Upcoming shows

  • Wednesday, March 27th 2024 Don White
    at walnut st cafe
    lynn, Massachusetts
  • Thursday, March 28th 2024 Don White
    at zoom
    internet

    ATTEND SHOW
  • Saturday, April 6th 2024 Don White
    at cape ann cinema
    Rockport, Massachusetts

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  • Saturday, April 20th 2024 Don White
    at Parish Center for the Arts
    Westford, Massachusetts

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  • Sunday, April 28th 2024 Don White
    at Music and Friends House Concert
    Woburn, MA

Workshops, Classes and Individual Coaching

For twenty five years I have quietly taught classes, given workshops, and coached many individuals on the finer points of Performance Skills, Songwriting and Career Development. I have grown increasingly less enchanted with airplanes and rental cars of late and have subsequently decided to focus a bit more on teaching in the hope that it will allow me to travel a little less than I have had to in the past few years. If you see something here that intrigues you please feel free to contact me directly and I will be glad to provide you with more information.

Workshops, classes and coaching can be done on Zoom or in person. 

Workshop: Using Humor to Enhance Your Performance

My live performances are a blend of story, song and comedy. In this workshop/class I will teach you how to harness the power of humor – not to make you a comedian but to enrich the narrative of a story – how a taut story can increase the impact of a song – and how humor that originates from love can disarm an audience in a way that allows your serious story or song to be felt more deeply.

Workshops: Performance Skills

It is easy to think that certain great performers are just simply born with an extraordinary God-given talent for engaging an audience and that there is nothing that a mere mortal man or woman can do to acquire these skills. This is, in my humble opinion, simply not true. I have been teaching people how to command a stage and how to captivate an audience for fifteen years. Picturing yourself grabbing the attention of a group of people and holding them in the palm of your hand for the entire duration of your performance becomes a lot easier to do after we have demystified and taken the illusion of magic out of the process.

I know how to own a stage and I can teach you how to do it.

If becoming more confident and comfortable in front of people is something you would like to learn to do, reach out to Justin for more info: jus10sirois@gmail.com, or 781-952-9747

Check out some of my concert videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Lumperboy16

Career Development

I started offering this to students because it would invariably come up in conversation no matter what class I was teaching. It only makes sense that a student who was studying performance skills or songwriting would be interested in learning how to build a career through which they might showcase these talents.

I built my career to accommodate my life. Not, as is so often the case, the other way around. I was raising a family and maintaining a marriage while this career was taking shape so the typical roads to success (be on the road for months at a time, take every rotten gig that comes along etc) were not available or particularly desirable to me.

As a result I have always had to think completely out of the box. I have taken a unique and interesting road to get where I am. I have a lot of knowledge about what makes fans and what does not, what makes money and what does not, what gets air play and what does not etc, etc.

Again, everyone’s, needs, goals, time constraints and abilities are unique. The road to your ultimate career will be yours alone but I am a savvy old veteran now and I know a hell of a lot about this business.
I’m happy to share it with you.

Individual Coaching

And you would like to have me help you develop your stage presence, songwriting, or to help you focus on moving your career forward.

Reach out to Justin for more info: jus10sirois@gmail.com, or 781-952-9747

Do you have a friend who is a performer or songwriter who could use a little help? A session with Don makes a very special gift.

Add a Workshop to a Concert

I will be doing more of these in conjunction with concert performances. But I am also starting to do what I call private classes. It works like this: You put together a group of your friends who are interested in attending a class and I show up at your house to teach it. It could be in the afternoon before an evening concert or if you live in New England I could possibly do it on an off day.

I have always believed that you shouldn’t have to wait for your local venue to bring you what you want. I’ll come directly to you. Think about it.

Testimonials

“Don White is one of my musical heroes. He has an amazing ability to win audiences over through humor and then speak right to their souls with his perspective on life.

I am honored to call Don White a mentor, and I highly value his advice. He has been an incredibly supportive teacher who recognizes that not every performer is the same. I would never claim to have mastered his ability to captivate a crowd with both laughter and thoughtful reflection – but I’m working towards being the best performer I can be. Don has helped me to understand the role of a performer: the need to understand what motivates people to attend shows, how to pace a show to keep people engaged, and how as a performer I can work towards reaching out to an audience to make them want to come back.

I would highly recommend working with Don White!”

Christina Thompson
www.cmthompson.com

“Back in the late 1990s, I worked with Don for about a half dozen sessions which included viewing and critiquing videos of a couple of gigs. His approach is always kind, specific and helpful and the feedback he gave me then still helps me. Those sessions gave me specific information that I could use immediately but also helped me get focused on the most important part of being an entertainer: creating the best performance possible so I can offer an optimal experience for my audiences. Don ROCKS!”

Janet Feld,
Songwriter-Singer-Guitarist-Teacher

“Don White is truly a gifted and spontaneous master teacher of performance skills. He is gently forthright while strongly encouraging and hugely insightful in offering his performance feedback and suggestions. Every tutoring session is not only individually tailored and educational , but Don makes the learning experience very exciting and very fun. “

Cheryl Perreault