Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-04-19 17:34
I have some problems with drinking and performing (particularly since I don't drink myself), as there are those who (like in everything else) go to extremes and get themselves tanked. Usually, they have been vocalists (in my experience), but I've had to work with any number of folks in all of the branches of music who "get lit up" during a performance. Playing clubs, restaurants, weddings and the like, where alcohol is being served and readily offered to the relatively privileged musicians just adds fuel to the fire.
Having said all of that, I too am of the opinion that some (note emphasis there) performers benefit from a single alcoholic drink prior to performance. I list the following examples:
• A karaoke-trained singer, one who has a beautiful voice and great stage presence, but who has a mild case of "stage fright". One half of a drink in her, and all is fine.
• A dynamite trombone player, classically trained, who plays his horn wonderfully right up to the point where he has to stand up and take a solo chorus. He can rip through the worst of a Bernstein score like Candide with aplomb, but ask him to do the six bar I've Got You Under My Skin solo, something so easy that I can almost choke my way through it on the Posauen (and I can't play trombone), and he locks up tighter than a PC compatible trying to function with out of date software. In his case, that one cocktail dulls his sense of fear just a tiny bit, just enough to make it all better.
When my group does our rock and R & B sets, I have found that the women singers ( both the lead and the backups) invariably give a better performance (with more "action" and emotion) after they've had that one magic drink. There's just too much extroverted activity that has to take place in their performances for most to deal with.
(My male R & B guy, for some reason, needs no such help. He does, however, sanitize his hands constantly. There's a moral there somewhere.)
So, even though I'm personally dead set against drinking in any situation, I can understand where it might help some.
As for me, I seek out the catering manager and find out if there are any chaffing dishes of crab rangoon laid on for the evening. It's usually easy to reach some sort of understanding on that topic toute suite, and then I'm set for the rest of the evening. How such a tasty little treat missed out on being a main course is beyond my ken...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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