The art of singing is an art that most people take for granted; this is so because singing is something each person can do. The dividing line however is how well a person can actually sing. Competitive and or professional singing however, is an art that requires more that a just a steady, melodious or a beautiful singing voice. It requires a singer to be more than a singer. It requires the transformation of the singer into a performer.
You may ask what the difference is. A singer gives an oral and melodious presentation of written words or a song; while a performer adds dramatic and emotional value to the presentation. In that the words of a song takes on new meaning, they are personalized to the point where the audience believes the words as expanded is the experience of the singer, or the audience can picture said singer in a particular situation expounding those words. In so doing they apply the emotion to the song that help them to properly convey the message that brings the song to live.
The process where a singer takes a song, and cause that message, which is being conveyed in the song; to be presented as if it is the singers personal experience. Even to the point where the audience not only buys into the song but also takes a journey, being transported mentally, to a place, some space in time, an experience, some event all at complement of the vocalist: This is a vocal performance, not to be mistaken for a vocal demonstration.
Apart from the oral aspect of the presentation, there is the difficult art that a performer must play close attention to; that is the art of connecting with the audience. A singer with a good voice can get an audience attention, because everyone loves to hear good singing, however, it is a performer that has the ability to connect with the audience. The performer creates an experience for each member of the audience that makes each person feel special. At the end of the performance, each person in the audience is left feeling like, for a brief moment during the presentation, the performer (s) were actually speaking to them.
This is always evident in the crowd reaction at the end of the set: be it a song, a scene in a play, a speech or some other performance. One of the sign that a performer or group of performers connected with its audience is resulted by a standing ovation. This is where the performers communicated with the audience even for a brief moment, and they became a part of the presentation, that they are overridden with emotions, that they want to express themselves in some mark way. That base on the circumstances and the environment, they are limited as to what they can do. Thus, the audience is propelled by their emotions state, which in turn forces them to their feet; in an eruption of applause, shouts, whistles etc. All in appreciation of the wonderful treat, they were all privilege to participate in.
All performance are not meant to connect with the audience in the same manner, some performance are meant to amazed, some are meant to intrigue, others are meant to give you a sense of fear, while some are meant to thrill you. The objective of the performance is based on what is being communicated. Let us take a trapeze performance as an example, such performance is not meant to develop a connection with the artist; however, such is designed to put audience in fear: of what appear to be an impending accident, while thrilling you.
It is important to note, it is not the goal of all performers to connect with their audience in the same manner. The connections factor is based on the type of performance that is being presented.
Let us take for example a trapeze performance that is designed to achieve flowing objective:
1. To generate fear,
2. Give the audience a thrill
3. To create suspense,
In this case, the performers do not need to connect with the audience, in the way singers actors, debaters, etc. are required to, but they achieve their goal any way; when the performer create the necessary emotion in the audience with the performance; they have connected not in the same manner a singer did; but they achieved their primary goal.
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