When you’re nervous, does your heart rate speed up? Does your breath quicken and become shallow? Do your legs start to shake? Does your mouth go dry? Do you become hot and sweaty? Do you tense up? These are reactions to the ‘fight or flight’ response that prepares us for action in situations...
Rock and pop’s most influential figures are to be honoured with blue plaques on BBC Music Day this year – and you can decide who gets one. Over the next week, every BBC local radio station in England and the Channel Islands is accepting nominations for a local artist (or venue) that changed...
Developing an alternative version of yourself can enhance both your performance and the experience in many ways. When performing in front of an audience, whether it’s your production team,the studio, a crowd in the local pub, or a sea of fans at the O2 Arena, it’soften helpful to consider...
Hashtags are much more relevant on Instagram than other social media sites like Facebook, so if you’re actively using Instagram to connect with your fans, it really pays to understand the best practices and hone your hashtag strategy. Unlike most other social platforms where hashtags serve as a...
Performance anxiety, or stage fright, can affect a seasoned professional just as much as an inexperienced musician new to the game. It can strike at any time and doesn’t only occur as you’re about to walk out onto the stage, but can also chip away at a performer’s confidence weeks before a show.
In...
Without Jimi Hendrix, pioneering shock rocker Arthur Brown may never have lived up to his reputation as the self-proclaimed “God of Hellfire.” In 1968, when the theatrical singer’s group, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, put out the single “Fire” – an incendiary, psychedelic...
The nomination of two alumni for the 2017 Brit Awards: Luke Patterson (Clean Bandit), and Sophie Elton (aka Dakota), Luke is the drummer for Clean Bandit, who topped the UK singles chart for thirteen weeks in 2016 with their single ‘Rockabye’ featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie. The track was...
Many musicians don’t realize that Instagram is not only incredibly important to millions of people around the world, but it also provides an unlimited number of wonderful opportunities to meet new people, become friends with fans, make announcements, and even sell merch and music. If you curate...
If a member of a group or band feels stifled and unable to be creative on stage they are not going to last very long. It’s not a nice way to live as a musician, is it? So here is a rule that has been tried and tested. The rule is simple: Nobody can be negative for 20 minutes after a performance,...
The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP) was proud to host two special events as part of LGBT History Month this February, focused on the promotion of LGBT artists. This year’s LGBT History Month celebrates the idea of diverse communities and uses the fingerprint logo to represent...
ICMP recently hosted a fascinating and exclusive interactive panel discussion focused on ‘How to Build Your Online Profile’ at Tileyard Studios. The event, organised by ICMP’s industry liaison and careers department, featured guest panellists Simon Bush (UK Head of Social, Weller Media Agency)...
Not everyone can afford the thousands of pounds worth of tools to make stellar home recordings. The good news is you don’t need them – a skilled craftsman can get the most out of simple tools. If you hone your skills and broaden your knowledge, you can get by with the basic stuff you probably...
Keeping up your social media presence across a number of platforms is incredibly important, and it’s something that you, as a working, full-time (or even part-time) musician, will need to focus a lot of your promotional efforts on. There’s a lot to stay on top of and make sure you’re...
A hologram of the late Ronnie James Dio made its U.S. debut on (Thursday, February 2) in Los Angeles, California. Created by Eyellusion, the appearance of the heavy metal icon took place during a performance by Dio Disciples, which pays tribute to Ronnie and is fully supported by his widow/manager,...
Musicians tend to fall into a few different camps when it comes to evaluating their own performances; some will be unsatisfied, no matter how well it went, while others will think that every show they play is the best show ever. Then there are the rest of us who tend to waffle back and forth between...
