Column: When Great Musicianship Isn't Enough

[Timbofood]

But what about an autopsy on a clown?

I was at a wedding reception and they served fish, I thought it tasted a little funny, I thought it was clown!

[Roger Adams]

Good article, and point on, IMHO.

The best bands recognize that they are in "show business." This means you are there to entertain, and hopefully, please your audience. Good showmen have a sense of "stage presence" and have the ability to establish a rapport with the audience.

Talking in the back while others are performing is called "up staging" and is rude, and disrespectful of one's fellow artists. Likewise, taking the stage in flip flops and grubbies is unprofessional, and shows a lack of respect for the audience and for what you do.

Musical virtuosity without good showmanship is cold and impersonal to me.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Grizzly Adams - " Good showmen have a sense of "stage presence" ..". The well known musicians are also viewed 'differently' than unknown ones by the audience. They're accorded more 'respect' from the off - the new guys have to ''earn'' that.

When i had my band together back in the late 1960's,we knew how to behave on stage - 'professionally' !. It was as simple as that. We wanted folk to understand that we were good musicians who knew how to play - it worked,
Ivan