Connection
Music moves us and it is all around us for that very purpose. It's on adverts and films. It's played in bars, in spas to create an atmosphere. We sing at celebrations, events, rituals. It unites us. We go to the theatre and to concerts because we want to feel something. We want to be taken on an emotional journey, we want to be energised, uplifted, made to feel sad, happy, grateful. It's powerful. As singers we have the ability to communicate through song and make people feel something. I refer to this as ‘connection’. Here are four ways in which you deepen your connection when singing cover songs;
We need to connect with the lyrics, really understand the story and from whose perspective. We need to dissect the text and see if we understand it and can relate to it. Can we get that message across to someone from our heart?
We need then to connect with the melody. Melodies have patterns. Some will have spiky jumps and twists and turns that you're not expecting and some will have very smooth flowing contours and some will have a mix. Does the melody move you? Does it move you as a melody alone? Or does it move you more when it's paired with the lyrics? So we need to connect with the melody.
We also need to connect with the emotions, the overall feeling of the piece. If we don't connect with those emotions, then no listener is going to connect with them either. And if we do connect with them, then on what level? Obviously, if you really connect with it, you may be in floods of tears and not be able to get the song out. So if you connect with it on what level can you deliver that song?
We need to connect with the audience or the listener. The story needs to be told by us and felt by them. This needs you to communicate it, but also for you to let them in to your emotional delivery.
So, I want you to read the lyrics through of your songs and dissect them, really read them, analyse them and see what they mean to you and see if you can relate with them. Then I want you to listen to the shape of the melody and analyse it. Hum it with no words so you can just hear the pattern. Next think about the emotions and the feelings that the song conjures up. Can you connect and feel those feelings and relate?
Think about how you would communicate the story of the song to someone else if you didn't use the music, if you just have words. Imagine somebody is sitting in front of you and you are telling them these lyrics, you're telling them in spoken word this story and see if you can move them that way.
These tasks will help you deepen your connection with the song and improve your ways of communicating it. You can have all the high notes, vocal gymnastics, riffs in the world in your song but if you don't connect with it, if you have no connection, it will mean nothing.
So connection is really important. Music has to make us feel something.