Does Eye Contact Make You a Better Performer?

Most singers know the importance of drawing their audience in and helping them relate to their performance. For most people in western culture, direct eye contact indicates attention, interest, and connection. When two people are together at a restaurant, eye contact is often the first indicator as to whether they are actively engaged in conversation or not. Hence, learning how to use eye contact in a performance is a powerful tool.


How to Engage Audience Members With Eye Contact: Sometimes when I talk to my significant other, he is half listening while doing something else. If I can get him to look at me, then I know he is giving me his full attention and hearing what I say. The same is true with an audience; eye contact requires their full attention, too. When you sing to a fidgety audience member, for instance, note that when you focus on them they suddenly sit still and concentrate. Looking at people also tells them they are getting your full attention, rather than allowing any part of yourself to focus on your own nerves. It gives you an air of confidence, while putting listeners at ease, because they know you are comfortable.

Does Direct Eye Contact Make People Uncomfortable? People will start to squirm if you look at them too long. Even if you are not staring directly into someone’s eyes, appearing to will place an undo amount of attention on that person. It might distract other listeners, who will turn to see what you are looking at.

Instead, be sure to switch your focus occasionally. Just be careful, audience members will find it just as diverting if you constantly move your eyes, never resting your gaze on anyone or thing in particular. If you are worried about how often you change your focus, practice in a mirror and for small audiences made up of friends before your first big performance. Practicing where you will perform is especially helpful. With some experience under your belt, you will begin to sense when an audience member wants attention and when they do not, and you can react accordingly.

Looking at People’s Eyebrows: Sometimes the expressions on audience members’ faces can make a beginning singer nervous, making it impossible to look into people’s eyes without discomfort. Remember most audience members like to relax and sit back during a performance. Many do not actually want to show their emotions, but use the time to take a short vacation from them. Their faces may not often reflect how little or much they enjoy your musical offering. If you are still nervous even with that knowledge, you may mimic looking into people’s eyes by focusing on their eyebrows. From the audience, it looks like you are making eye contact, even though you are not.

Dangers of Looking Down: They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, and truly the eyes seem to portray a significant amount of emotion. For some, it is natural to try and hide negative emotions, so when sad or depressed that person looks down. Unfortunately, your goal changes in a performance. Rather than hiding emotions, you want to exude them! Looking down can block the audience from seeing and feeling your emotions. It does take some practice to portray an emotion honestly when your natural instinct is to look down, but with practice you can while still looking outward and allowing people to see your face.