The Being On Stage Podcast

Mental rehearsal has quite a broad effect on your performance. So how is it done properly? There are techniques you can use when putting yourself through a mental rehearsal to make it more effective. You didn’t think it was just thinking through your material did you? I should hope not. While that may help you with knowing the material, the actual process of a mental rehearsal should have structure, just as a physical rehearsal would. First, You must do a relaxation exercise to clear your thoughts. Then you begin to run through the material. You will run through the performance at normal speed, half speed and double speed. Each speed gives you a new focus. Slower speed let you focus on technique and movements. Normal speed helps you apply those techniques, and double speed boosts your confidence and will empower you to correct yourself in real time when performing. At the end of the mental rehearsal, there is another meditative exercise to conclude your process and help retain your developments. Use this meth

The first time you step on stage is one of those unforgettable moments in life. There are many different ways a performer will experience the first time on stage. It may be in front of a large crowd, it may be in a small intimate setting. You may be sharing your talent or you may be speaking or singing with emotion. Whatever it is there are 2 things you need to make the most of the experience. First, you should be prepared. You must know your performance backwards, forward, and inside out. Second you need the focus to get through the first 30 seconds. If you can make it through the first 30 seconds of a performance you will make it through to the end. If you focus on those 2 things you will make the most of your first time on stage. The 3rd and final thing you need is enjoyment. You must perform with the intention of enjoying yourself on stage. This is your moment to show what you can do, have fun with it. For even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge. Check

Life Happens. Excuses Happen. Disappointments happen. What do you do when you find yourself putting off your talent? You make new commitment to yourself. You decide that you are going to make time for your dream no matter what. And then you stick to it. Yes, without a doubt, life will come back around and knee you in the stomach. You will again find yourself making excuses. It happens to everyone. But then you commit again. And again. And Again. Every single time we fall down we must get up and recommit ourselves to our passion. I challenge all performers to rehearse three times a week, minimum. No. Matter. What. You make time for your talent. You make time for your dream. Meet me in The Being On Stage Group on Facebook and let’s get after this thing! For even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge. Check out The Being On Stage Group on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

Knowing where your audience is when you are onstage is essential to making a connection. The easy answer is “my audience is in front of me.” While that may be the obvious thing to say I will offer this: Are You Sure? When you are onstage you are filled with adrenaline and your nerves are firing like crazy. Add the fact that more often than not you have a spotlight (or 2) glaring in your eyes. Your intuition will have you walking forward blindly until you are close enough to the audience that you can see some of them, or at least make out where they are standing. This practice has you searching for your audience rather that appearing to instinctively know where they are. When you do finally locate your audience you will be so focused on the ones that are visible you will end up neglecting a majority of them. There are simple techniques and practices you can use to get a better idea of where your audience is and how to focus on all of them. For even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscrib

Being part of a group of performers is very different from performing solo. You are a part of a team and must act like it. When performing in a group, you need respect, trust,and chemistry, all of which can be developed. Unlike performing alone, there are others to consider during all aspects of the performance. From idea to creation to putting it on stage, everyone must feel part of the show and must have something they are contributing. Don’t be the person that is only there to follow and not participate. Its ok, to have a disagreement with another group member as long as you work it out and accept the resolution, even if it is not in your favor. There are simple unspoken rules of working in groups that every performer should follow: Be On Time Come prepared Be Present and Focused Let Others Shine Establish a Chain of Command COMMUNICATE The final piece of the puzzle is chemistry. The group can technically exist without great chemistry but there has to be some level of connection to each other. You definite

Social Media has made it so much easier to connect with your audience between performances. So what do you share to keep them interested? Times have definitely changed when it comes to growing your fan base. Before social media, performers would mingle with the audience and hope and pray they remember to show up to their next performance. In order to get any type of crowd to show they would stand on the street for hours upon hours handing out flyers. It was a very slow process. Now with a click of a button you can share who you are and what you do with thousands of people instantly. Social Media has made it super quick and easy to connect with people and build a following. But how to get them interested in you as a performer? You still have to mingle after your shows but now you hope they are curious enough to search for you on social media. Once they do it's important that you are sharing real and authentic contact with them. I blame reality TV for this but more and more people want to know what is REALLY ha

The easiest and most basic way to connect with your audience is to just have fun and enjoy what you love. Having Fun is one of the most essential pieces to performing on stage. It opens up a connection to the audience that leaves them feeling great. Your relationship with your audience starts immediately, leave them feeling fond by showing them you enjoy what you do. They came to be entertained. If you are enjoying what you do, they will too. Really get into it, 150%. Too many performers go on stage and move about, going through the motions of the performance but there is nothing there, no enjoyment. Without enjoyment there will not be a connection. Imagine this, at your next show your biggest fan sees you for the first time. For even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge. Check out The Being On Stage Group on Facebook See all the Diagrams from this episode on Instagram or Twitter

Everytime you step on stage you should be sharing a story with your audience. A performance is meant to provoke thought or feelings for the audience. If not, then you are just showing off a skill or talent you have. When you are crafting your show think about what you want the audience to feel or think during your show. NOT what they should think about you but rather what feelings or thoughts should they have as a result of seeing your performance. Consider a painting, Starry Night by Van Gogh. This painting provoke different feelings and interpretations from each individual that views it. (Don’t believe me? Google it and provide a meaning of the painting). Your performance is like your Starry Night, your painting. Each person that shares in the experience of it should have an interpretation and should feel something. Tell your audience a story, everyone loves a good story. When people have something they can relate to it makes them desire a connection with you (follower/Fan). For even more tips and tools to

Performers should always move with purpose during a show. Movement on stage is one of the best and easiest ways to engage with your audience. Simply by standing in a certain spot or moving from one part of the stage to another can affect the audience in different ways. Did you know that you send a more emotional response when you are performing toward Center-Stage-Right? Or did you notice how dramatic it can be to cross Upstage-Left to Upstage-Right? You can communicate more clearly when you plan how you will use the stage. In this episode I share several stage techniques that major performers use every time they perform on stage. You can easily implement them into your own performances. As a bonus, I am sharing visual aids on Instagram. For even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge. Check out The Being On Stage Group on Facebook See all the Diagrams from this episode on Instagram or Twitter

It's easy to rush into performing on stage without learning basic stage directions but this knowledge is essential to building a professional performance career. Every performance you see has been plan and scripted out. When you see the guitarist rush forward to play alongside the lead singer; When an acrobat does the impossible pose; When the comedian acts out the story leading to the joke; When the dancer spins from one side of the stage to the other. Each of these movements is planned and timed in order to create an exciting performance for the audience. If you want to plan a professional-grade stager performance you must know all the basic stage directions and terminology. In this episode Reggie breaks down the direction you need know to navigate the stage and bring your performance to a new level. Fore even more tips and tools to turn your audience in to fans, Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge. Check out The Being On Stage Group on Facebook See all the Diagrams from this episode on Instagram or Twitter

When it starts to feel like the same performance every single time, it may be a sign that complacency is setting in. Time to make some changes. Complacency usually comes from getting comfortable with success and it happens so easily. Often times it comes after a long-sought-after goal is accomplished. It feels great at first, but eventually it starts to feel like there is no where to go. Each show becomes more reminiscent of the last and you feel like you are trapped in a performance-version of the movie Groundhog Day. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though, a way out if you will. You can start by finding something to get excited about. Maybe it's a new skill, a new goal, or something your genius thought up to add a new element to your performance. You have to get that spark back in your show. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

Fear of public performance affects more people than any other fear, doubled. You are not alone in your quest to get over stage fright but overcoming any kind of performance anxiety will take a serious shift in mindset. You have to truly want to get through this if you don’t or are not ready, no amount of tips or techniques will help you. The method I discuss in this episode has been used for many years by top performers in all genres. It’s a simple 4 part method and when mastered you will be able to harness your stage fright and focus on why you are performing in the first place. I will not promise elimination of stage fright, that is entirely unhealthy. But you will be able to better control your nerves and get your talent on stage. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

The path to fame is rarely seen, only experienced. Being famous will take more time, money, and work than most people are willing to invest. Fame is a level of success that few performers will ever realize and if that is your primary focus then I hate to break it to you, it's going to be a long, disappointing journey. If you were looking for a shortcut or some “Fame Hack,” then you came to the wrong place. I cannot actually teach you how to become famous. That is something that will truly take a lot of luck and timing in addition to all the time, money, and work you put in. The real focus here is success and success is not an easy journey. You will have pain. You will have disappointment. You will probably be screwed over and taken advantage of but the reason you keep going is because you are doing what you love and are driven only by passion. Keep going, my friend. The journey will be epic because it is yours. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Jo

A Performance is not solely based in skill. You have to add your own flair and by god, Have Fun! Skill is great and absolutely deserves applause. But a skill does not, by itself, make a performance. A performance takes passion and emotion. You must fuse your skill and your personality together in order to perform. Your talent needs your emotion, your energy, and even your quirks. Don’t be afraid to show who you are to the audience, afterall YOU are what makes the performance stand out. Anyone can watch a video on youtube and see some impressive skills but a performance evokes thoughts and feeling that the audience would otherwise not feel in that moment. Show them who you are. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

“Deal from your Have-To. The Have-To is what you use when you’re afraid.” -Gary Busey as Chet “Rocket” Steadman in Rookie of the Year We all have fears and distractions that keep us from our dreams. I could easily some this up as an issue with priorities and it is. But how can performers re-prioritize and still survive? We have jobs, we have families. It's simple. Use your Have-To. Chet Steadman sums it up nicely in Rookie of the year but my version is a bit easier to understand. You have to treat your dreams as if it's something you “Have-To” do. If you woke up tomorrow and you were only allowed to use your performance, your talent to survive and support yourself and your family, would it change your thinking? What would you do differently with your time? You always make time for the things you have to do. Make your dreams one of those things. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

Every performer will, at some point, fall down on stage. It's what you do when you get up that makes the show. Mistakes will always happen. You may forget choreography or words or you may trip and even fall down. The key to making a performance is the recovery. In some instances you can make it seem as though there was no mistake at all. In others, however, recovery is not as disguised. I have my “Smile-and-Shrug” Method. Its easy. Whenever you fall down you use it as an opportunity to connect with the audience, make eye contact or look into the light, smile out of one side of your mouth then just give a small single-shoulder shrug. That's it. The audience will love it. Happy Falling! Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

Life is precious, make sure you are living it. Being all-consumed with one thing can lead to being burnt out. Performing is no different. Yes, you have talent, and yes you love performing it. BUT if your talent consumes every aspect of your life it will not be but a few years before it fizzles out. We have to stay balanced. There has to be other hobbies outside of your passion. There has to be time for living life and spending time with friends and family. You know the old adage - There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Yes, at first it is a fantastic feeling, to be able to fill your life with your one-true passion. In order to make it last you must take time to catch up with old friends, take your mom to the movies, crochet a scarf, live a real life off stage. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

The New Year is upon us. What are you going to accomplish. In this final episode for 2018 I share some of my personal goals and some goals I have for Being On Stage. Connect with me and share your goals. Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

The Holidays are over! Time to take down the decorations, put away the lights, throw out the tree. You ever wish you could just hold on to Christmas just a little while longer? I think we all do. Performers face the same emotions every time we come off stage. We plan everything down to the last detail, choose the perfect outfit, and rehearse for what feels like forever. On stage, WE KILL IT!! I mean absolutely crush it and blow the audience away. Then, when we wake up the next day, we are back in our reality. We go back to work, back to the same old grind every single day. Over time it makes it harder to give and give on stage, knowing what comes the following day. We have to keep going though, as hard as it may be. Truthfully, that is what makes us stronger, being able to look back to where we came from and know we did it. REMEMBER - Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter

Your image is a promise to the audience. Make sure you deliver. Every performer has an image, whether they recognize that or not. The image is the way people perceive you as an artist. A GREAT example would be promotional materials. What you wear and the design you choose for your promos will send a message to the potential audience about what to expect. Every time you are on stage you are feeding into your image. How do you control that? You work at it. You put thought and work into the details. You think about what you are going to wear and what you will say and do on stage. It all starts with knowing who you are and what you want to portray to the audience. Once you are comfortable with that, then you create that experience and stay consistent. Eventually you will build the image you designed. REMEMBER - Subscribe to the RockStar Lounge for even more tips and tools to improve your stage performance. Join the Community on Facebook Follow Reggie on Instagram or Twitter