Foundation (Ingredient #1)

This is it! This right here is the “meat and potatoes” of your live show. I work on developing the foundation of a performance more than anything else.

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My wife doesn’t like eating burritos when the tortilla splits open and all the filling falls out. Whether it’s savory like a burrito or something sweet like a donut, you can’t enjoy the filling without a good foundation.

I see many artists and their management teams put great emphasis on adding lighting and other special FX to their show without first establishing a good foundation. I fully support added production. If the budget allows, I’m all for dreaming and creating something spectacular in a live show, but all of that is filler. As I’ve said before in previous posts, the production should only be an enhancement of what the artist is already doing and not act as a crutch or a replacement of good communication.

I was recently sent an interview of legendary drummer Gregg Bissonette. In it, Gregg shared that he took lessons many years ago from another famous drummer. He was asked to share his biggest piece of advice he received from his lessons. Checkout his response in the video below.

I’ve seen it time and time again, it doesn’t matter if it’s a touring artist or church worship team, many of them spend time, energy and resources in places that truly aren’t important in the grand scheme of things. Good gear is a necessity and added production is fine, but all great shows need to be built on a good foundation.

What is the foundation?

The Music, The Message, The Movement

We must first begin with the music. Your songs act as our guide for everything. The first step I take in partnering with artists or church worship teams is to pull out the experience within your songs. We do this by creating live song arrangements that are different than the recorded version.

THE MUSIC

The music tells us:

- Where to go (The Setlist)

- What to say (The Message)

- What to do (The Movement)

THE MESSAGE

The message guides us on:

- What to convey to the audience and when (The Theme / The Delivery)

- What the audience should do with it (Their Response)

- What the audience could take away from it (The Tangibles / The Intagibles)

THE MOVEMENT

The movement is determined by:

- What the song arrangement is for that setlist (The Version)

- What the lyrical or musical elements of the song is (The Content)

- What the setting is that the performance is taking place in (The Venue)

Like Gregg shared in the video about the single biggest piece of advice he ever received from Tony Williams, is that we need to be intentional with our communication. “We need a direct line of communication with a person in the audience. The more that we can be clear with our intentions of what we’re doing [onstage], that will translate to your audience.” Having a solid foundation is crucial. I can’t stress enough how important it is to work on your music, your message and your movement in order to communicate clearly to your audience. Everything else after this is the flavor. It will take a lot of work and a continual pursuit to creating an engaging live experience onstage, but with having the love for it and devotion to do it, you can accomplish anything.

Are you interested in diving deeper into these areas for YOUR show? I’d love to get to know you and learn about your journey in music! Let’s schedule a FREE discovery call today!

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