9. Connecting with an Audience

“They’re waiting for you to show yourself to them...”

—Tom Grant

Most of what I have learned about communication and connection did not come from my speech and communication classes in school. It came from my experience as a performer and from years of closely watching others perform. I worked my way through college playing drums in various jazz groups beginning when I was 17. No matter how technically “good” the music was, I have never seen a great performance that lacked a solid connection between the performer and the audience.

Playing music is a performance and also very much a presentation. Good presentations are about conversing, sharing, and connecting on an intellectual and emotional level in an honest and sincere way. It is even easier to connect when playing music since everything is right out there for everyone to see and hear. It doesn’t get much more honest than jazz, which has been called “the music of dialogue.” There are no politics and no walls. The music may touch the audience or it may not, but there is never even a hint of insincerity, questionable motives, or pretense of being anything other than what people see before them at that moment. The smiles, the heads nodding in agreement, and the feet tapping under the tables tell me that there is a connection, and that connection is no less than communication. It’s a fantastic feeling.