Hi

Interesting thread.

Re – Jim's point about recording your own voice and listening to it – Many years ago a very good friend of mine who I admired and respected advised me to rehearse numbers in front of a mirror while recording the songs. I didn't have any film or video recording kit at that time.

Jim is right – what I heard was not what I thought I sounded like. And same with the appearance….at first I couldn't believe that it was me performing. I found this extremely useful in helping me improve and also vitally gave me much more confidence when performing in front of an audience.

With regard to giving advice to others … I only give advice if somebody asks for it. And I hope that advice has always been seen to be constructive because IMHO that is the whole point of the exercise.
Over the years I have been given much advice at performances – most of which went in one ear and out of the other…usually this advice was offered by people who were totally unqualified or incapable of doing so.
Cheers

MikeL2