Eye Contact

Hi, all you singers out there. This is Jim Dix. I want to talk today for a second about eye contact and what that means in a performance situation. First of all, eye contact is very important, and it's more than just looking at people or at their faces. It comes down to looking into their eyes even if they're far away, or at least giving that intention.  

So, where to look and when? Generally speaking, the people at the back of the room require the most effort to draw into your performance and engage, so it's probably a good idea to start there. Obviously, you don't want to ignore the people in the front of the room. they’re very important, too, but just be aware that it takes more energy and more effort and more attention to draw in the people who are already at the back of the room and could very easily just kind of do their own thing and not pay much attention to you.  

So start with the back of the room and work your way forward and go around again and keep rotating and keep everybody engaged as much as possible. Remember that for the most part, this performance thing is about creating memorable experiences in the minds of the people that come to see you, or are just there, and you want to draw them in and make them part of your performance in terms of their experience of it and you want them to have a memory that they will enjoy and an experience that they will want to repeat. A lot of that comes down to personal interaction with them and making them feel something, which again is a function of a personal interaction.  

In terms of closed eyes, this is something that that singers often do when they're in a deep emotional moment or whatever, but be careful, because as soon as you close your eyes you're bringing down a wall between (or putting up a wall) between you and the audience, and that has a tendency to disengage people from you, even if they don't know it. Be careful about that, keep eye contact as much as possible, and remember that you are making personal interactions with every single person in your audience even if, you know, if you have a thousand people, obviously you can't make eye contact with each and every one of them, but at least bring the feeling, the intention of making it personal. 

That's about it for today. I'm Jim Dix. Again, if I can help you, if I can answer any questions you might have, or if you want to schedule a lesson with me, please feel free to reach out to me. My website is www.jimdixvoicestudio.com, and I look forward to seeing you out there. Enjoy your singing life.  

Jim Dix 

www.jimdixvoicestudio.com 

(561) 573-5719