[Tim Murphy]

Random Thoughts on Live and Broadcast Performance

These notes are occasioned by my recent radio broadcast which we're discussing at Accomplished Members. http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/h...now?post=36227

First, you learn a lot by hearing yourself. You get ready for radio and TV and live performance by privately recording a lot and honestly critiquing yourself. I've got quite a bit of experience in live performing and recording. (50 of my 60 years!) I hate the way I say, "um" all the time, as I'm thinking my way through complex, extemporaneous sentences, but hey! Wm. F. Buckley did that too! I didn't do it in high school, but then I wasn't thinking very hard about what I chose to say. Kids these days insert "like" or profanity into their sentences, every fifth word, but "um" is a less obnoxious crutch. Not a problem reciting the verse, but in conversation with my interlocutor I can't get rid of it.

I don't record with headphones on, because they make me claustrophobic, but I always perform sound tests, whether live or in studio. I tend to overwhelm microphones, the opposite of most speakers, and every mic is different. Depending on the mic, I might need a distance of anywhere from eight to 24 inches. So get to the gig early. If you're in a church or museum, half of your audience is probably half deaf, so PROJECT. In recording studios I used headphones for years, and I recommend them to beginners.

Critiquing myself these days, my voice has substantially deepened and deteriorated, thanks to the rivers of whiskey and barns of tobacco. I also chomped into my tongue during a brain seizure, blood all over hell! and my sibillants will never fully recover. Fortunately, there are a lot more poems, and I’d like to think they’re better.

One year I hosted the first books panel at West Chester, and despite ample amplification four of the five poets must have been inaudible at the back of Sykes Auditorium. The exception was Clive Watkins, and even Clive should have jacked up the volume. The one time I read at Sykes, I turned off the PA system and just used my full voice, and nobody had trouble hearing me. It’s a big hall, maybe three hundred seats, but it has great acoustics. By contrast, I read in churches that have dead acoustic spots, and you should know where those are and ushers should steer the elderly away from those pews. Have someone listen to you rehearse in half a dozen places, and you’ll know the acoustics of any hall.

Particularly when performing live, or working on television, know your text inside out, so as to maximize eye contact with your audience. The late Michael Donaghy and Dana Gioia and I are the only poets I’ve seen who performed entirely from memory (because of the brain seizures I can’t do it any more); but the better you know your text, the better off you are. This goes for reading Scripture in church, too. I go to Latin Mass occasionally, and the priests have the Ordinary of the Mass down cold, but when they get to the Epistle and the Gospel, it’s just embarrassing. Practice, Father! I can’t sight read Latin, and neither can you. In a room or a hall, I pick out three good looking people in three parts of the space and swing the reading from one to the other. If you’re in the audience, you think I’m reading directly to you.

Tailor your presentation to your audience. A high school, a college, the Boy Scouts and a Rotary Club are all very different audiences. For obvious reasons, I have to be very careful about this, for I’m not out to shock and offend my listeners. And I can be pretty shocking.

Stage fright: fifty years into this, it’s still a problem for me. One of the best readers in the world, a dear friend, takes Valium two hours before a performance. He comes across as so relaxed, so at home in front of a crowd, you’d never guess it. Michael Donaghy and I always consumed a modest amount of alcohol to calm us down. One of the best poets in the world came up to me before a reading at Sykes and said, in panic, "Surely you have a flask in your car!" Indeed I did. And finally the old chestnut, Rhina Espaillat’s advice from her father: “Imagine that everyone in the audience is clad only in underwear, and they all owe you money.”

I'm trying to get better, and any tips would be deeply appreciated.