Arts & Entertainment, Business, Music

Connecting With Your Audience

Lesson time 04:42 min

In this lesson, Ringo lays out his philosophy of performing, of loving and appreciating the audience and gathering energy from them. He also talks about stage fright, which he still deals with, and advises you on how to ground yourself..

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Topics include: Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band · Dealing With Nerves

Ringo Starr

Teaches Drumming & Creative Collaboration

Legendary drummer Ringo Starr walks you through his approach to creative collaboration, playing with heart, and embracing your musical journey.

Preview

[MUSIC PLAYING] - I love playing live. I mean, that's what it's all about for me, you know. It's-- that's the gig. If you want to connect with an audience, you've got to love them. You've got to love what you do, and you've got to love them because that's why you're there, because they've come out to see you. Bars, pubs, clubs, weddings, anywhere-- there's a magic moment when the band and the audience are just on. And that's a lot of peace and love. You know, it's-- and so when I tour now, you know, I love the audience. They love me and we have certain gigs where it's just heart filling. The band is exactly right. We're all yes, brother. And the audience are, yeah! You know, it's like-- it's that yeah, yeah time. Yeah. What you have to be in here also is you have to be able to play, and you have to have hits, because we are the hit band. From the first band in 1989, Joe Walsh, Billy Preston, Nils, all the people in that band, I wanted to get this together. So I just opened the phone book in those days, and got Joe, called Joe. He said, (MIMICS JOE WALSH) Yeah, sure. But I was a bit insecure, yeah. So I had Levon Helm, great drummer/singer. And I thought, I want someone to nudge about on the stage when I'm down because I'd never done this from the stage. And I got Clarence Clemons. I stole him from "The Boss." And we had a lot of good times. And everybody knew they gave everything. That's what we did. It was a great band, but I always blamed the fact that I had Levon, me, and Jim, three drummers because of my insecurity of the first time we did it. Yeah. I mean, it just reminds me, we played Colorado once with the All Starrs, and the monitors went out. And every man in the band to a man said, oh, we can't go on. And I said, come on, because I come from not-- you know, even the Beatles, we didn't have monitors and huge speakers. We had the house PA at Shea Stadium. And we did the gig, Howard Jones on keyboard. We have to give him a name. And we did the gig. And to a man, everyone said, oh man, that was great. You know, you go on. I come from that world. There's nothing that won't let me go on. You know, believe it or not-- and I don't know why you wouldn't-- I still get nervous before I go on stage. I'm fine in the dressing room. I'm fine 10 steps to the stage. Five steps to the stage, it's like a madness. I'm like, oh god, it's been a while. And then everyone around me gets me on that damn stage. No, I have a minute-- not even a minute, seconds, and I just have to suck it up and run out. And I touch that mic, and everything is good. You'd think by now, you know, I'd get over that. But I-- it's part of me. An hour, an hour and a half before the show, I have a baked potato, and I have steamed veg, and I have a glass of veg juice. And in the baked potato, I put olive oil now and not butter, and Bragg's aminos, and brewer's yeast. I have that because it holds me dow...

About the Instructor

Music legend Ringo Starr helped create rock ’n’ roll drumming as we know it today. Now the 9-time Grammy Award winner wants to inspire new and seasoned drummers alike. Through demonstrations behind the kit and personal stories from his time in The Beatles, Ringo shares his principles for creative collaboration, finding your unique playing style, and embracing your musical journey with joy.

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Ringo Starr

Legendary drummer Ringo Starr walks you through his approach to creative collaboration, playing with heart, and embracing your musical journey.

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