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Essentials in
Get Famous
Performance as Public Relations
Singing in public is your best chance to find new members. Here's why -- and how.
Updated: 1/27/2004 1:33:00 PM
Why quality performance is your #1 public relations tool
According to research conducted among new members of the Society,
- 54% joined because someone asked him, and
- 33% joined before they because they saw or heard a barbershop performance.
Or, to put it another way, only one in eight joined because they saw your print piece or radio or TV placement.
That shouldn't be surprising. Consider: these channels are a combination of images (print, TV), sound (TV, radio) and motion (TV). Public performance adds the all important element of touch -- you can actually reach out and grasp hands with your potential members. In a people organization such as ours, this can make all the difference, because ultimately, you need to make the personal sale: "You can do this, too."
That makes it pretty simple, doesn't it? You have to touch the people who can join. And the best way to do that is to sing for them. (Not that you should ignore other media; they serve to raise awareness and positive impression, so a man knows what you're talking about when you say, "I'm a barbershop singer.")
Do yourself credit - sing well, perform better
Considering public performance is your single best way of recruiting, don't you owe it to yourself to do it well? Before singing in public --any gig, any time -- ask yourself these questions:
- Can you sing up to your abilities? (Adequate manpower, voice parts, soloists, etc.)
- If you heard this group singing for the first time, would your impression be, "That looks fun -- I'd like to try it."
Answers other than a resounding "YES!" might indicate room for improvement in your public performance package.
Understand the audience and occasion
Your performance package for a corporate client or a mall sing out likely won't be the same as for a chapter show. Compare
- Venues: minimal staging and lighting effects
- Sound system: widely varying, typically starting at "poor" and going downhill from there.
- Audience attention: often low, casual, disinterested. A chapter show audience typically consists of fans and friends who paid good money to see barbershop show, and know what to expect. Other audiences might consist of people strolling past in a mall or band shell, or eating supper at a banquet. Either way, it's unlikely that the barbershop performance is the main reason they are present.
With all these obstacles, it hardly seems as if you'd want to do this gig at all! Heavens forbid you should compound the problem with a poor turn out of chorus members. Yet none of these factors
excuse poor performance -- actually, they all point toward being be even smarter about doing only that which you can reliably do very well.
Five ways to know your show is succeeding
- Don't sing ballads. Really. We love them, we practically live for them. Most audiences can't hold the focus, the intensity that listening to several successive barbershop ballads requires. Don't risk losing the enthusiasm of the audience, who really don't care that the next two songs are your contest set. (That's your priority, not their priority, isn't it?)
- Involve the audience in the singing. Fast-paced singalongs of old familiars, rounds, and patriotic songs remind everyone that singing makes every heart glad. Keep your eyes open for men singing with gusto -- potential Barbershoppers!
- Keep the patter to a minimum. The first time someone hears barbershop harmony, he needs to hear barbershop harmony, not jokes he could hear on TV, or even worse, barbershop "in-jokes." Accessibility is paramount. Always the keep the action moving forward.
- Tell them about barbershop -- but not everything you know. Excited by our hobby, we sometimes yield to the temptation to let all our knowledge pour out to anyone who will listen. Reserve the in-depth examination of style for later in life; right now, share the core facts: barbershop is an American musical art form of four-part make a cappella harmony. Do it musically, adding a part at a time to a Barberpole Cat or other recognizable standard.
- Make the pitch: barbershop is easy, it's fun, and you can do it too. This is the most important message of all -- more important than where you meet. (They can read that on the flyer, right?) Your most important mission consists of demonstrating that the guys on stage are average singers individually who sound terrific when singing together. "We can help you be a great performer too -- we have all the tools you need."
Make the pitch personally
Touch! That's the whole point of being in the same room, right? Wherever possible, make it a priority for the performers to come into the audience after the show, to shake hands, accept compliments, and most importantly, to reinforce the idea that anyone can sing barbershop harmony.
Make sure you have plenty of chapter brochures and business cards on hand, which of course will include a map and directions to your meeting site, phone number and web addresses for the chapter contacts.
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sidebar
Resources
Show packages
- Harmony Classics: Five fun, familiar songs, plus easy script and learning tapes. www.harmonymarketplace.com
- United We Sing: A new initiative celebrating patriotism and national heritage. Script and learning tapes available – unitedwesing.barbershop.org
- Ev's Polecat script -- description to follow -- ev has this somewhere
Training
- Standing Ovation: Personalized confidential performance advice by a trained evaluator. Details: jdebusman@spebsqsa.org
- District schools and Harmony College: Be sure to check out courses in successful performance, emcee/spokesman, from paper to stage.
Books
- Successful Performance for the Quartet and Chorus, Stock no. 4055, $14.95. Covers all areas of a performance, from choice of material to riser placement. No quartet or chorus should be without this crucial information.
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Sidebar-- The "B" word
You needn't define it in detail, distinguish it from all other kinds of male, four-part a cappella close harmony -- those aren't important in the performance moment. The relevant part: immediately after singing the sweetest, purest barbershop in your repertoire, you MUST be sure to say "That's it --the core. We sing all kinds of music, but this is the very heart of our long tradition." (Analogy: our church has many forms of prayer, from the Creed to spontaneous speaking in tongues. Right in the the center of the tradition is The Lord's Prayer.)
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