re:bad gig

(no name) ((no email))
16 Oct 96 10:42:11 EDT

Yep, I'd be willing to bet we've all had bad gigs. The story today reminds me
of several gigs where I've been invited to play "background" music for a party,
or a dinner, or a reception. After a couple of these, you learn that you are
truly background - that at any gathering of this type, what people want to do
most is talk to each other. So what I've taken to doing at these kind of gigs
is not really working very hard on anything special, just brushing off my list
of songs and using the entire gig as a practise session. I don't go back over
pieces, or stop in the middle of them, like I would do in a real practise
session, but I play through everything I know but don't play often, and it is
valuable repertoire experience. Nothing like getting paid to play over your
old stuff!

At some of the gigs I've done in this vein, I'm convinced I could play
"Greensleeves" over and over and over and no one would even notice. What they
mostly want is the look of someone with a harp in a corner, and an occasional
tinkly sound in the background. The more wine and champagne at the do, the
more true this is. Seriously! You'll get the hang of recognizing these kinds
of gigs over time. Consider them money for nothing - money for practise.

If that sounds cynical, I guess it might be, a little bit. But it leaves me
free to work hard on the performances that count, where people will really
listen, and leaves me stress-free for everything else.

Debra Knodel

----- Previous Message ----------------------------------------------------

To: HARP @ mit.edu @ UGATE
cc:
From: eubanks @ en.com (Steven and Jane Eubanks) @ UGATE
Date: Wednesday October 16, 1996 01:17 PM
Subject: re:bad gig
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I once asked an aquaintence of mine who is a professional singer if she had
bad gigs and she just rolled her eyes and shuddered. Maybe we all need to
contribute our bad gigs as stories (or funny gigs) and write a book
called...oh... I don't know..."Gigs from Hell or do you really want to do
this?" I bet it would sell to all of the musicians in the world. (better
make it inexpensive then so we can all afford it.) jane

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