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Boojumhunter
Aloha
Canada
5 Posts |
 Posted - 07/20/2004 : 9:03:00 PM
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Aloha all,
I’ve been lurking on the site for about a week now, listening to your music, reading your posts and in truth, basking in your aloha which seems to flow in abundance.
First a confession. I’m not a musician of any ilk unless you count some playful amateur jamming with a Jews/Jaws harp, bones and a Bohdran. That said, I –am– a performer and regularly ‘play’ professionally in front of audiences in excess of 2,000 people. I’m a public speaker and make my living flapping my gums. Without music to back me up.
During the last week I never even contemplated posting on this site, other than to say Mahalo for the music, but some of the discussion resonated with my own experiences as a speaker. In that at least, we have a LOT in common and I might even have something of value to offer to the group. If you wish you can take a look at my site (www.technobility.com) to find out a bit more about my work. I also do a LOT of writing so you can find my thoughts in words in the publications area. You could also take a wander over to www.truthpicks.com to see a less, (or more?), serious side of my work.
With that ‘confession’ off my chest, if a non-musician isn’t welcome here, I’ll take no offence to a polite request to not let the door hit my behind on the way out. Andy? You seem to be the right person to show me my walking papers if you wish. Again… no offence will be taken.
It turns out that I’ve had an interest in slack key for a long, long time, without knowing what it was called. When I was kid, my Dad had a few Hawaiian records in the house. I loved them, but did not remember the names of any of them. Over the years I’d picked up a few Hawaiian records from time to time, but they didn’t sound like what I remembered. So I eventually assumed it was all a fractured memory of my youth. So I stopped looking for that golden sound that for me, defined Hawaii.
Like several million other Haoles, I was re-introduced to Hawaiian music by… you guessed it, Braddah IZ. You know the story, there’s no need to repeat where I heard him first.
In listening to his music and reading about him, I naturally stumbled across the Sons of Makaha and there it was… the music I remembered from my youth… slack key. A bit more searching on the net and I find the Taropatch and all your music. AND of course, all the other slack key players from joyful amateurs, to the masters of the style. Nice to come ‘home’.
Now onto some of the discussions I’ve eavesdropped on over the past week or so.
The ‘shakes’ when playing in front of others… and the debate over playing ‘by the book’ or ‘just letting it happen’…
From my experience as a speaker… these are so closely related that I find it difficult to discuss either of them in isolation. Your discussions were the exact same discussions I’ve had with dozens of speakers. The similarity is what suggested to me that perhaps I had something to contribute.
Any speaker worth their salt is hyped before a presentation. I’ve given hundreds of talks and each time I’m a nervous wreck before I open my mouth AND the day I don’t feel that ‘nervousness’ before I go on stage is the day I hang up the microphone. It’s nothing more than an adrenaline rush preparing us to either fight or flight… to either play, or run for the hills.
The moment I open my mouth to speak on a subject I know inside out, those ‘nerves’ are turned into the energy I need for the talk. There is zero transition time… I’m ‘on’, and remain ‘on’ until my time is up.
Unless of course, I focus that energy on trying to ‘impress’ the audience. Then it can go sour very quickly. The key, for me anyway, is to just ‘talk’ to the audience as I would talk to friends at the dinner table. The moment I frame what I do as something other than being myself and ‘talking’… then I can go astray and lose my connection with the people in front of me.
When I speak and it goes ‘well’ (I’m lucky, that happens most, though not all of the time) then it is totally effortless. I get into the ‘zone’ and am not really conscious of what I’m saying. That sounds dangerous! But it isn’t. I know my material cold. I know the key points I want to make. And I can step from story to story effortlessly. I don’t have a script. Each talk is new, fresh, and an improvisation of the moment. When I take the stage I literally don’t know what exactly I’m going to say. That brings its own nervousness (energy) to each presentation.
Not all speakers do it that way. Many (most) of my professional speaking buddies recite script each time they talk. Their challenge is to bring spontaneity to their talks. I don’t have that problem…
There’s a secret to this type of speaking… the audience doesn’t know you don’t have a script! I speak for 60-120 minutes straight (sometimes longer) without notes. It is an off the cuff talk, and people come up to me at the end and compliment me on my great memory… in their minds I’ve memorized a 2 hour talk.
Tied to the above observation is that you can take errors and turn them into something else. I’m sure that making certain types of errors while playing music cannot be covered up, but I’m also certain, (correct me if I’m wrong) that certain types of errors are seldom noticed by your listeners.
Worst mistake I’ve made? Telling a story, going off on a tangent and totally losing my train of thought. Solution? On stage in front of 1,500 people I open my Hands wide open… Folks? Help me out here. I’ve just had a train wreck in my brain… I’ve totally forgotten what I was talking about! Can anyone help me back on topic?” The result a ROAR of laughter and applause… Honesty is ALWAYS appreciated.
Folks… this is a long intro. If ‘patter’ is a part of your music, then ask away, it might be the only way I can contribute constructively.
Cheers,
It’s been fun chatting.
Peter
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 07/20/2004 : 10:25:13 PM
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A non-musician?!?! Say it isn't so!
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At Taropatch.net, OUR MISSION is to: - Show appreciation for Hawaiian music and for those who make it.
- List and review resources for learning ki ho`alu.
- Provide a community where we can share music, song, and aloha in cyberspace.
Nothing about needing to be a musician in there so welcome Peter. Thanks for registering and for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
A side note about the musician vs. non-musician thing. My brother and I played a gig out of town this past weekend. Each time the organizer referred to us as "the musicians" I couldn't help but feel a little funny. It sounds so official, so professional to me. In my mind, I'm a hobbyist, a fan, but I guess for a brief moment this weekend, I was a "musician".
So perhaps, you'll soon pick up a guitar or `ukulele, or just plain sing along in the near future. You'll be a musician too. |
Andy |
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Boojumhunter
Aloha
Canada
5 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2004 : 6:49:02 PM
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quote:
Peter. Thanks for registering and for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
A side note about the musician vs. non-musician thing. My brother and I played a gig out of town this past weekend. Each time the organizer referred to us as "the musicians" I couldn't help but feel a little funny. It sounds so official, so professional to me. In my mind, I'm a hobbyist, a fan, but I guess for a brief moment this weekend, I was a "musician".
So perhaps, you'll soon pick up a guitar or `ukulele, or just plain sing along in the near future. You'll be a musician too.
Thanks! I'll stay around and chime in when I have something worth saying.
Mahalo! |
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`Ilio Nui
`Olu`olu
USA
826 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2004 : 7:58:21 PM
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Peter,
We can go to Baja, sit under a Boojum and jam. Not a lot of shade though.
Welcome and thank you for your words. All it takes to be here is the spirit of Aloha
Mahalo nui
Dave |
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Bing
Lokahi
USA
100 Posts |
Posted - 07/21/2004 : 11:28:11 PM
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| How many people here know what a Boojum is? And Peter, I can relate to what you are saying. Recentaly I attended a celebration of life (a funeral) and had to speak, which I am most relucant to do, however since I spent a whole lot of time thinking of what I would say, as soon as I heard my voice on the loudspeaker I reaolized that I could do it. And I nailed it. Now, If I can do it with my guitar then Keola will be proud of me. |
Bing |
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garson
Lokahi
USA
112 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2004 : 12:18:10 AM
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I teach college and so give lectures all the time, and what Peter says rings true to me. One of the things that helps is concentrating on the beauty and/or fascination in what I want to share with my audience. Then mistakes, verbal lapses, false starts, etc. don't matter because the audience is on your side. I'm trying to convert this idea into playing slack key in public (which is new and scary to me). I have trouble living up to what I think is the right idea: mistakes don't matter if you keep focussed on the beauty in the music. I'm looking forward to the day that I flub something and then jes' press.
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Boojumhunter
Aloha
Canada
5 Posts |
Posted - 07/22/2004 : 07:01:08 AM
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quote:
because the audience is on your side
Hi Jim,
That's another secret.The audience is nearly always on your side, they want to enjoy themselves and therefore they want you to feel comfortable so that you can do your best.
I'm good at what I do, but I flub words from time to time. I used to agonize over these errors and that just snowballed the problem into something larger and just plain ugly. Now? I either totally ignore them, OR... allow them to take me into uncharted territory. The biggest howls of laughter have come from random thoughts, capitalization of a mistake or just plain 'letting go'
I suspect, that if you know your 'music' that the same thing must be true.
Slainte!
Peter
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