Have you ever told a joke you thought was absolutely hysterical, just to have it fall completely flat? Or been misunderstood – people think you’re serious when you’re really not? Maybe a favorite band story is hit-or-miss depending on the night.

I think we’ve all been there – in real life and on stage. It can be a real downer if you let it get to you.

During Tom’s show flow Graph, there are times for no talking (intro moments for example), times for short song introductions, and times for longer stories.

When we rehearse talking to the audience, we should be working these things out. The right intro can really set up the next song/moment perfectly.

Also, some songs just need to be introduced. When everything is flying at the audience “like goulash,” they need some backstory to get onboard. As much as we’d like to believe the audience is feeling what we feel and “getting” what we’re saying, it often doesn’t happen that way.

Like many of you, I’m a songwriter. I’ve also been blessed with a somewhat unique sense of humor.   My outlook comes through in my writing and stage show. But humor can be dangerous ground – it is easily misunderstood. Language, culture, backgrounds, poor sound quality, distractions – all kinds of things can complicate communication. That’s why I spend a lot of time working on my song intros for my originals, and getting my listeners on the same page. My work with Tom and his team have really helped with that.

But a couple of months ago I got burned by an assumption I didn’t even realize I was making….