New Music! Hot, Fresh, But Not Edible!

Hands On by Justin Matthew Hoopes

All lyrics and music composed by Justin Matthew Hoopes.  All instruments and vocals by Justin Matthew Hoopes. 

Another New Composition For Your Thirsty Ears

Wandered Away by Justin Matthew Hoopes
All lyrics and music composed by Justin Matthew Hoopes.  All instruments and vocals by Justin Matthew Hoopes. 

The Barriers To A Great Live Performance

By Justin Matthew Hoopes

Why is it that your personal evaluation of your musical skills can change from black to white or good to bad? This stems from the introduction of new variables both external and internal into your own musical performance. Think about your practice space; it is crafted to suit your own preferences. When you choose to leave your controlled environment, you are forced to cope with an environment that is unpredictable and uncontrolled.

Your control must now come from the internal; this is the one place that you can enforce predictability in the midst of an uncontrolled live performance. This presents a problem for those musicians or performers unable to battle external circumstances and maintain mental control. Whether you notice or not, your perception of the size of the external barriers can make or break a performance. These barriers include: feedback, inept sound people, no sound check, no warming up, a disinterested audience, an inebriated band member, missed or nonexistent musical phrases, and a terrible monitor mix. In a world where the show must go on, your ability to play through these barriers can be your saving grace.

A problem of dealing with internal circumstances can arise if one has not dealt with their own mental discipline. It is remarkable that one's own internal can interfere just as often as external factors. Self esteem and neurotic thinking can disable a musician or performer just as easily. Many thoughts can be defeated through regimented individual practice on one's instrument. Thinking itself may be an impediment because it can be separate from the act of performing. The thoughts "I hope I don't blow this fill," "I blew the damn fill," "Is this good enough?", and the like should be dealt with in rehearsal.

Here and now is the world you should seek to be involved with when performing. It is a place that seems disconnected from the technicalities of deep thought. Evaluating while playing could translate to multitasking. If your focus is divided, you could start to suck even though you are trying very hard not to.

The barriers to a great live performance seem to fall down when you spend the necessary time to prepare. If you naturally succumb to distraction, it is important that you seek to improve your focus. All but the most dire circumstances can be played through if the focus is kept on performing. The time to analyze and nit-pick is not during the performance. Figure out how to turn off the voice that evaluates and degrades during performance. You might get hired if you put in place strategies to deal with both external and internal so that playing with you isn't so difficult. The world will move forward whether you want it to or not; flow with it, don't fight it. Just perform.

A New Song For The New Year!

Seven Chances by Justin Matthew Hoopes

All instruments and voices performed by Justin Matthew Hoopes. All lyrics and music by Justin Matthew Hoopes.