We’re kind of used to musicians being referred to as “artists” in a live situation. The truth is that while a musician might be an artist in the songwriting stage of the musical process, they aren’t really creating when they perform.

The ability to perform is a more a skill than an art; much like the skill of playing an instrument. If you’re a musician you should know the difference between how you play and what you play. See Jimi Hendrix if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

When you perform, you are the show. Everything that you do while on stage is part of the show. Your songs are really the content of a show. If you played only covers, you would still be performing, not creating.

Performances are typically rehearsed, staged and executed. This is an important distinction because there is a different mindset that needs to be adopted when preparing your performance. Playing a song in a studio and playing on a stage are two different monsters entirely.

Rehearsal is, in a sense, training for what you’ll encounter on a stage. Out there you’ll have to play your song perfectly with people watching you, screaming at you, heckling you and, in many ways, distracting you. You’ll have to deal with adrenaline, anxiety and any physical issues that may arise. There’s also technical issues that can range from breaking a string to total equipment failure that could come up.

If that wasn’t enough, in a band situation, you’ll need to worry about all of the above happening to each member of the band, which multiplies the number of things that can go wrong.

Learning to deal with these difficulties in a performance situation without steering the show off course is a skill. Handling problems on the fly or having a plan in place to deal with them when they come up (and they always come up) will help make you a better performer and thus make for better performances.

Beyond problems, you also have to make your performances good. You need to play your songs well and be entertaining. Good songs won’t make for good performances if you don’t develop a strong stage presence, and a good stage presence needs to be developed through experience.

Just remember that after the song is written, you need to switch to performer mode to make it work live.