In quintessential Queen style, singer Freddie Mercury's presence is so powerful there is no doubt who is in charge or what he's communicating. Watch to see how he leads the audience, all 72,000 of them at Wembley Stadium in London. It was at this moment for me as a teenager that music started speaking to me and since that time sparked a love for music and performing. Out of all the performances by all the artists, this was the one performance that would never be topped. I remember sitting up to watch in amazement as the crowd (not a Queen concert crowd, mind you) was so in to each song, each other and most of all the moment. Oh to have been there!! Pay particular attention at 5 minutes and 23 seconds, when you can really see the entire audience clapping to Radio Ga-Ga. I still get chills watching that performance and listening to others describe how pivotal this performance was to the success of Live Aid and catapulting Queen's legacy into the stratosphere. How can one person, singing one song lead so many? What would possess people half a mile away to sing and clap along to a song? What qualities does he and others possess to inspire his audience? What and who inspires you? How do they do it? What is their message and what is the medium?
You had your time, you had the powerWatch in full screen-mode and crank up the volume. With little transition between songs 'Radio GaGa' and 'Hammer to Fall', watch and marvel at how Freddie uses a couple of syllables to charge the crowd up even more.
You've yet to have your finest hour
Radio
Here is a great news piece on Queen's rehearsal prior to Live Aid.
Queen (set list) - "Bohemian Rhapsody" (part), "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "We Will Rock You" (part), "We Are the Champions"
16 comments:
I believe that Freddie Mercury's performances allowed people to forget about who they were and were all drawn into his music. Freddie was able to grab everyone's attention during his concert by putting his love and passion into his music. He had the beat going that raised the energy level in the stadium. Everyone at the concert was singing along, clapping, and loving thier life. His transitions between his songs grabbs everyone's attention just as a teacher would do in a classroom, and then was able to move into the next song with everyone ready to sing along and listen. With all of Freddie's passion for his work, it reminds me of teaching and how i want to be when i am an educater in a school. I want to be able to grab students attention and have them love Physical Education.
Wow! I thought that was a great example of someone fully doing something that they have a passion for and that energy being highly contagious.
The viewer could easily see from Freddie Mercury's body language that he is holding absolutely nothing back while transmitting this inspirational performance.
It also gave me chills at times and got my heart rate elevated when seeing the optical illusion-like view of the large crowd in London.
I thought that using songs that the crowd could immediately identify with was an important component. For example, starting off with a part of "Bohemian Rhapsody" eased the crowd into a more upbeat and energized song of "Radio Ga Ga" and so on and so forth kind of "ramping" their way up rather than starting off energetically and then throwing in a slower song. You may lose people using the latter tactic.
You can use the same approach in teaching (scaffolding)and getting the crowd involved with hand gestures (inclusion) and repeating lyrics and "letting the crowd perform" using a command style approach.
The transitions in between songs were smooth, short (giving the crowd a moment to catch their breaths) but also kept their fully captivated attention spans...even the folks toward the back of Wembley Stadium.
The fact that Freddie Mercury and Queen were able to get everyone involved is something special. Good teachers are able to do this...some more naturally than others. I hope to practice this type of enthusiasm so students will perceive lessons as more "fun" and energizing rather than boring and a waste of time.
Again, I though this was a great example and had many parallels to teaching.
I can now see why people say that that was the greatest live gig ever. Freddie was some amazing abilities and he uses them well.His presence on stage is unbelieveable. He is confident and very excited to be there. Just as in physical education, as a teacher you have to present yourself the way Freddie did. It is remarkable how he is able to grab and keep the attention of over 70,000 people. Talk about a hook! That crowd couldn't get enough of him and were dying to see what he was going to do next. You want to have that kind of involvement and passion in your classroom. He also did a great job of transition from song to song. As a teacher, you want that transition to be fast while keeping the attention of your students. I feel the reason that performance was so successful is because of the expressions on his face and his excitement while dancing around. When people see and feel that kind of energy they want to feel the same way so there going to do what Freddie is doing. I've learned from experience that as a teacher if you don't have a smile on your face and show some excitement you are not going to get any kind of positive feedback from your students. Overall, I want to be able to rock the classroom like Freddie rocks the audience.
I found Freddie Mercury's performance to be an inspiration, and can connect to teaching methods within the classroom. As a performer Freddy was able to keep the attention of 70,000 fans, and his performance on stage gave me chills. I was able to see how energetic and enthusiastic he while performing, and how he worked the audience. Some kills that Freddy used on stage are skills that can be helpful for me to use in the classroom. As a teacher I want to keep the attention of all my students like how Freddy kept the crowd excited, and kept them wanting to hear more. Also as a performer he was very enthusiastic and loved what he was doing. As a teacher I need to me enthusiastic in what I am teaching, and love what I am doing unless my students aren’t going to enjoy it either. Also his transition from song to song was a key component in his concert. As a teacher I don’t want student’s waiting around but I want to transition them from activity to activity like Freddy did with his songs. Overall as a teacher, if I don’t rock the stage like Freddy did in a classroom setting my students aren’t going to be eager to be their and I am going to receive negative attitudes and feedback. I need to be able to keep the energy, and enthusiasm up at all times.
I have hardly listened to Queen before and I would love to have attended this concert. This concert looks insaneee and I've always heard my mom preach about some musicians who are incredible performers, a few notches above the rest, and put on unbelievable shows.
Not only is this an awesome show to enjoy, but lessons can be learned from Queen's performance. A lot of Freddie Mercury's skills and techniques can be related to teaching physical education. For starters, Freddie has such a strong passion for what he does, you can see it in every inch of his body as he performs. His passion and energy was so strong and contagious that it spread to his audience of 70,000. As a teacher I have to have the same passion so I can get the most effort out of my students and enjoy what I am doing for a living. I need my students to enjoy my teachings so I get full participation. There may be times when I am teaching things that my students might have bad first impressions about, but I have to be able to change how they feel and enjoy the lesson.
I noticed how Freddie got the audience really involved. I can see his fist pumping as a demonstration for what he wanted the audience to do. He was leading them with his fist pump and they followed, and practically everyone followed. He also used some sort of checking for understanding during his "A-O" routine. He would change how he said "A-O" each time and check to see if the audience could follow.
I also noticed how his transitions between songs were quick, enjoyable and got the audience excited/ready for the next song. That is exactly what I have to do with my transitions as a teacher.
I think the most important thing I can take from this video is how Freddie was able to get complete participation of a whole stadium. If I ever feel like I can't get my class to participate, I have to go back and watch this video because if Queen can get everyone in Wembley stadium participating, I have to be able to dig deep and find that passion within me to get my class participating!
Freddie Mercury's performance is a great example of how good planning and enthusiasm can effect an audience. I am sure that he had practiced this performance many times before he was ready to go on stage. This is similar to teaching in that teachers need to be prepared to "perform" for our students. Since Freddie had such a well planned show the entire show ran smoothly. If there were anything unplanned that happened he was prepared enough to adapt to the situation so that the audience was unaware. This is what teachers need to be able to do. Come prepared to class and then be confident enough to adapt to any unplanned situations that may arise.
Another benefit of the planning that Freddie put into his performance is that he was able to smoothly transition from one song to another. This relates to a teachers need to smoothly transition from one task to another. He was able to keep the attention of the audience and keep them interested throughout the transition. There was no time when the audience was standing around waiting for him to prepare his next song.
The most critical element of his performance is his enthusiasm. This is key because if the teacher/performer acts like they are excited about the material then the students are more likely to be interested in the material. It doesn't matter how many times a person teaches or performs. It is important to act like every time is the most important performance. I hope that I can always have a high level of enthusiasm like Freddie so that my students will love physical education as much as I do.
I thought that Freddie Mercury's performance has alot to do with teachers being able to draw attention. He has a whole stadium of people and he gets the whole crowd singing along with him and enjoying his music. His enthusiasm and passion is what teachers need to be like to grasp the attention of the class. He was able to grasp the attention of 70,000 fans...Now thats impressive.
I think the most important thing we can take from this video is his energy to be able to get his audience to be so involved. It's important for us as teachers to try different methods to get students to become more active in class.I thought his performance was great and he did an awesome job at keeping the audience's attention.
Freddy Mercury’s performance was and still is acknowledged by millions because he loves what he does. This is clearly shown through by his passion and heart poured throughout his performance. He was able to get thousands of people to sing and clap on beat to his band’s song. Most of these people had never even heard of their music before, but because of his teaching techniques he was able to get almost every one of the 70,000 people in the stadium clapping and singing along.
Freddy’s techniques that he used in his performance can be related to elements that we as physical educators can use in our classes and in our teaching. When Freddy go everyone to repeat “A-O” with him, this was a form of checking for understanding. Freddy also used teaching by invitation by dancing around and showing how much fun he was having. This influenced the thousands of people to sing and clap along.
In physical education, if we all develop our own teaching style that is as effective as Freddy’s we can help make P.E bigger and better than it has ever been.
Freddie Mercury's performance inspired everyone who was at the concert to forget about all the differences between everyone. he gave everyone the opportunity to come out of their shells in a safe involvement. Everyone was there for different reasons, but they were all there for a common cause they all loved music. Freddie was able to get the crowd involved throughout the concert and have them sing along with all that he did without telling them what to do. You could see by his presence on the stage that he was passionate in what he was doing. His stage presence could be felt throughout the entire stadium. When He moved from song to song, everything seemed to flow, he was able to go from one song to another without skipping a beat or leaving the audience waiting for him to change songs. While the band what getting ready with different instruments he was working the crowd and singing to the people getting them involved. What Freddie does on stage is very similar to what teachers do in the classroom. The way he is able to keep everyone involved and enjoying being there is what i want to be able to do when i am teaching. When I become a teacher i want all students to enjoy being in physical education as much as everyone enjoyed being at the concert.
I have to be honest, I never would have thought to compare a music performance to teaching but after watching this video I can see how much we as young teachers can learn from this. Keeping in mind that this is a crowd of mixed fans I think Freddie Mercury did an amazing job of pulling the audience into his music and keeping their attention. Some of the simplest things he does like pointing to the audience when he wants them to repeat, ends up grabbing everyone's attention and keeps them waiting for the next cue. This method would do wonders in a class room setting. Also his emotion for the songs and the amount of energy he portrays with his body language really keeps the audience on their feet and right there with him. This passion Freddie has for the music is just what a teacher needs for what they're teaching. If every teacher taught their lesson with as much passion and enthusiasm as Freddie I don't think we would ever have to worry about students not paying attention in class again. I really enjoyed watching this performance and picking out the elements Freddie uses on his crowd, even more so I'm looking forward to trying them in the class room.
Freddie Mercury is a very charismatic man that has lots of energy and it shows because that crowd feeds off of his energy. It didn't matter that they weren't fans of Queen's music, they were still excited off of his emotions and that got them all to participate in singing along and clapping. As a PE teacher I want to duplicate his energy and excitement for the content. The class as a whole will never all be excited to do any certain activity. It is my job however to try and get them to change their mind and get them excited and participating based on how I present the material and how I show my support for the material.
Freddy mercury really did a great job being enthusiastic and loving what he was doing. he was able to get to the crowd by showing how much he cared for what he was doing. he connected with the crowd as well by his movements. He went around to all sides off the stage and even pointed at some spectators. In the front row he probably made good eye contact with the crowd. he didn't leave the back out either because he was always looking in different areas and let his projection really reach everyone. The changes in tone he had during his performance kept people attention. He engages the crowd as well by allowing them to say some words so he is also connecting on a deeper level here. Its just cool to watch what this guy does and it just makes you want to watch because its just different and what he brings to teh table is just dynamic. People in this world love dynamic personalities and love to connect and when I am a teacher I hope to connect with the students so when they may not like something we are doing in class they may still be engaged because I make it fun to be in class.
I think that Freddy Mercury was not the only one that had an outstanding performance, but the rest of the Queen band also did an amazing job. Their ability to perform passionately and intensely even though they had performed this same act several times is an incredible feat. By doing this they created an environment and the crowd responded to the music just as passionately as if they were playing it themselves.
In an interview that they gave they stated that they wanted to go out there and play and to give it their best shot. They also said that they didn't want to just perform the "regular old thing." By saying this they are showing that they are not only are they doing this just as a job, but they are doing it because it is something that they are passionate about. They want to play because it is something that they love. It is something that they want to share with their audiences, and somehow get the audience to love what they are doing just as much as they themselves do. Knowing that their main goal was to just go out there and play, I now see that they did not just create music. With the music that they made they created an emotion. Though the crowd may not have liked their music they were moved by what was happening on the stage.
This isn't the only place that this type of passion can be translated from one person to another. When I start teaching I hope that I am able to transfer the passion that I have about physical education to the student's that I am working with. Through that I hope that they can enjoy participating in activity as much as I do. I hope that I am able to transition from one stage in my lesson to the next as well as he did when they switched from song to song on the stage so that I do not lose my students' interest, just as they didn't lose their audience's interest.
I can see how this performance boosted Queen into the spotlight. Freddy Mercury does a great job of entertaining the crowd and you can tell he is very passionate about what he is doing. I think this performance is so good because of the energy that Mercury exudes; it draws the audience into the performance and makes them excited to listen. I want to be able to achieve this as a P.E. teacher. I hope to get my students as excited about P.E. as Freddy Mercury got his audience excited about Radio Ga Ga.
Some other things that I noticed in Mercury's performance besides him being passionate:
1) His transitions between songs were smooth and kept interest level high.
2) His ability to demonstrate clapping movements and have the whole audience perform it.
3) He even gave a little thumbs-up feedback when the audience was clapping with him.
In Freddie Mercury's performance he uses many different teaching styles that we are learning today in out teaching education. Most singers always try to get their audience involved, they always see if they know the words to what they are singing. In teaching we call this Checking for Understanding, to see if the students are understanding what is being taught to them. Freddie is also a model to people to lose that inhibition, breaking barriers and show people that they do not have to be shy and really get crazy and positive things will come from them. Teachers use this in their teaching in that they try to act exciting, goofy to get the students involved. Getting involved is a main thing in Physical Education, also something both teachers use and Freddie Mercury uses is just to have fun. Having fun is the whole point of what we are trying to do.
I go to many outdoor concerts like the one we have recently watched from Queen. Countless bands have tried to do what Freddy Mercury and Queen did that day in that huge venue in front of all those people. Usually at a show like that not every person is there to see one band or may even not like some of the bands playing at all. However something about Freddy Mercury's presence took over that entire crowd. When watching that footage I seriously thought that the clip where you see the back of Freddy's head and basically the entire crowd around him was fake. The people were so dialed in on him and it showed in how he could get the audience to respond without ever saying anything. When he would do the A-O call back, no matter how hard he made the call back that whole crowd was going to do their best to respond properly. The transition time between songs was minimal and even when there was time Freddy filled it with entertainment and allowed the crowd to get involved in the show. Freddy also wasn't afraid to get onto the crowds level, though he was on stage, Freddy went out to the edge of the stage on numerous occasions so the crowd could engage with him and feel like a part of the show. Freddy demonstrated many teaching techniques in his set and truly captured his audience and got what he wanted out of them.
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