Please Stop Rushing To Perform

hey there is David H Lawrence the
seventeenth with just a little tiny tip
that I hope will help make your
performances more natural more easy less
stressful less anxious I don’t know let
me tell you the situation so when I
produce a demo I’ve been producing demos
for people around the world through a
process where I hook up with them via
zoom and I listen in as they record the
clips at my direction
locally themselves using their mic their
space their copy of audacity and then
with each clip that we do for the demo I
have them email it to me as a WAV file
and then I listen to it here in my
studio before we go on to the next clip
just in case I missed something
over the net it you know there was a
popped P or something that I couldn’t
hear over the Internet
and every so often I will hear one of my
clients doing something that I think is
by no is destructive to their reads or
can be probably likely I guess that’s
the best way to put it
there may be a time when it’s not
destructive but it’s far more likely
that it is and this is it
and I don’t know why people do this
you know individually I don’t know why
people do it I think I understand why
people do it in general but let me see
I’ll better strive I’m gonna describe it
for you you tell me if you do this okay
so when you sit down to start to record
an audition or say you’re doing it on
camera audition you’re about to record
yourself doing a scene what’s the amount
of time that you take between the moment
that you start the recording and then
you start your performance now it’s
likely that that time is fairly lengthy
when you’re doing it on camera
performance because if you’re recording
yourself and you’ve got nobody to help
you you have to start there camera
running and then you have to go back and
get into position and you have to kind
of set yourself you’re doing what I want
you to do when you do voiceover
auditions as well but what I what I
heard my client doing in the demo
session I just did this past week with
them is because I have them share their
screen with me and I can see what
audacity is doing I can see how thick
the waveforms are I can see if there’s
any noise I can see all these things
going on what I saw my client doing was
clicking the record button and instantly
starting to talk and it was so apparent
that it was all of the getting set and
the clearing of the throat and getting
ready and all that stuff was happening
prior to the clicking of the record
button and then the starting of the
talking and I’m saying this because it
was like let me let me just try to do an
impression for you okay ready anytime
you’re ready okay
okay now I’m gonna be talking so what I
see happening there is this sort of
anxious moment where okay I’m gonna
click that record button and when I
click that record button I have to say I
have to start talking because otherwise
there’s gonna be space at the beginning
or there’s gonna be some sort of payment
that’s due because I’m wasting electrons
you know I just I understand that it’s
it’s a moment when you’re switching
gears when you’re switching from like
it’s kind of an inertial moment you’re
switching from being at rest to being in
motion right
and my advice to you is if you find
yourself doing that if you find yourself
clicking and then talking just say to
yourself that’s not necessary
click and set yourself back to neutral
check your notes look at the script
think about what you’re gonna do once
you’re done talking maybe you’re gonna
send it off as an mp3 maybe even want to
go get a cup of coffee I don’t know you
decide you want to clear your throat
clear your throat but take the time you
need don’t jump right in and I’ll tell
you why if you do that there’s a very
good likelihood that your face will not
be in a neutral position
whatever face you make whatever however
you hold your mouth when you’re anxious
that’s where you’re gonna be starting so
that moment when you’re like and then
you go that’s not going to be helpful to
you that’s going to in many cases harm
the very beginning of your work so take
your time
everything is free you’re gonna cut off
the beginning of that that empty space
and at the end same thing let it go let
it land and then click you know stop
when you feel like it you’re gonna cut
both of those things off so it’s not
like you have to pay extra to do that
right
take your time Get Set click the record
button and then do whatever you need to
do to be settled and be your natural
human self don’t gear up gear up gear up
press record and go I see it happening
all the time
I want it not to happen for you please
stop rushing to perform is I say this
because I see it happening and then I
see when I when I help my clients not do
this I hear their performances get
instantly better because they no longer
have that stress that’s sort of Damocles
hanging over their head that they’ve
pressed the record button and now they
have to talk I encourage them to take as
much time as possible and I hear the
difference so my question to you is is
this anything that you’ve ever
considered or is this like am I just a
whack job I I hear it happening all the
time I think it’s a thing but it’s only
been with maybe twenty thirty of my
clients over time so tell me in the
comments below tell me if this is
something that makes sense to you if
it’s something maybe you’ve been doing
and you don’t even know it or you do it
and you think to yourself well I got to
do it because that’s the way I’ve always
done or you know I don’t know what
you’re talking about David this is not
what I do
let me know I’d love to know because
these are the things when I think about
them I go should I share this with
people yeah I really should so that’s
what I did if you’d like to subscribe to
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you there and play it for you I’m David
H Lawrence xvii I thank you so much for
watching and I will talk to you tomorrow.