July 18, 2007 - Riley Park: Music in the Park
Despite being a Calgary resident for roughly 10 years, I don’t seem to recall ever visiting Riley Park prior to the Music in the Park event on July 15. It was an honor to be asked to perform at this outdoor event and share the stage with a lot of great talent.
As I look back on the event, one of the things that occurred to me about being an unaccompanied solo artist is that it has its ups and downs when it comes to performing in a larger venue, and therefore a larger audience. Of course, some of you know I've spent the last two years developing my chops on acoustic guitar and improving my voice, but an intimate coffee house setting is completely different from a large outdoor stage. You try to move around, make your set as interesting as possible, but for the most part you're limited to the general vicinity of a microphone if you're singing. There are those of us that are blessed with incredible charisma, and there are those that are blessed with incredible musical talent. But there are very few people that possess both.
Bottom line, there are many factors that can affect a live performance. Among other things, the overwhelming heat was one of the factors the musicians had to contend with at Riley Park. Unless you're a singer you may not realize the impact something as simple as temperature can have on your voice. I sympathize with anyone that struggled with their voice on stage.
Of course, I was one of those musicians whose set didn't go exactly as I had hoped. But as I said earlier, it was an honor to be there and to be performing, and I had a lot of fun. It just got me thinking about a lot of things.
In any case, I hope that it will be a yearly event and that each year it will grow in size. I want to thank all of you that were in attendance - for your support - the staff from The House, and the musicians who volunteered their time. Thanks again.
