jeans and guitar. Gospel? suit and tie. And so on and so forth. Each genre was about 4 songs. But with each genre I assumed the role. When doing reggae I even had what appeared to be a fatty that I pulled out and puffed on. The laughter on that one was tremendous. The whole idea was to bring my audience full circle with who I am as an artist. The show was full of so many emotions from anger to spiritual redemption. What was also a lot of fun was that the band transformed itself along with me and seeing the stage sets changing in the middle of the genre intro music was an amazingly tough thing to pull off. But my fans have been on this journey with me for a long time. They knew to expect all of those things and more from me. That was always my thing. Being lots of things that is.

Portraying all of that was very natural and real for me. However, I have been in situations where I had to sing and portray something completely unfamiliar. Once on a southern USA tour we became a Country Western band . We had learned in a previous tour to the area that the kind of music we did (R&B/Soul) wasn't popular in some of the bars we were playing. So, the next time we went there we were well rehearsed on the top country songs. We put on the hats and boots and it was quite a hoot. That time there weren't any hisses and boos. As a matter of fact, I don't think they knew we were the same band that had been run out of town the year before. One night on one side of the town we were a CW band. The next night on the other side of town we were an R&B band. Same band with two different sounds, names and audiences. Assuming the role is so important.

One thing I like to ask my students is to tell me what they think the song is about. If they are way off base I clue them in. Being a vocal coach is like being, well, a coach. My job is to help them to bring the song alive but to also make it their own. Sometimes assuming the role also helps with stage fright. When you become the song you forget about being scared. Also, you become believable to the listener.

So, yeah, I think you are dead on in everything you wrote Tom.

Much Respect,
Stoneman

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Paddy Uglow

3/24/2013 2:25:02 AM

I grew up with the punk and 80s protest song attitude that being "real" is more important than anything else (even talent!). (I heard John Lydon saying something similar a while back). So I get annoyed at people faking it, singing in accents that aren't their own, or... singing songs they haven't even WRITTEN!! ;-)
Yes, I know that's extreme, but I've learnt to live with being extreme. Actually I've been known to do a cover or two, though I wrote an extra verse for my version of All Along the Watchtower.
But it there's ever a Karake Arsonist, I'll probably be on the suspect list.

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Chandra Moon

3/24/2013 3:49:19 AM

Interesting thread! I think I'm pretty much always myself when I'm singing - though I often feel nervous till I get going. I find it quite comedic myself as if I'm slightly out of my own body watching myself play which definitely doesn't help with the feeling of the song.

I also find, I connect in different ways with the lyrics of my own songs depending how I'm feeling at the time - quite often - if the song was written about someone or a situation in the past for example - I find myself relating the song to a new person or situation and in that way the song still feels real when I'm singing it.

I must say - I don't go for the acting idea but maybe I should think about it a bit more.......

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Richard Scotti

3/24/2013 8:06:25 AM ---- Updated 3/24/2013 8:09:27 AM

In method acting, the actors "become" the character. They are not trying to represent the protagonist ~ they are attempting to "be" that person. In a sense, they claim they are trying NOT to act. I guess you could call certain singers "method" singers. Not every actor chooses to use the "method" and not every singer uses that technique. The only thing that matters is the result. It doesn't matter how you get from point A to point B as long as you get there. Shakespeare said "the play is the thing". The same can be said of the song. The song is the thing that matters. A great song comes across as real and authentic. Put more attention into the craft of song writing and it will make the presentation/performance part easier to understand and to execute. A superficial song will sound fake no matter who sings it.

Thomas A Edison said "Vision without execution is hallucination". Write a song that describes real emotion and truth telling. Sing it or have it sung with honesty and authenticity. When Robert DeNiro says in Taxi Driver "are you lookin' at me?"... he seems like a genuine psycho! He makes you forget he's just a actor playing a role. He's pretending to be something he's not. In art, that's not unethical. It's like a magic trick. It's all part of the act. It's not real, but for that moment it seems real.

You can sing the blues without having the blues. It's all in the execution.

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Bob Elliott

3/25/2013 4:03:51 PM

Totally the singer as actor. Hopefully as good heart feeling actor.

Acting out something...

But then I have a lot of respect for artistic acting.

I don't think much about if what you say is real but if what you say is feel.

Which to me is what is real in art.

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Paddy Uglow

3/29/2013 10:39:39 AM

I remember reading that when Bjork acted in Dancer in the Dark, it was emotionally draining for her because she was experiencing the intense emotions that she was playing out. There's an apocryphal story about how Dustin Hoffman stayed awake for several nights to prepare for a scene in Marathon Man, and Lawrence Olivier wondered why he didn't just act.
Though I read that Matin Gore sang naked in the studio in order to get the right feeling into the vocals for Somebody by Depeche Mode.

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Steve Ison

3/29/2013 11:30:07 AM

I don't think 'authority's the main one for me as PRESCENCE..
The feeling someone's totally present while they're singing -which maybe is part of what you mean by authority..

I think if you sing for long enough -you get used to the 'colours' you're able to create with your own voice
Its such an intuitive 'feel' thing tho in how you apply them..Whjen to be restrained -when to belt it out....
I'll listen back to a recording of a vocal n think -0oh i've gottta sing that softer -or give that more punch or whatever..
I think i'm very attracted to 'naturalness' in a vocal..I definitely want to sound natural when i'm singing - and can hear if i'm forcing something too much or something..

But then again i love eccentric voices like Marc Bolan -who sung with that mad camp vibrato -which is affected -but i guess thats natural for him..

But yeh -Of course its acting..

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