house concerts and 21st century touring

Get an early start, for one.

When you start to feel overwhelmed by your goals, it’s time to get back to basics. Here are a few bit-sized tips that can make a big difference in your music career over time.

1. Performance: Take your best song and practice it in front of the mirror.

How many times have you phoned this one in? How many times have you performed this song and just came up a little short of knocking someone out?

Suggestions:

• Try opening your eyes and looking dead ahead when you get to the chorus.
• Try shaking your head when you get to that “no” in the song.
• Tilt your head when the songs asks a question.

The takeaway:

When you perform, pretend you aren’t singing a song, but telling a personal friend an important, sensitive, intimate story. Sometimes when we perform we focus too much on notes and we forget about communication - this can stop all those natural things we do that add richness to a conversation. Even if you are playing guitar/piano, you can find ways to use your body (even your hands) to convey a key phrase more clearly.

2. Writing: Write a bad song.

How many times have you intimidated yourself out of sitting down to write? What if you decided to take 10 minutes every day to “goof off” with your writing? You might wind up with a hit, like this guy ——–>

Suggestions:

• Try to come up with a catchy melody. Whistle, hum, play it on piano - anything that takes you out of your habits. Don’t think about words or chords, just a melodic line that sticks in your mind for a while.
• Try to write some great opening lines. Don’t worry about the story, just lines that grab the attention and make you want to hear more of the story.

Here are some nice opening lines:

“It’s been seven hours and fifteen days, since you took your love away”
- The artist currently known as Prince

“Got a wife and kids in Baltimore Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back”
- The Boss

Honey don’t walk out I’m too drunk to follow. You know you won’t feel this way tomorrow
- Tom Petty & a great band.

“I found her diary underneath a tree and started reading about me”
- Bread

“She walks in with a rattle snake in each hand, and she asks me for the truth.”
- Anonyfranimous

3. Booking: Try something totally different.

How often do you come home frustrated after one of your gigs? Do you find yourself playing the same types of gigs all the time?

Suggestions:

• Host a house concert - for someone else.
• Join a meetup group and offer to play a few songs at the next get-together
• Call a senior center or children’s hospital and ask if you could visit and play a few songs.
• Volunteer to help plan a popular local band’s CD release party if they let you open the show.

The takeaway:

Gigging can be one of the quickest “rutt-inducing” activities for artists. Sometimes you keep repeating a gig that pays well - but you hate it. Challenge yourself to do something different, and you might find some unlikely inspiration, or an opportunity to modify the way you currently approach your performances.

4. Promotion: Embrace it.

Making great music is the most important thing - unless you want people to hear it. I’m only half-joking. Great music is what makes people coming back, but you have to take it to them first. Choose one promotional tool today (your website, your myspace page, your bio, or your EPK) and make it better. Look at it with fresh eyes and decide what you want it to accomplish, and how well you think it’s doing.

For example, I saw a website the other day that was very sedate-looking, and the headline was “Dedicated to the Music of …(artist name withheld). It looked like a tribute site. I emailed him to see if he was actually dead. We had a laugh. “I’m not dead yet!”

Suggestions:

• Make your bio different. Yes, you can tuck in the necessary facts but be creative. Talk in terms that cause emotion, that make you a real person, not just some hype-savvy publicist. It’s not fooling anyone. Make yourself read 20 artist bios on myspace and you’ll see very quickly what everybody is doing wrong. They’re being the same.
• Create a fun banner that your fans can place on their myspace/facebook page. “Fran’s music saved my life.” Or something like “Adrianne’s music makes me hot!” I’d click on that banner. 8^)

5. Take a break.

If items 1-4 above don’t trigger anything, maybe it’s time.

Regret is probably too strong a word, but there are several times in my music career that look like blown opportunities. Key moments where I could have have been better prepared and achieved a much greater result. I wasn’t prepared because I was burnt. Rutted. I should have taken a break.

——

A final word. (I’m not dead yet!)

Think about it. At any given moment, there could be someone you don’t know, in the audience, or looking at your website. That person might be in a position to help you. They might only have time to hear one song or read one paragraph.

• Online: Make sure it’s your best song. Your best paragraph.
• On Stage: Communicate. Don’t just play chords and sing.

More tips for artists…

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“Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does my wife.”

Whatever the distance between you them, it’s mostly empty space. It’s time you became friends. When was the last time you looked to see what other house concerts were happening in your state?

As some of us are getting our first taste of spring, house concert hosts are filling their calendars and looking for new ways to fill the room. Last month we received and added over 100 events to the ConcertsInYourHome calendars! Each state/province has it’s own calendar, which you can access here: http://concertsinyourhome.com/host_search.html

Now is a great time to reach out and introduce yourself to other hosts in your area. Attend their events. Invite them to yours. We all have much to learn from each other, and it’s always great to meet kindred spirits.

You might notice they have a cool and fun way to increase donations for the artist, or a knack for promoting their next show. You might even discover that you have similar tastes in music. Why not start collaborating to attract artists you previously found “difficult to get?” Any touring artist will tell you that “Two house concerts are better than one.”

So check your state’s house concert hosts and see if there are one or two you haven’t met. Or check the calendars and see if there’s a show you might be able to attend. After the show, say your “goodbyes” before the cleaning begins. Someone might hand you the vacuum.

If you’ve had great experiences by meeting other hosts in your area, please add a comment.

More tips for hosts…

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17th, 2008

concertsinyourhome.com releases FREE compilation CD of house concert artists

concertsinyourhome.com, a 2 year-old website which promotes house concerts around the country, has released it’s first compilation CD. The disc features 19 tracks from known, and up-and coming acts from around the United States. The purpose is to promote the concept of house concerts as well the artists who are members of the site.

The artists included are Michelle Malone, Sioban Quinn & Michael Bowers, Adrianne, Rod MacDonald, Jay Mankita, Lauren Adams, James Durst, Jaime Michaels, Arlon Bennett, Zach, Sonia Lee, John Batdorf, David Glaser, Noah Earle, Bob Sima, Randall Williams, Freebo, Joseph Akins, and Fran Snyder.

CIYH is an online community with more than 400 artists, 300 house concert presenters, and all the tools and resources to create, book, and promote a house concert series.

Artists and audiences are falling in love with house concerts for the intimacy they provide, and the way the bring local communities together to celebrate good music without the common distractions you often find in public venues. These private and semi-private events are becoming the “gigs of choice” for many touring artists.

The CD will be available for FREE from the website for a limited time. A small shipping charge applies. The disc artwork also features pictures from house concerts around the country. To place an order, or to see more information, please visit…

http://www.concertsinyourhome.com/comp001.html

Press and media should email fran@fransnyder.com to receive a copy for review.

Contact: Fran Snyder
ConcertsInYourHome.com
817-789-2936
fran@fransnyder.com

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