Do you perform and feel it? or just perform?

soulseeker

soulseeker

Permanent Fixture
MBTI
INFJ
Hi :)

I have a question... if you're a performer.. like if you're a singer, if you act, if you dance or if you play instruments and stuff like that.

Do you HAVE to feel it?

In dancing, I JUST HAVE TO FEEL the music in me. I have to feel that the music is inside me and that I'm one with the music before I'm able to dance a dance really well. I just have to feel the music inside me and letting it out through dance and expressing it. There's this energy around me and inside me.

and the problem is............... when I'm given a choreography, my body does not feel the steps because it doesn't come from me. So for me to be able to dance it well, I have to really study the steps and everything. I have to feel the music ( <-- that's hard if I don't naturally feel the music.. like I don't think I can pull that energy and dance it well. ) and get that energy. So in short, I can't dance without feeling anything. And I always get scolded for not dancing with energy.

The thing is, other people can dance well without I guess trying to put the music in you and feel the choreographer's movements and steps. I CAN'T......

So, whatever you perform, if you act... if you're given a role you don't feel or something... how do you act it well ? If you sing.. do you have to feel the energy or something and the song? If you play instruments.. and you're given a composition which you didn't create.. what if you don't feel it? How do you play that piece well????

So is this an everybody thing? or an INFJ thing? or I'm weird?
 
In music (I can't speak for anything else) there are technical performers and then there are musical performers. Technical performers can play anything throw at them completely flawless, but it is void of emotion. It does not move and audience because it does not move them. I would much rather see some one make a couple mistakes, but throw as much of themselves and their emotion into their performance. This is not to say that emotional performers are flawed, but I am less likely to notice if they can evoke the right emotion in themselves and in their audience.

Personally, I have to really sink my teeth into something and feel it before I am actually comfortable performing it. It comes easier with some pieces than others. Even though I am still capable of singing them technically it doesn't do the piece justice if I can't convey the message properly. I haven't found a piece I couldn't put emotion behind yet, though. Takes a lot out of me sometimes. Especially since I am not incredibly in touch with my emotions.
 
DevilDoll said:
In music (I can't speak for anything else) there are technical performers and then there are musical performers. Technical performers can play anything throw at them completely flawless, but it is void of emotion. It does not move and audience because it does not move them. I would much rather see some one make a couple mistakes, but throw as much of themselves and their emotion into their performance. This is not to say that emotional performers are flawed, but I am less likely to notice if they can evoke the right emotion in themselves and in their audience.

Personally, I have to really sink my teeth into something and feel it before I am actually comfortable performing it. It comes easier with some pieces than others. Even though I am still capable of singing them technically it doesn't do the piece justice if I can't convey the message properly. I haven't found a piece I couldn't put emotion behind yet, though. Takes a lot out of me sometimes. Especially since I am not incredibly in touch with my emotions.
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You sing? cool!!! I thought you were like someone who loves modeling and doing photo shoots and stuff like that.

In ballet, it's hard to mix technique with emotions. And it's impossible to dance ballet with just emotions and no technique. But then.... when you get the technique, it's so much easier to dance it with emotions and feel it and express yourself in dance than when dancing contemporary or modern dances. Because in ballet, there are many steps but I think all of the steps have names and everything. Compared to like modern dances and hip hop and those dances, it depends on the interpretation of the choreographer.. <--- I guess.. that's what I think it's like. They create the steps because that's what they felt when listening to the music. So, I do get a hard time if I don't like and feel the music. And their body movements are different and all so their steps and feelings differ from mine. If I have to dance their dance... then that would require like a lot of energy for me to feel it. It's hard when the choreographer wants you to dance it with energy after an hour. I have to have my think and feel and dance time :) :)

How do you find emotions behind all the pieces???? Wasn't there a song which you didn't like?
 
soulseeker said:
You sing? cool!!! I thought you were like someone who loves modeling and doing photo shoots and stuff like that.

In ballet, it's hard to mix technique with emotions. And it's impossible to dance ballet with just emotions and no technique. But then.... when you get the technique, it's so much easier to dance it with emotions and feel it and express yourself in dance than when dancing contemporary or modern dances. Because in ballet, there are many steps but I think all of the steps have names and everything. Compared to like modern dances and hip hop and those dances, it depends on the interpretation of the choreographer.. <--- I guess.. that's what I think it's like. They create the steps because that's what they felt when listening to the music. So, I do get a hard time if I don't like and feel the music. And their body movements are different and all so their steps and feelings differ from mine. If I have to dance their dance... then that would require like a lot of energy for me to feel it. It's hard when the choreographer wants you to dance it with energy after an hour. I have to have my think and feel and dance time :) :)

How do you find emotions behind all the pieces???? Wasn't there a song which you didn't like?
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Actually, I am not a model at all. I was just a guinea pig for a photography student. Singing is more my style. Opera to be exact.

See, dancing is way out of my element. It seems like it might be more complicated than performing classical music, which tends to be what we call "park and bark" even though opera is trying to get away from that the staging is still relatively simple.

The first thing I do with a new piece of music is do a quick run through. I may or may not use the lyrics, depending on the language it's in. (German and Italian are easy to pick up. French is a Bitch.) But the lyrics don't necessarily matter if I can get a feel for the tone of the piece and how it moves and flows. That will usually show me how the composer wanted it sung and wanted the character portrayed. If I can't pick it up from that, I move on the lyrics and begin to study the character.

As for pieces I disliked there have been a few here and there. Some for emotional reasons, some not. I really disliked Brahms' "Wiegenlied" (also known as Brahms' Lullaby). It just didn't suit me vocally and I couldn't put the maternal nature behind it that it needed. That was an emotion I didn't quite understand. In competition the Judges got all over me for that. Told me I would scare the baby. I dropped it from my rep shortly after.
 
DevilDoll said:
As for pieces I disliked there have been a few here and there. Some for emotional reasons, some not. I really disliked Brahms' "Wiegenlied" (also known as Brahms' Lullaby). It just didn't suit me vocally and I couldn't put the maternal nature behind it that it needed. That was an emotion I didn't quite understand. In competition the Judges got all over me for that. Told me I would scare the baby. I dropped it from my rep shortly after.
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The judges told you that?????

I wonder how people accept those kinds of comments. I take those things personally... I know I shouldn't but.. I get offended easily.

And why are choreographers/dancers so aggressive!?!? They tell you comments which are energy draining for me.

Why do most people who have accomplished a lot in their field comment on other people harshly?

:( :(
 
I am an excellent dancer and have been told on numerous occasions that I am the best dancer in whatever club I happen to be in.

I know exactly what you are talking about as I can't dance to some songs, I definately have to feel it. How good I dance is directly proportional to how much I feel the song.

I feel so wooden if I don't feel it but if I do, it's effortless. I just move how the music sounds (or feels).
 
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Hi! :) Yes! I have to feel it. I never "just" do it. But that applies even to solving differential equations. How to cope with that - well, I need A LOT of creative freedom. And it pays off: it produces much more; in fact so much more that sometimes seems impossible post factum. That's why I believe people should be naturally given a lot of freedom, and I don't mean the freedom to choose their own harsh obligations. The tendency in history is to reduce these obligations gradually; both for kings and peasants.

Now, you may not yet see it that way, but as an artistic performer this gives you a great advantage, along with the difficulty - it is the advantage to win the audience, to be special. Because the audience (well, enough people from it) can feel what you feel, and can't feel this way when watching one of those other diligent performers.
 
As an actor/singer/pianist/public speaker/debate geek.. I can honestly say that I do my best performances when I'm without an exceptionally strict guideline. For speeches, I prefer to just put bullets on a notecard and just speak about what I already know and feel.. From the heart as you say.

Improvised acting is a joy to me, but I do very well with traditional plays and musicals as long as I get into the piece.
 
I only preform well when I'm, as you put it, "feeling" it. Growing up through high school I played in every ensemble I got the chance to, and took private lessons for 5 years. I decided that I'd go to college for music, but I sunk my auditions. However, it all makes sense. I hated playing music in the manner that was required for auditions. It felt cold and empty, and my auditions reflected that. I could have easily made it as a jazz student though because it "spoke" to me and gave me a lot more room to explore the pieces.

I'm an okay guitar player with a less than decent voice, but I've been able to make it work for me. It's because I play the songs I wrote, and sing the words that come straight from me. My band stuck around for 5 or 6 years, and when I was on stage I felt alive, electrified. Sure, we sucked, but we got a lot of good feed back (well, and mountains of negative feed back) about our energy. Not counting last summer, when we played, we put everything into it.

When I played shows solo, everything seemed even more intense. Sure, my voice sucked, but people responded to the emotional intensity in my music. I never once got a bad review.

(and as a side note, part of being a preformer is learning to take the bad with the good. It's a mean place, and people love to rip other people to shreds. Just keep in mind that not everyone will like you, but for each person that trashes you, there are more than likely a number who like what you're doing)
 
soulseeker said:
In dancing, I JUST HAVE TO FEEL the music in me. I have to feel that the music is inside me and that I'm one with the music before I'm able to dance a dance really well. I just have to feel the music inside me and letting it out through dance and expressing it. There's this energy around me and inside me.
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Yes.....

I don't know if it's weird or what.

Is there a way you can get into this Spirit while you are learning the choreography, somehow relate the movements to what truly inspires you to dance freely?
 
i have found for me i execute best when i have a balance of emotion and technique. i believe for those aspiring to be professionals in the performing arts it is our obligation as entertainers to work on our weak areas lest they come back to haunt us. whether that be faking through a piece i may not feel as strongly as others, or keeping myself controlled when i feel a song powerfully, in the end it is about the audience for me. its not as fun, and its not what i enjoyed about drumming when i first started down this path, but i made the decision to stick with it and therefore i believe i must go above and beyond others expectations if i am to ever truly think of myself as an entertainer.
the drumming world is brutal with negativity also, and i think it is because the people making negative comments towards others are merely imposing the standards they judge themselves by onto others. the problem lies in that it is not helpful but hurtful for those who aren't necessarily on the others level, especially when they dont offer practical advice, and i believe it also discourages more sensitive people from giving that advice. so i think its really damaging to the specific instrument or art or whatever as a whole.
 
soulseeker said:
The judges told you that?????

I wonder how people accept those kinds of comments. I take those things personally... I know I shouldn't but.. I get offended easily.

And why are choreographers/dancers so aggressive!?!? They tell you comments which are energy draining for me.

Why do most people who have accomplished a lot in their field comment on other people harshly?

:( :(
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It's a competition and they are judging me. I expect them to break my performance down into comments, some good and some not. That one I pretty tame, in all honesty. I have gotten much worse. I just suck it up and move on with my life. I fix the problem (if there was one) and go on my way. You simply can't take it personally, if you do people will eat you alive.
 
I hate expressing my emotions to others.

I actually had to take a Performance Arts class this semester where we have to perform poems and express the emotion embodied in the work while doing so. I hated it and dreaded it. I especially couldn't express any emotion when I knew I was being judged and graded for it.

Even if an emotion is evoked in me through some medium or encounter I still am very careful to conceal it.

At the same time, it's my feelings that motivate me to take action. I am most efficient in a task that I care about. That's why I sought out the job I have. There have been times at my job that were I was working with someone very emotional and though I felt empathy and warmth--It was difficult for me to show it.
 
I have to feel the music in me...
That's true for me. I can't get into dancing if I don't like the track. In terms of dance and performance, I got feedback that I was an 'expressive' kind of dancer...
I think performing for an INFJ is great because your feelings are expressed regularly and this is a great outlet.
It has been for me anyway. There is a state of flow I think that is associated with being immersed with the medium, that strikes me as similar to what your describing. more instinctual than technical.
 
acd said:
I hate expressing my emotions to others.

I actually had to take a Performance Arts class this semester where we have to perform poems and express the emotion embodied in the work while doing so. I hated it and dreaded it. I especially couldn't express any emotion when I knew I was being judged and graded for it.

Even if an emotion is evoked in me through some medium or encounter I still am very careful to conceal it.

At the same time, it's my feelings that motivate me to take action. I am most efficient in a task that I care about. That's why I sought out the job I have. There have been times at my job that were I was working with someone very emotional and though I felt empathy and warmth--It was difficult for me to show it.
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INFP confirmed.
For me it's the fact that people abuse empathy, or it invokes a chain of events I don't want to commit to, and don't think I should.
 
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soulseeker said:
If you sing.. do you have to feel the energy or something and the song?
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Yes. Even though a person who can sing, can also sing well without actually feeling the energy of the song, you will always feel that there is something missing. Emotion. A singer who's fully emerged in the song will truly convince listeners and move them.
I have performed a few times in high school, all performances except for 1 were songs that I had chosen myself. You can guess.. I totally did not feel the song my teacher assigned me to perform.

soulseeker said:
In dancing, I JUST HAVE TO FEEL the music in me.
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I agree. I don't dance anymore, but I used to. I was perfectly fine with choreographed dances, but some days I felt the music more than other days. Needless to say, when I felt it I happened to dance better. This especially applies to freestyle dancing, I have to feel it.

But in general, music and emotion/energy go hand in hand. If there's no emotion, people will notice.
 
I majored in music in college and I completely understand this. I have to feel when I perform. If I don't then nervous feelings take over. I also really have a problem with sight reading. I have to practice something a million times before I really know what it means to me. It kind of really messed up my career. In rehearsals I couldn't get essence of the music quick enough for my instructors. When I did practice enough to truly know a piece of music, it was magical. It put me in a state of flow, and balanced my emotions.
 
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