Over the last week I’ve been amused and a little frustrated to read the reactions to Motley Crue’s singer, Vince Niel, using a teleprompter on stage for his song lyrics. He has drawn some criticism for it from a few other singers but he has also been defended for it by more performers. Why would a performer use a teleprompter? Is it a bad thing?
Musical Purists
Some people imagine themselves as being some sort of “musical purists”. These people often look down upon performers who rely on teleprompters for lyrics or any other technological assistance. In this mode of thinking a band should have everything memorized and be able to perform it without flaw. That requires a lot of practice and memorization but it is the way things have been done in popular music for a long time and a certain number of flaws were overlooked. The problem is that we are all human which means we are prone to memory lapses and other errors. Every famous singer has forgotten the lyrics to the song he wrote or lost his place in a song. Plus the more people you have in the band the more likely you are to run into problems with coordination. That is why a good stage monitor system is so important to a band. The larger the venue, such as a rock concert, the more important it is for the band members to hear each other and be on track with their lyrics as well. Technology helps with these issues.
Technological Assistance
It is true that a teleprompter can be an aide for a aging rock star who has trouble remembering the lyrics or the order of the song. But that doesn’t begin to explain all the reasons for technological assistance in our modern world. Professional bands use complex technology to perform complex shows and put on high quality performances. Non-professional bands do much the same thing to improve their quality.
Some Reasons
Limited practice time could be one reason to use technology to keep a show on track. Professional performers have a lot of demands on their time so they may not get to practice as much as they used to do when they were rising stars. Technology can assist by keeping them on track during the performance – and lyrics are just the beginning of what it can do. Non-professional bands can also benefit from technology for the same reason. Practice is limited by work, family, and other responsibilities. Technological assistance helps keep the band together and put on a better performance.
A band may be called upon to perform a different arrangement of their song. It might be shorter or longer or the lyrics rearranged for some reason so the teleprompter helps them keep up with those changes. Songs often have a “radio cut” and an “album cut” which are not alike. The album cut is longer and during performance the band may even choose to improvise or vamp before returning to the lyrics. In such a situation it would be helpful to have the lyrics on screen when all the riffing is done.
A band with a large catalog of songs may need some assistance because they are only selecting a few of their songs for a given performance. Also newer songs may be less familiar and having the lyrics available on stage helps the artist keep track while they are perfecting their set.
Additionally, a very complex show can be run from a simple laptop these days. It shows the artists the lyrics, changes the slides the audience sees, adjusts the lights and more. I will detail more of that in my next article.
Quality. Repeatability.
The main reason for using technology is for a high-quality performance. Professionals and non-professionals use lyric assists for their bands. In large concert venues the monitors may be unseen from the floor and only seen on stage by the artists. In churches that project lyrics on a screen for the audience you can often look to the back of the room for the teleprompter screen that the band is using.
A regular touring band will have a set of songs and an order they do those songs. With technological assistance they can perform that show over and over again with assurances that things will go right. A simple laptop computer can display the lyrics for the band to see and a separate screen for the audience to see. If the band wants the audience to see the lyrics they can be displayed and changed by software so that they are never out of time with the song. Often the band runs videos along with their performance so those are displayed on time and in order because they are all preprogrammed and tied into the software. A band can adjust the stage lights to match the mood of the song by coordinating it through the software. And for those who use pyrotechnics or fog machines, those things will always come on at the right moment because of the software. Even the times that a singer wants to talk to the audience can be scheduled into the software. So for touring bands, a laptop can help them perform these shows with the same quality each time.
Timing Issues are a struggle for every band. In the past, the drummer was relied upon to set the beat and everyone followed him. The problem was getting a quality drummer who could keep proper time. Today technology is often used to help the drummer get started on time and stay on time. Many drummers use a metronome or click track of some type to get songs started. Not only does this help them prevent mistakes due to a memory lapse but it also reins in the adrenaline that they feel on stage. During a live show it is easy to get pumped up too much and start a song too fast which can really make it tough on the rest of the band. Likewise, slow songs need to be on tempo and a metronome can help the drummer and the band transition from a faster song to a slower one.
Today lots of bands have a Music Director who speaks to them during the performance to remind them of upcoming lighting changes, transitions, songs, and much more. This is particularly true for contemporary worship performers and I’ll explain why in my next article.
Technological assistance is not the devil. It does not downgrade the ability of the performers to play their songs or sing their lyrics. Every single performance is just that – a performance! It comes with certain expectations of quality. Parents don’t expect the middle school band to be equal to the high school band or their favored concert performers. When those parents attend a professional concert they want to enjoy the experience and sing along to their favorite songs. They don’t want the singer to screw up the song because that detracts from their enjoyment and it reflects poorly on the band. So the “musical purist” is really focused on the wrong things. The rock concert is put on for the audience’s enjoyment, not to demonstrate how much the band members can memorize or to demonstrate how good the lighting crew is or the prowess of the pyrotechnics crew. Nobody cares about all the work that the roadies put into the setup for the performance. All they care about is the performance itself. It is entertainment. Technology improves the quality of the show. Let people enjoy it.