This is a video from my Live Performance at the end of 2023 for the Dosey Doe's Open Mic Finals. With all my travel this past year, it is amazing that the timing work out for me to

#1 - Start performing @ the legendary @doseydoe 'sOpen Mic in the Spring

#2 I made it to the semi-finals AND finals

#3 - Was back in town and able to perform during the holidays at both performances! Amazing when things just line up with no planning! Was meant to be.

It's been years and years since I did an open mic. I was always too busy with tons of my own gigs. Plus most open mics don't have a piano - so it's a lot of work to bring my keyboard, set up for a couple of songs.

So why did I start going again? Because going to open mic's is so good for your music practice in so many ways! My first year in New York, I lived 5 minutes from a fantastic open mic! I went from 7pm to 4am and was booked up everywhere. The level of musicians was incredible. On top of that - they had a piano on stage! I went every tuesday for a year. The benefits of that year I still feel to this day. Here’s a few reasons to spend some time at an open mic…

1) Songwriting Support - Finishings songs is one of the greatest challenges facing most songwriters. We have jobs, family, health that all seems to prioritize before working on our songs. So having a place to play out new songs can offer the tangible reason to make working on songs a priority. You have a reason to write, work on and finish your song ideas - to share at your weekly open mic.

2) Emotional Support and Feedback - A good open mic can function like a songwriter circle. It can offer the motivation needed to not only finish songs you are working on, but to improve them based on feedback and audience reaction. As you meet other songwriter’s there, their feedback can be invaluable to polishing and bringing your song to it’s ultimate form.

3) Motivation to repeat/practice your songs to Performance Level - You have deadlines to get those songs up to performance speed. Sometimes this is a process, so the first time you play it out to see if you have it yet. Do you need more work on it, or is it ready in your hands? Open mics are great place to test them out, since it’s meant to be a safe space to explore and make mistakes. Turns out you haven’t practiced it enough? No worries. Crashing and burning happens at open mics.

4) Safe Space to Learn Performance Skills - It’s not just for originals. New to performing? It’s a great place to gain experience in performing on stage. Learning how much you need to practice before it’s ready to perform, learning how to pivot and deal with mistakes (inevitable) , learning how to address the audience, a present your music and foster connection. Also, how to harness the energy of the audience to enhance your music and performance.

5) Meeting a Network of Musicians - Great place to meet friends, collegues, find out about music opportunities, feel less alone in your musical journey.

6) Hone your skills - no matter your experience level, you can always aim to uplevel your playing. That means taking chances, incorporating new skills in your playing, or even maintaining your level. Open mics are always there for you for these ends. Especially if you have one you enjoy going to, then it can constantly serve your music to attend with goals in mind to work on.

There are more reasons than this, but I’ll stop there for how. Give you something to think about. Remember that playing live in front of an audience can clock in as many hours experience on your instrument as 100 hours of just practice. Many adult students just want to learn their instrument for their own enjoyment. Shyness and fear can keep them from these Open Mics. A spirit of competition can plague musicians and ruin the joy of playing.

So this is why I want to share practical reasons for attending open mics, no matter your ambitions. I’m not the best musicians in the room. I don’t aim to be. There are virtuosos I’ve met and they can play that game. I’m just there to authentically share my voice and offer healing/solice/and other gifts that music can bring to a room full of people. It’s more like sound healing or sound therapy that I’m interested in. And ironically as I’ve learned to ignore the ego calls to compare and compete - I’ve ended up making it into the Finals of a competition. This is a video from that experience. It was never my goal, which made it all the more fun to get to participate!

But I will note the sound isn't great. Lots of background chatter. I used an external recording device it and spliced it with the recordings from both phones. My brother, who's a pro in the movie industry, was kind enough to help since he was in town for the holidays. But the truth is there was lots of talking. This was my first song of the set, and as my set progressed, I captured the attention and won the room.

But I like showing this in the authenticity. This is what it's like sometimes. I was maybe the 5th performer that night, and there was a whole table of children right in front of me that were tired of sitting. Full disclosure, I could have done a better job commanding the attention before the start of this song.

But it relates back to a topic from my December videos. Captured from when I was playing out live as background Christmas music at private events. I related then and it comes back up again here that It's a necessary skill for a musician to be able to concentrate and even stay in a positive state of mind, even when the crowd is not paying attention. Or in some cases are being quite rude.

If I let it affect me, take it personally, I would have lost the message of the song.

In this video, I just kept my heart and mind in line, and enjoyed the performance without the need of the audience's approval. This is the true goal of playing out - to get to a place where you are free of the need for attention or approval. You are playing music for music's sake. You are playing music because you LOVE to play music, LOVE to expression who you are authentically. And you are there to offer it as a gift, not in need of anything in return, including attention.

-Lyndol

More videos from my gigs to come - with lots of tips for aspiring Local, Private Event musicians - David's Army Band as I'm beginning to think of us... Join the Symphony of life.

Learn to express your unique musical voice. Email me for your free 45 minute lesson via zoom! Lyndol@me.com

To buy my music: https://lyndol.bandcamp.com

To donate: Venmo - @LyndolMusic

More connection: https://lyndol.com/lyndoldescant