March, 28th, 2007
last updated November, 20th, 2008

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Open Mic:

Open Mic Philosophy

by Chris Sunami

1. Program Overview

   During the first and third Mondays of each month we have rehearsal weeks, with free vocal lessons as well as a chance for people to practice with our live musicians.
   
   On the second Monday, we have the Open Mic itself, where anyone can sign up to perform a brief act. At the end of the Open Mic, we have time for people to offer comments on the performances.
   
   On the fourth Monday, we have the competition week, where people have a chance to compete against each other in front of a panel of three judges. At the end, the audience votes for a winner.
   
   In months with a fifth Monday, we have an open "jam session" for anyone to come and play or sing with other like-minded musicians or vocalists.

2. Methods

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   METHOD: Zero-budget
   In general, we borrow space and equipment from the church. All instruments or pieces of equipment that belong to us in particular have been donated. We have several professional and semi-professional performers who participate with us, but they are all volunteers, with two exceptions: The coordinator of the program (myself) is a part-time employee of the church, and the guitar-teacher is paid weekly (however, the guitar lessons have now been separated from the rest of the program).
   
   MOTIVATION:
   One of the things I wanted to teach people is that their destiny is in their own hands. An expensive program that consumes a lot of resources can give people a good experience, but it’s nothing they can duplicate on their own without financial assistance.
   
   In addition, a lot of great programs have either been forced to shut down or to change their philosophy when their funding source got pulled or their funder decided to start dictating conditions.
   
   Although we actually have access to a lot of good-quality audio equipment through the church, a perfectly worthwhile version of this program could be done with no equipment at all.
   
   

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   METHOD: Setup & Cleanup
   All participants are expected to help with setting up the stage area, and also with putting away the equipment when the event is finished.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   This took some persistence, to get people in the habit of helping, some training, to teach people how to handle the equipment properly, and some faith, to allow a large number of hands on expensive equipment. However, in the end, it teaches very important lessons of self-discipline, group-responsibility, and program-ownership.
   
   

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   METHOD: Acknowledgments
   The setup crew is always acknowledged at the beginning and the end of each Open Mic or competition, and so are all other volunteers, such as the host, the vocal coach, and the live band members.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   This plays two key roles. First, it provides some encouragement and gratification to the volunteers. Second, it helps build a culture that values service to others as the way to gain status.
   
   However, the lead coordinator should NOT officially acknowledge him or herself (although he or she can, of course, accept any acknowledgments others freely offer). This plants the idea that service to the community is ultimately its own reward (not the accolades that one might receive).
   
   

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   METHOD: Persistence and Consistency
   We always do the Open Mic on Mondays, and at the same time. We’ve been holding the program each week that the public schools are in session for three straight years.
   MOTIVATION:
   Particularly when serving a population whose lives may not have a lot of stability, it is important to be persistent and consistent in order to build a pool of participants. When we first started the Open Mic, we had as few as two or three participants per week. Lately we’ve been averaging closer to ten to fifteen participants per week, up to a high of forty participants during competition weeks. Occasionally we’ve had participants show up whom we haven’t seen for months. The predictability of our schedule is what makes things like that possible.
   
   

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   METHOD: Opening Prayer
   We always start the open mic with the following brief prayer, or something close to it: “Dear Lord, please bless all the participants today, and help them have good performances, and please also please bless the audience members. Help us be a good audience and to have a good time.”
   
   MOTIVATION:
   Having the prayer sets the right atmosphere for the event. As a church, we want to ground everything we do in the relationship with God, but at the same time, this event is not intended as an avenue for preaching and evangelism. In addition, the prayer serves as a reminder of our hopes for each week’s event.
   
   

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   METHOD: Competition
   Once a month, people have a chance to compete against each other. There are no prizes awarded, but we do announce a first, second and third place winner.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   The point of the competition is to encourage people to strive to get better and to do their best. In addition it gives people something to work towards and a motivation to practice. We operate strictly without prizes, because we want people to experience excellence in performance as its own reward.
   
   

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   METHOD: Host and judges
   Each week, a different audience member is chosen to serve as the host, and on competition week, three additional audience members are chosen as judges.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   The host and judge positions have become some of the most hotly pursued roles within the open mic. Their real purpose, however, is to allow those who are not yet ready to perform to have a chance to experience a bit of the spotlight. The overall goal, as with the Open Mic as a whole, is to move participants away from being passive consumers of entertainment, and towards the ability to actively create their own experience.
   
   In addition, having a setup that reflects the popular television show “American Idol” helps people, particularly younger people, understand and relate to the open mic experience.
   
   

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   METHOD: Judging and Comments
   During competition week, each judge makes a comment after each act being entered in the competition. During open mic weeks, each audience member has a chance to offer comments at the end of the show. Comments are expected to be largely positive, and criticisms need to be constructive. Those giving comments are expected to be specific and detailed, rather than offering generic statements like “I liked it.”
   
   MOTIVATION:
   The comments serve three roles. One, they encourage performers to reflect on their own performances and to get better. Two, they allow another opportunity for non-performers to participate actively in the open mic. Three, they help encourage audience members to become more thoughtful and profound appreciators of artistic experiences.
   
   

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   METHOD: Audience training
   Before each performance, we go over the audience rules: No talking during performances, no laughing except at comedy acts, all cell-phones turned off, no getting up except between acts, and applause for every performer.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   Especially in an era where television-watching is much more common than live performance, many people have no idea what the proper expectations for a live audience are. By stressing these rules, both the audience and the performers have a more enjoyable experience.
   
   

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   METHOD: Open performance
   Our goal is always to encourage as widespread participation as possible. Over the last three years, the large majority of our participants have been vocalists, but we’ve also hosted dancers, cheerleaders, rappers, poets, skits, drum solos, instruments of all types, comedy acts, speeches and fitness competitions. We’ve also had performers as young as three years old, and performers old enough to have grandchildren. We’ve had more than a few professionals, as well as more than a few people who have literally never performed for an audience before. We’ve had people who have wandered in off the street (including some of our best performers!) and people who have driven in from the suburbs.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   Again, our overall philosophy is that everyone can be a participant in their own entertainment, and that everyone can improve their skills and talents. We want an atmosphere open enough that every single person can find some way to participate, yet challenging enough that everyone can learn and grow.
   
   

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   METHOD: Rehearsal week
   Every other week (generally) is a rehearsal week, for people to practice the song or act they will perform for the following week.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   At first, we had open mic every week, but too many people would pick a song at the last moment, and then wonder why they couldn’t remember the words or the tune. Since adding the rehearsal week, and the volunteered services of our wonderful vocal teacher, Eileen, we have seen dramatic improvements in everyone’s performances.
   
   

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   METHOD: Videos
   We now have a group of short videos showcasing some of our open mic participants.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   Since we don’t do any publicity or advertising, this is a way to reach out to the larger community. This also serves as a message to the open mic participants that they can not only shape their own experiences, they can also create something that can be shared with the world at large.
   
   

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   METHOD: Peer mentors
   Although this has yet to be implemented, it is my hope in the near future to have some of the regular participants take a larger role in administering the program and assisting with the rehearsals.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   Ultimately, we don’t want the open mic to be dependent on any one person or small group. In addition, we want participants to move into taking more responsibility for their own experience and the experience of those around them.
   

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   METHOD: Emergent Design
   This program was original designed according to my understanding of the principles of emergence. One important key to emergence is reiteration. Initially, that took the form of simply repeating the open mic each week. More recently, however, we've had more success with a more complex structive monthly cycle consisting of a week of rehearsal followed by a week of performance, another week of rehearsal, and then the big event of the month, the competition.
   Another important principle is structure, which, in social program, takes the form of values, as listed above. A final key element is feedback, which we handle through comments from audience members during open mic, and from judges during competition.
   
   MOTIVATION:
   The idea is to build from a small and simple seed towards a large complex program in an organic manner. When we first started, we averaged five attendees or less for the entire first year. More recently, however, we've had crowds as big as thirty or forty attending the competitions.