Karaoke
Contest Tips
The key principles to a happy, healthy and
rewarding contest experience are as follows:
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Have a healthy, competitive attitude
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Come early
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Sing well
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Perform well
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Ask your friends to critique you
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Plan ahead
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Sell the judges as quickly as you can
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Seek feedback
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Set reasonable goals and NEVER give up
1) First and foremost: bring a healthy,
competitive attitude to this contest. A contest of this caliber
usually brings out the very best amateur singers in Kentuckiana.
Regardless of how well that you sing, there are always others that
can sing better and you very well may have the privilege to meet and
compete against such people in this contest. If you do not win this
contest or qualify to move on to the next round, it probably has
more to do with how well your competition sings and performs and
much less to do with how well you were scored by the judges. If you
can’t accept this fact, then we politely recommend that you not
compete in this contest because all that you will accomplish is to
make yourselves and those around you unhappy. Don’t turn something
that you enjoy into something that you dislike. Karaoke should be
fun. Competing isn’t for everyone and it’s not the most important
thing about being able to sing well.
Congratulate your competitors when they walk
off the stage. If performers do an exceptional job, tell them so.
When the contest is over, whether you qualify to move on to the next
round or not, congratulate your competition and thank the judges. By
all means, shake hands with the judges and tell them you appreciate
the fact that they put gas in their cars and volunteered to do this
for you.
2) Come early! Don’t take anything for
granted. Competition could be stiff in any round and you never know
how many others – including some “aces” – may show up to compete
against you. The earlier the date that you choose to compete, the
more chances you will have to qualify in case you do not qualify
your first time out. Competition tends to be less during the week,
so also consider this factor when you decide when and where to
compete.
3) Sing very well. This may sound
self-evident, but it deserves to be addressed in this format. The
most important thing that you can do to be successful in this
contest is to sing well. Singing accounts for 65% of your total
score and is the single most important judging category in this
contest, as it should be. There are many important components to a
good singing performance, most of which are too lengthy to discuss
here. To help, here are a few pointers:
· If
you smoke, refrain from smoking for at least 24 hours in advance of
your performance. In addition to the extensively documented health
risks associated with smoking, smoking can affect your ability to
sing well. That is especially true if you have been smoking for an
extended period of time. Smoking can cause your voice to “crack”
while singing. We’re not trying to preach here, just stating a fact.
· Don’t
drink too much alcohol prior to your performance. Alcohol
consumption can dehydrate your voice. “Buzz singing” can affect your
ability to sing well, especially in a contest. After your
performance, drink all that you want, but please use good judgment
of course.
· Drink
lots of water instead. Stay hydrated. It helps to clean out the
“gunk” in your throat. It also may make you want to go to the
bathroom more often than usual, so plan accordingly.
· Choose
songs that appeal to a broad consensus of people and that are
entertaining. One of the biggest and most common mistakes that
contest singers make is that they choose music that they themselves
like to listen to but not necessarily what the audience wants to
hear. When you choose your song, ask yourself if you think that the
audience and the judges will find your song entertaining. If the
answer is “no,” then you are probably singing to entertain yourself.
That’s a great reason to sing karaoke, but it usually doesn’t carry
you very far in a contest.
· Choosing
a song that is very challenging to sing will not help you much if
you can’t sing it well. We all have our limitations. Be realistic
about your own abilities. Know and respect both your upper and lower
registers and stay within your own boundaries. It is possible to
improve your vocal range with practice and good coaching, but a
contest of this type is not the place to experiment.
4) Perform well. Carefully consider your
stage presentation plan. Presentation accounts for 25% of your total
score. It is the second most important judging category and cannot
be ignored or discounted. The best singer in the contest, without a
well-prepared presentation plan, will find it almost impossible to
win. The judges have been trained (yes, we actually do train our
judges) to look for both the best singer and performer. Here are
some tips:
· Consider
your apparel. It should match the message of your song. A t-shirt
and blue jeans is probably not the best performance attire,
regardless of what you are singing. This doesn’t mean that you need
to put on a ten gallon hat and a rhinestone belt if you are singing
country music. Just use good judgment.
· Try
to visually match the message of your song. If you just stare at the
text prompter, you will likely accrue the minimum points in the
presentation category. Visually engage both the audience and the
judges. Look a judge in the eye. Pick an audience member either at
random or by plan and sell your performance to him or her
personally. If you are nervous on stage, sing directly to your best
friend in the audience. The judges will never know what you are
doing, even if they read this. Use “gesticulation” (hand and body
movement). Don’t be visually stagnant.
· Move
around if you choose, but NEVER leave the judges field of vision.
Some contestants like to move into the audience and engage the
audience members personally. The audience may be “judging” you to
some extent, but they don’t have a score sheet. Only the judges have
those. If you leave the judges’ field of vision, they cannot see
you. If they cannot see you, it will be very hard for them to judge
you.
5) Ask your friends to critique your
performance. Even the best singers need to rehearse. Before the
start of the contest, go some place to practice. There are several
good karaoke bars across the Louisville metro area. People that you
trust are more likely to give you an honest assessment of your
performance and give you quality improvement tips.
6) Plan ahead. Contestants are
encouraged to bring their own discs. We will use a minimum of five
different DJs through the course of this contest. The DJ
working on the night that you compete may or may not have the song
selection of your choice. Even if the DJ does have the song
that you want to sing, it could be a different version than the one
you are used to singing with. This could severely disrupt your
performance. Differences may include variations in lyrics, pitch,
rhythms, tempo, and musical instruments used. Even the overall
quality of the reproduction may vary.
7) Plan to SELL the judges on your abilities
as quickly as possible. The sooner the judges come to believe
that you are a contender to win this contest, the higher that they
are likely to score you. Try to sell them on your abilities within
15-20 seconds after starting your performance. Think about what you
would need to do to make this kind of impression on the judges and
put together a plan to do so. The rest of the time you spend on
stage is used to convince the judges that you should finish first
instead of second or third. You should carry this plan with you
through each round of the contest. Don’t hold back and try to
“spring something” or surprise the judges during the finals.
Establish yourself as a contender to win the contest as early as
possible.
8) If you are like the scores of other
contestants who will not win this contest this year, seek
feedback concerning your performance. Find out what you did well
and what you could improve upon. Then come back next year with a
plan to do better than you did this year. You can do this by
attending a formal feedback session with the judges after each round
in which you successfully compete, or by requesting informal
feedback if you do not advance to the next round. To do this, e-mail
the contest coordinator at
GaslightFestivalKaraokeContest@hotmail.com.
9) Set reasonable goals for yourself and
strive to achieve them. If you do not qualify for the contest on
the first night that you compete, keep in mind that there are a
total of 12 qualifying rounds and four different groups in this
contest. Each group (A, B, C and D) has three qualifying rounds and
is designed to have at least one different judge in each qualifying
group. So, if you don’t qualify on one night, you can try your luck
with a different judge the next night. If you still cannot advance
after three attempts with the first judging panel, there are three
other panels that have not seen your performance. All of the judges
are eager to give you a fresh chance.
If you advance to the quarter-finals but do not
move on to the semi-finals, remember that the earlier you compete,
the more chances you will have to re-enter the contest and be judged
by a different judging panel and possibly advance to the
semi-finals. If you do advance to the semi-finals, but do not
advance to the finals, then your goal next year obviously should be
to advance to the finals. If you make it into the finals but don’t
finish in the top 10 this year, then your goal next year should be
to finish in the top 10. If you finish in the top five in the finals
this year, then your goal next year should be to win! If
everyone who didn’t win their first time out gave up and walked
away, then future winners wouldn’t be future winners. Most future
winners are those who receive and accept their feedback, learn from
their mistakes, come back year after year and never quit until they
achieve the goals that they have set forth for themselves. We hope
these tips help you to be as successful as possible. Good luck to
all contestants!
Here are some additional tips found on the
Internet:
How do I know
when I have a voice problem?
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Has the
quality of your voice changed?
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Have you
been hoarse or raspy for more then two weeks?
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Can you no
longer reach some of the high notes that used to be there?
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Do you use
more to create your voice?
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Do you have
a lot of "junk" in your throat?
Avoid:
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throat
clearing
-
caffeine and
products with caffeine
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cheese and
other dairy products
-
feeling
effort in your throat when you use your voice
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yelling or
screaming
-
noisy places
where you have to speak above the din of noise
-
using your
voice extensively when you have a cold or you feel fatigued
-
harmful
inhalants like cigarette smoke
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running out
of breath at the ends of phrases or sentences
Do:
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keep
yourself well hydrated
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get plenty
of rest
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wash your
hands often with plain soap and water
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get plenty
of exercise
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use a
microphone as often as possible when you address a group of
people
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sing within
the comfortable limits of your range
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