From 2:54-3:03 in this video (“Stone in Love” Journey@PPL Center Allentown, PA 4/16/16) of Journey’s song intro, let’s contrast the clap-along-with-me “windmill clap” of keyboardist Travis Thibodaux and singer Arnel Pineda.

On the backline, Travis steps into the light and begins clapping over his head. Makes sense, right? Doesn’t that hopeful, majestic set of chord changes make you want to clap along, too?

Then something curious happens: Instead of staying in (or going into) a full-body “clap along with me” arena windmill clap, he buckles down, holding his right hand in one place and moving his left hand 1/2 of the distance he could be moving it. He also folds his lips in together and looks down at the ground.

It feels like Travis was moved by the music and wanted to express that, but moderated his output when the audience didn’t join right in, or when he somehow felt conflicted about letting it all out hang out, perhaps toning down his physical movements to better match those of his fossilized band mates.

It’s part of my core philosophy that a performance artist must go for broke if he wants maximize his performance and its connection with his audience. By “go for broke” I mean act in a manner completely consistent with your emotions and/or performance plan, at the risk of embarrassment or inducing cringe. I submit this as example of how poorly it comes across if you fail to do so.

Travis seems to be acting in an outcome-dependent manner, meaning he’s letting the environment shape his behavior. Instead, as an artist and a man he should stand up proudly and do his thing, independent of the outcome. Another core philosophy: Outcome independent behavior is almost universally more attractive than outcome dependent behavior.

And then, as if an expert has been waiting in the wings, frontman Arnel comes into frame and shows us how to do the windmill clap correctly. Full arm extension, with each arm movement getting larger. You can imagine that a properly executed windmill clap will feel like jumping jacks, with your hands feeling like weights pulling away from you from the centrifugal force.

Arnel couples his claps with a friendly, inviting facial expression that combines raised eyebrows, wide eyes and mouth opened in a kind of surprise. We’ll have to come up with an elegant term for this expression, because we see it often on the rock and roll stage.

Travis appears to be an accomplished musician and performer, and I’m not trying to disrespect him. It’s just that the contrast between his version of the windmill clap and Arnel’s wonderfully underscores the right way to do the windmill clap.

Principles of best practices:

• Exaggerated physical movements
• Performer earnestness, happiness, and physical activity
• Phoning it in is probably worse than not doing it at all

Let’s leave open the following question: Is it better to give full physical expression to your joy on stage, or to throttle it back to match the lower level of output of your anemic band mates?

At the beginning of this video, Steve Perry introduces Journey’s live performance of “Stone in Love” in Houston in 1981. Watch the first 60 seconds. Doesn’t that feel great? Let’s analyze some of the behaviors we see that we can use as inspiration in our attempts at creating similar emotional effects of our own.

Let’s start by setting aside two variables: Steve Perry’s spectacular voice, and the great song. All other things being equal, the better your singer and the better your song, the better your performance. Ah, but then all other things are never equal, are they? And anyway, this analysis is about the song intro, so the quality of the singing and the song are essentially irrelevant.

First, Neal Schon plays a series of chords on the guitar that evoke the coming song, and if you know the song from the album, you probably can guess what’s coming. The chords he plays dance around the root note of the song, creating the tension of an unresolved chord progression. The slow pitch rise after the tremolo dive creates similar tension. Neal ends on a chord that begs to be resolved into the root note of the forthcoming song.

Steve runs over from the other side of the stage, showing the extra energy of youth.  He stands close to Neal, showing that his band is a gang united. He seems happy, earnest, and totally in the moment with the audience and his band mate.

And then the masterwork: Steve tells a 15-second story, and it’s a complete narrative gem. We have a narrator (Steve) giving us a first-person, eye-witness account of a protagonist (Steve), conflict (Neal versus Neal being down in the dumps), plot tension (Neal was down in the dumps, now he’s not, why could that be?), a happy ending (Neal found love), and the final payoff, the reason for the happy ending, Neal is stoned in love, the title of the song!

Like the song to follow, the story is obviously rehearsed, but like a well-rehearsed song, it doesn’t feel stilted or false when delivered so well. Steve seems so excited to tell this story to his audience, I just want to hear it, whether or not it’s true, or rehearsed, or whatever! As an audience member, I’m ready to suspend any and all disbelief for someone who is so excited and earnest.

Steve also deploys some storyteller performance devices. He starts by saying “listen, now listen” and using a pointed finger/come-hither hand motion to let the listener know a story is coming and to pique the listener’s interest. To say “listen, now listen” rather than just “listen” certainly seems to add urgency to the story.

Steve points to Neal when he introduces Neal as the story’s protagonist. He turns his attention from one side of the crowd to the other at a key point of the plot (“what’s your secret?”), which punctuates this important moment in the story. Then he bends forward, outstretches his hand flat and lowers his voice, all of which make us feel like he’s about to make us part of the select group that knows Neal’s secret to happiness. Then Steve lets us in on the secret! (“I found me a lady”).

Then we get the icing on the cake, Steve’s explanation for this happy ending (“I am stoned in love!”) delivered by Steve with a shout within kissing distance of his fellow gang member. Heterosexual men don’t get this close unless they are part of a close-knit group, the kind of gang that will protect you if you’re a woman, and the kind of gang you want to join if you’re a man, because you know adventure and status will definitely be included if you get to join. Austin Powers might say “women want them, and men want to be them.”

Neal then plays the opening chords of the song, throwing his arm up in the air between each chord, increasing his perceived height, and peacocking his youth and confidence with superfluous movements that say important things like “look at me!” and “see all the excess energy I have!” and perhaps most importantly “I am used to being the center of attention, and the attendant pressures are not a problem for me. Haters suck it!”

The broad lesson is that effective live song introductions can be broken down into effective behaviors, and live song introductions can benefit from expert craft in the same way that songs can. The things you say and the narratives and feelings expressed when you speak to an audience between or during songs are key elements in the sacred experience you are trying to create for your audience and your band mates. If this matters to you, you should craft them as seriously as you would the lyrics of your songs or the music itself. You’re breaking the fourth wall of the performance, but it’s still a performance. You may be ad-libbing the specific words, but you almost certainly are not ad-libbing the objectives and structure of that part of the show.

The principles in play in this example are

• chord and pitch changes that create tension, which will be released by the start of the song
• performer earnestness, happiness, and physical activity
• band members who physically express joy in being around each other
• band as a gang
• crafted song introductions with complete narratives including characters, conflict, plot and resolution.

Ape or adapt these principles to your own performance!