Is it you or a character that you play?
As entertainers, we portray characters. Many times, we leave our characters on the stage and then go on with our lives.
However…
Leaving a character on the stage is not easy for all.
Please remember, I am not a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, psychotherapist, or any flavor psycho-type doctor. In truth, I am no type of doctor at all. I will leave it to you to determine my level of psycho. :)
How many of us have a difficult time distinguishing between a character we play or our own characteristic?
How many of us have a difficult time defining ourselves as a person or something that is a part of our personality?
Too many times, a character a person plays bleeds into their personality; therefore, it becomes a part of who they are as a person.
This isn’t a bad thing, all of the time.
But it could be something detrimental if we allow a character we portray to alter the characteristics of our personality, which, in the end, changes who we are as a person.
Here is an example of this transition.
As a trumpet player, a part of me as a person, I will play on stage. In the early years of being a performer, I felt that I needed to portray a character. In my narrow-minded and inexperienced performing brain, I thought the audience wanted to see a specific type of character playing the trumpet. I thought that they wanted to see this stoic person who played high notes, played the horn part perfectly, and looked like they were in command of the stage. Little did I realize that I was pushing the experience of enjoying music, entertaining, and helping people forget about their lives for a little while away from the performance because I was trying to play the character of what I thought a trumpet player should be.
I soon realized that the audience really couldn’t care less if I was stoic, could hit high notes, and really did not see a trumpet player commanding the stage in a cover band.
Once I realized that, good or bad, I needed to allow my personality and characteristics to be seen on stage, I became a better entertainer.
When the audience sees live musicians enjoy performing, they respond with singing and dancing to the music. We have helped them enjoy their time and to forget about life for a while.
These ideas of allowing your own characteristics and personalities to be seen and experienced by others help keep us from becoming a character and a person that we really do not wish to be.
Our passion for performing will shine through, and the experience of performing live will enhance the consumer's experience of live music.
Plus, if you really think about it, if we are portraying a character all of the time and allowing it to change who we are as a person, we would become exhausted and very miserable.
We can still portray characters during a performance, but always remember to incorporate some of your characteristics and, in the end, be a person and not just a personality.