Would You Like to Entertain Your Friends?
IT WAS early evening, and a social gathering was under way. All in attendance were enjoying themselves when it was announced that two young men were going to provide some entertainment, consisting of music and a short skit.
The two had performed many times with success and so anticipated an enthusiastic response. But to their embarrassment, the presentation met with awkward stares, silence, and finally, reserved applause. Their show failed! What went wrong?
If you have a talent and wish to share it with your friends, do you hesitate for fear of having a similar experience? What is the secret to making people feel genuinely entertained? Or perhaps you yourself have never considered performing but have asked others to do so at gatherings in your home. If this is the case, how can you be sure that your guests will enjoy the presentation?
The suggestions that follow are developed from the standpoint of home musical entertainment. However, you will find most of the principles applicable to other modes of entertainment, such as the presenting of skits, slide showings, stories, and experiences.
Creating the Environment
Supposing you plan a gathering, intending to include a musical presentation. You (or those performing) need not abound with musical technique to be a source of entertainment. In fact, some skillful musicians make poor entertainers. This is because entertaining involves knowing how to help people enjoy themselves. It starts with creating an environment that is conducive to enjoyment. For example, how many guests will you invite?
You will likely have more success with a small group of people than with a large crowd. A smaller group gives each person the opportunity to talk and enjoy the company of the others. Likewise, to help create an atmosphere of enjoyment, consider having refreshments, either a meal or just snacks. If you are serving only snacks, make your guests aware of this so that they will not come expecting more.
It is important to discern when to make your musical presentation. Many enjoy spontaneity and will with little or no direction absorb themselves in eating and conversation. If this is true of your guests, give them time before springing a planned program on them. This was what the two young men mentioned at the outset neglected to do. Had they waited until other activities had started to die down, they might have found their audience more receptive.
If you plan a sing-along, you may find it advantageous to get everyone close together, such as around a fire or sitting on the floor. People sing better when the mood and circumstances are right. Creating the right atmosphere can do much to ensure that the guests will enjoy your presentation. It will also put them in the best frame of mind to receive your musical entertainment.
The moment to play for your guests has now arrived. How can you successfully entertain your audience?
Captivating an Audience
Most people enjoy watching a good performance. Why, in one recent year alone, 8,142,000 tickets to Broadway shows were sold, taking in 253.4 million dollars! But if your performing is a hobby for which you receive no pay, you face the challenge of holding the interest of an audience that did not necessarily seek the entertainment that you provide. The solution? Combine adequate talent with a rapport with your audience. Here are some suggestions:
Use well-learned material. Cautions guitar instructor Frederick Noad: “It is necessary to have the piece so well memorized that you could almost play it while thinking of something else.” So it is wise to save newly learned pieces for the future. Mr. Noad observes: “It is far better to play a simple piece well than to mess up a more impressive one.”
Involve your audience. One musician with years of professional experience stressed the value of audience participation, stating that he would hand out lyric sheets to his audience and invite them to sing along. Making the audience a part of your presentation can help to maintain their enthusiastic support.
Aim for variety. It is a common tendency of some to play everything timidly and softly. However, Frederick Noad recommends: “Always try to produce some variety of loud and soft in each piece; for example, when a passage is repeated it is very often effective to play the first statement strongly and the repeat softly, giving the impression almost of an echo. . . . Half the satisfaction in playing is to be found in this sort of shading which distinguishes music from mere notes.”
Enjoy yourself. Your guests will not relax if you appear stiff, nervous, or self-conscious; nor will they be entertained if you consciously imitate some well-known performer. It is hard to relax when all eyes are on you, but you must learn to let go and be yourself, be enthusiastic, and enjoy what you are doing. Only then will your audience relax and enjoy your entertainment.
Keep it short! The real entertainer sings one song too few, not one song too many. In an informal living-room setting, people might start feeling restless after 20 or 30 minutes. When your presentation ends, let your guests resume spontaneous activities. The show is over, but they will continue to remember it with fondness because you left them wanting more.
Dealing With Nervousness
Even professionals battle with stage fright. However, they learn to control it and at least give the appearance of being at ease. How can you do the same?
For one thing, prepare! Dale Carnegie, who evaluated thousands of speeches every year, asserted: “Only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident.” The same is certainly true of entertainers. Advance practice, plus warm-ups before show time, can make the difference. While performing, be absorbed in your material. Think and feel everything you play. Frank Battisti of the New England Conservatory of Music suggests: “The one thing the person has got to do is focus his concentration on what he’s doing, and not worry about what someone else thinks about it. If you can bring yourself to that kind of concentration you can’t really be frightened.”
If you make a mistake, don’t tip off your listeners by showing aggravation. Few may have noticed the error, and the rest probably will not mind. They will look to you for the cue—if you keep right on performing as if the mistake were insignificant, they will treat it similarly.
Talent That Honors the Creator
If friends occasionally ask you to play for them, do not be quick to turn them down, perhaps feeling that you are inadequate. If they wanted perfection, would they not have chosen recorded music instead? One woman, known among her friends for her enjoyable small home gatherings, said: “How wonderful it is when a guest is musical and even comes prepared to entertain and includes all in the performance!”
Yes, many appreciate the excitement and fun that are unique to live home entertainment. Remember, too, that your friends may be seeking wholesome entertainment, which is becoming increasingly difficult to find in the professional world. So if you are gifted with the ability to entertain others, may you use it to the honor of our Grand Creator, the Giver of “every good gift and every perfect present.”—James 1:17.
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Additional Tips
BE VERSATILE. If you can play a variety of styles, even if only a few pieces in each category, you have the advantage of being able to satisfy the preferences and requests of the audience.
Arrange your material in an appealing order. It is usually most effective to start and finish with pieces that are short and recognizable. Longer or more demanding pieces, if any are played, are best placed in the middle.
Acknowledge your audience. While staring could make them feel uneasy, you can certainly look at and speak to your audience between pieces.
Keep the show moving. While occasional introductory remarks can help all (including yourself) to relax, these should not be overdone. Also, avoid long lulls that are caused by excessive retuning. Your listeners are not as likely to notice a slight intonation problem as they are to be annoyed at constant delays.