How does closing your eyes help you sing better?

[inception]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 2:44pm

Last night the local PBS station played Josh Groban's lastest special recorded at Radoo City Music Hall. I noticed that he had to keep closing his eyes when he wanted to hit certain notes.

I'm not a singer nor do I have much knowledge about actual music performance skills. 

I wonder if anyone who is more knowledgeable could explain how doing that - closing your eyes - helps with your vocal technique?

Updated On: 11/26/22 at 02:44 PM

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 2:51pm

Singing, especially in front of a huge audience, is incredibly physically and mentally engaging. He may be seeing the notes or lyrics in his head, he may be concentrating on his technique, he may be emoting. It could be any number of things. It’s an incredibly vulnerable position to be in.

[musikman]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 3:31pm

From a technical standpoint, it does absolutely nothing.  I even had a few voice teachers often scold me for doing it sometimes as it would inadvertently keep the vocal mechanism and placement much more closed instead of opened up, which would prevent your breath from flowing freely.  
 

A lot of performers do it as a sort of emotional or acting trick.  When you perform, you can  become completely engrossed in what you’re doing or singing, and it’ll just happen naturally or by habit and muscle memory.  Sometimes it’s just a way to show everyone that you’re *A C T I N G.* When used sparingly or at specific moments, it can be very effective.  Otherwise, it can make the audience feel closed off emotionally from the performer.  

Updated On: 11/26/22 at 03:31 PM

[bwaylvsong1]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 3:57pm

Yes, it’s probably just an old habit that a voice teacher never drilled out of him.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 5:07pm

musikman said: "Sometimes it’s just a way to show everyone that you’re *A C T I N G.* When used sparingly or at specific moments, it can be very effective. Otherwise, it can make the audience feel closed off emotionally from the performer. "

I don’t think it’s ever effective. The eyes are the window to the soul. If a performer closes their eyes they’ve lost me.

[Penna2]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 5:18pm

bwaylvsong1 said: "Yes, it’s probably just an old habit that a voice teacher never drilled out of him."

Agree. My voice teachers said you're singing to an audience not to yourself.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 5:32pm

I disagree that it’s an acting trick. It’s like..the opposite of what you want from an actor. I think it’s usually someone concentrating on their technique or going very inward emotionally instead of opening up and sharing with an audience. It makes sense that some singer resort to it sometimes, but people who do it all the time would really benefit from kicking them habit. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/26/22 at 7:29pm

I'm a visual learner and just a visual thinker in most things I do, so when I'm singing a particularly high note/difficult note, I sort of visually "place" it in my mind. So it could be something like that. It could be that it's a difficult note and closing his eyes takes some pressure off? Who knows. You do what you gotta do! 

[Dan6]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 12:42pm

Ben Platt is the worst at this, and I have a hard time watching him because of it. I find it tremendously distancing and difficult to connect with any emotion of his performance.  Let the audience in. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 12:57pm

Closing your eyes while you sing is up there with people who shake their head while holding a sustained note/riffing. Drives me absolutely insane because they’re just performer ticks.

You know what? Throw “jutting both arms out to the side” in there too, for good measure.

[Ke3]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 2:24pm

For most people it's just a reflex. Caught up in the moment. The "emotional manipulation" thing is a stretch. Although I do think they should work on it. Lea Michele is notorious for it. Speaking of Lea, people who ALWAYS cry when they sing drive me up a wall. I am a crier too, but when half of your numbers are deeply emotional ballads you have to get it under control. You can't possibly be that moved every night.

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 2:34pm

Vocal teachers traditionally teach the opposite, especially for high notes: open eyes and raise eyebrows. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 2:44pm

That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment.

[Lola Getz2]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 4:07pm

I don't know, but closing  MY eyes while LISTENING sometimes makes the singer sound better. (speaking of Platt and Groban?) You don't have to be distracted by the funny faces that way.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 4:24pm

Dollypop said: "That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment."

LOL @ That Streisand Woman!  Love you Dollypop! 

[Penna2]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 6:09pm

Dollypop said: "That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment."

She also does that business with contorting her mouth/jaw that drives me crazy. 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 6:43pm

Penna2 said: "Dollypop said: "That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment."

She also does that business with contorting her mouth/jaw that drives me crazy."

 

She shpuld be banned from performing anywhere ever sgain.

 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 6:49pm

I worship Barbra. Her live album that was recently released after being recorded in the 60s is absolutely fantastic.

[Penna2]

Posted: 11/27/22 at 7:12pm

Dollypop said: "Penna2 said: "Dollypop said: "That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment."

She also does that business with contorting her mouth/jaw that drives me crazy.

She shpuld be banned from performing anywhere ever sgain.

Who wants to tell her?

"

 

[Dollypop]

Posted: 11/28/22 at 12:19am

Penna2 said: "Dollypop said: "Penna2 said: "Dollypop said: "That Streisand Woman frequently clises her eyes when she sings.

No further comment."

She also does that business with contorting her mouth/jaw that drives me crazy.

She shpuld be banned from performing anywhere ever sgain.

Who wants to tell her?

 

I know her cousin who will gladly give me her phone number.

 

I'll do it.

"

"

 

[Rainah]

Posted: 11/28/22 at 12:14pm

Concentration, a bit of added drama/showmanship (it can look very good/dramatic to do it for a moment), and in less experienced performers, a way to take you out of your head a bit. I was taught a few tricks to basically get me to lose my focus slightly, because I was psyching myself out of being able to hit a note. I wouldn't expect that's the case with Josh Groban, who knows what he's doing, but if you see it in community theatre it may be something like that. 

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/28/22 at 1:55pm

It’s a common tic, but it’s also an intentionally imported style affectation. In both black gospel music and British Isles traditional and folk music, eyes are often closed at moments during performances, as a certain amount of communion with the divine or with the past was baked into the performance style. 

[bk]

Posted: 11/29/22 at 1:45am

I find the closing of eyes while singing completely selfish and ridiculous. When I see people performing in cabaret or concerts who do it, I just tune out. The eyes are everything - in acting, in singing, in anything. When you close them to be into yourself you exclude the audience.