You need to be able to play or sing your stuff well. That doesn’t mean you need to be a virtuoso, but you do need to be able to do your material justice. And that means you need to practice.

A lot.

Here are 2 killer advantages to being well-rehearsed.

 More brain-space for musicality

Research shows that multi-tasking stresses us out. And music is a highly multithreaded operation. We have to play in time, in tune and with emotional connection – it’s a whole-brain experience.

And that means, the more we can make the mechanics of playing like riding a bike – virtually unconscious – the more space that leaves us for the important bit – the emotion and musicality

More brain-space for for confidence

There’s nothing worse than a hesitant, tentative performance – and there’s nothing better than confidence and assurance. The weakest material can bring the house down when performed with power and conviction – I’m sure you can think of an example or two : )

And following on from the previous point, that same part of the brain that handles multi-tasking is also the part that can calm our nerves when we’re nervous or stressed – like, when we suddenly put a microphone in front of oursleves, and every tiny flaw in our performance is analysed in microscopic detail, just for example.

The solution ? Practice. The less our brains are thinking about the mechanics of performance, the more energy we can devote to playing and singing with confidence and conviction.