How Performing in a Choir Could Supply a Solo Performance
It is one thing to sing without anyone hearing you, but performing solo in front of an audience requires confidence and abilities. This is where performing in a choir can help.
Choir performance is all about team approach. Performing in a group is very rewarding, but do you know there are chances to get in the limelight once in a while? Solo performance can be a worthwhile experience.
Singing in a choir is amazingly prevalent in the United States, with more than one in six Americans (43 million) participating in one or more choirs, according to Chorus America’s 2019 findings. Most people consider it church music when you talk about choir, but the fact is that there are more than 2,70,000 choruses in the US comprising schools, churches, and community choruses.
Many new music students get panicked when asked to perform solo because they lack the confidence and abilities to do so. To take the fear and anxiety out of a solo performance, Stage Music Center gets the students started with choir performances. Choir performance builds the confidence and abilities of the students to deliver solo performance.
How choral performance can help you go solo
While many people are aware that performing in a choir improves physical and mental health, do you know that it could also supply a solo performance? In other words, performing in a choir can build your confidence and improve your skills to perform solo.
Choir performance is rightly considered the launchpad for solo performance. Most new music students and amateur musicians experience stage fright when told to perform solo. Engaging them in a group performance helps build their confidence and improves their self-esteem. As a result, they can overcome stage fright and finally deliver solo performance.
Choral performance has been found to have a powerful effect on preparing a person for a solo performance at the mental, emotional, and physical levels.
A practice to go solo
Performing in a choir offers you the opportunity to practice before you go solo. Image by COD Newsroom
During group performance, the body releases a higher amount of the feel-good hormones called endorphins. When performing in a choir, this hormone helps relax the musician and enjoy the performance. When you are a new musician and participate in a choir, you would enjoy the performance and learn from your group members. This will, in turn, help you practice and improve your performance skills. The practice and improved skills, in addition to performing with the group will prepare you for a solo performance.
While performing in a choir, you will be part of a variety of musical bustle taking place around you, and you will be communicating with and coordinating with all of the participants. If you were lucky to have skilled and experienced people in the group, it would help hone your skills and confidence to go solo.
Choral performance offers you the opportunity to practice before you are ready to take the stage on your own. During the practice for a choir performance, you would be trained to listen so that your voice fuses seamlessly with that of the other team members. This approach can train you in how to do a particular type of singing or play a specific instrument for choral as well as a solo performance.
If you are a new music student, going solo without practicing in a choir can be overwhelming and stressful. Most of such students experience fear and anxiety, which affects their performance. It is for this reason that the music teachers at Stage Music Center prefer choral performance for new students to start with.
When new music students perform and practice in a choir, they feel closer to each other. Research shows that group performance soothes the nerves and raises the spirits of the participants, thanks to the feel-good hormones like endorphins and oxytocin released during the performance. Performing in a choir is also linked with increased love, trust, and bonding. All of these can give you the confidence to finally perform solo.
Going solo during a choir performance
Your anxiety, stress, and fear plummets when you perform in a choir.
It can be much fun when a choir member goes solo during a performance. Choir songs with solos offer you the opportunity to perform alone, with the group complementing and supporting you. This is a very distinctive experience than performing as part of the group. With the choir complementing you, this experience can prepare you to deliver a solo performance without being part of a choir.
Going solo with a choir can also be an excellent exercise for the choir members for different reasons. First, performing solo shows your group members that you do not fear to give it a go. You are actively participating in the group, and when you go solo, it hones your leadership skill. As a solo performer in a choir, you are inspiring your team by taking center stage and garnering all the attention.
Second, this experience will be a breath of fresh air for you. You are a performer with a passion for music and singing. Most performers who get the chance to go solo during a choir report it to be extremely rewarding. At first, it may be a little bit overwhelming and frustrating, but as you continue practicing, your confidence and tempo will build up.
Combating stagefright with a choir performance
Stagefright can happen to even the experienced musicians, but people who have started learning music experience it the most. When you are told to perform solo for the first time, you may feel anxious, distressed, and fearful. These feelings can ultimately affect your confidence level.
One of the benefits of performing in a choir before going solo is that when you are with your peers, your anxiety, stress, and fear will plummet. You would feel more confident when surrounded by your group members and due to the release of endorphins.
Once you are confident performing alongside your group, everything will fall into place, and you can then choose to perform solo in a choir. After that, you can go solo without a choir.
Get started now
Now that you know how performing in a choir could supply a solo performance, its time to hone your skills. Whether you are interested in singing or learning a musical instrument, we are here to help you.
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Read other interesting articles on our blog:
Cello: History, fun facts, and benefits of learning