Many choirs focus entirely on pitch, voice, and repertoire. Those are, of course, extremely important. But what if you want to really wow your audience? As in, leave them floored? You’ll need to go beyond these. You’ll need to start thinking about things like stage presence and performance.

That’s the major difference maker for choirs. And it’s something that even a little effort toward can change how the audience perceives you.

Stage Presence: The Basics

Stage presence is the heart of charisma. And when your choir is glowing with charisma, the audience feels it and goes home talking about it.

So, what exactly is it?

Stage presence is the way singers show up when they are entirely focused on the task. It isn’t about being anxiously concerned about how things are going to go. It isn’t about worrying how things sound to the audience. It’s about being totally surrendered to the moment, free to let the meaning of the song and its beauty flow through them.

That might sound pretty ambiguous, but luckily, there are practical ways you can increase stage presence.

The first is to practice how choristers are expected to perform the music with their entire body. Think about energy, facial expression, and posture. Can singers maintain high energy, emote with their faces, and maintain good posture?

When they can do these things, the audience reads this as being present. And generally, they do improve the presence singers feel.

For energy, coming to the performance well-rested is non-negotiable.

During rehearsal, give guidance on facial expression. That doesn’t mean choreographing everyone’s face. It means encouraging singers to interpret the meaning of the lyrics they are singing and feel them. Then, encourage the singers to express those feelings through the face.

Proper posture should be an ongoing focus during rehearsal. Poor posture not only communicates a lack of enthusiasm to the audience but also reduces the quality of one's singing voice.

How to Amp Up Performance

Great stage presence goes a long way to enlivening your choir singing and bringing the audience in. But there is still so much you can do to really captivate them. This comes down to your performance—the things your choir does that go beyond singing.

Below are just a few ways you can change things up:

• Movement: If your choir shuffles up onto the risers and stays in place for the entire performance, consider adding movement. This can happen between songs to create a little added interest or even during songs to really wow people.
• Configuration: Where are your choristers standing? Are they in simple lines? Have you tried mixing them up? This is one of the easiest ways to create a big impression.
• Body Percussion: Clapping, stomping, and related moves add percussion to the performance. They also break up the often serene and glowing layer of voice with more prickly, explosive sounds—creating dynamics your audience might not expect.
• Outfits: Sometimes it's all about the details. What colors are your choristers wearing? What are some added elements that could really pop? Does everyone need to wear the same? More elaborate outfit ideas, of course, run into budgetary constraints, but it doesn’t take a lot to add some visual interest through costumes.
• Non-Singing Elements: How are songs introduced? Are there ways that you can add poetry, historical context, or other elements that add meaning to the songs being performed?
• Audience Participation: Sing-alongs and call-and-response formats for songs (especially your finale) can do a lot to engage audiences. It should be noted, though, that a little goes a long way here.

These ideas can be adjusted for each performance, but you don’t need to stress out about coming up with big ideas for all of them all of the time. Having a few meaningful moments in the performance is better than trying to be innovative about everything solely for innovation’s sake.

Making It All Work Together

Building up the basics of stage presence will help your choir captivate audiences at every moment. And boosting the performance with creative ideas will help your choir stand out. With these two in tandem, you’ll be captivating audiences like you never thought possible.

That way, during your next big choral event, you’ll be the ones people are talking about on the drive home.

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