Well I made it thru my first NH gig with flying colors, but not with the music I expected. I got there early and began setting up. Just as I was finishing, a young volunteer came up to me and told me that I was going to play “upstairs” instead of in the main room. Seems they were doing Bingo downstairs. So I repacked the equipment and took the elevator up and re-set my stuff. As time approached, the dining area got pretty crowded, about 60 people.

I started with Spanish Eyes, but made a critical mistake. I decided to add vocals, which I’ve never done. I limped thru it and started looking at my list for another song I could use my styles with. I froze. So I quickly went to the SMF list and found Put Your Head on My Shoulder. Played and sang it strongly, so now I was more comfortable. I had about 50% of my songlist as SMF and the other half as styles. As I ran down the list my mind went style-blank.

Luckily, I have a ton of SMF at my disposal, so I started looking for my SMF songs. I played: Can’t Help Falling In Love, Runaround Sue, Here We Go Again, 3x a Lady, Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain (an almost disaster), My Girl, Under the Boardwalk, Sweet Caroline, You Were Always on My Mind, Margaritaville, My Girl, Before You Accuse Me, Amazing Grace, Awesome God and Happy Trails. I’m sure there were more, but offhand I don’t remember them – and I didn’t play them in the order I listed them.

I think I mixed tempos very well and the crowd seemed to recognize and certainly enjoyed the music, especially the up tempo stuff. I only played two instrumentals and two songs with styles. I kind of choked. I had the songs prepared, but I didn’t do a good enough job expressing style names and tempos. Because I was trying to keep the music flowing, I felt uncomfortable trying to find styles and thinking of songs. That will improve next time.

What I didn’t play from my worksheet were: 5ft Two, Alley Cat, Sentimental Journey, My Way, Satin Doll, Great Balls of Fire, The Nearness of You, My Happiness, Brown Eyed Girl, It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere, YMCA and God Bless America.

Half way thru the hour a couple residents shouted to me – when are you coming back? That was a good sign. I got lots of applause and many people were singing along. Once I decided to stick with the SMF, the job got much simpler. I tried to talk with the crowd, but I think I was a little stiff – first time jitters. I was actually nervous, but this was fun. The PT on duty said she would give the AD a shining report and even speak to the AD at the facility next door about me. So, hopefully I’ll be back. My son came out and took some pics and video. Once I have the chance to look at it and scream, I’ll try to add some of it to my demo disks. This next week will be busy, but once I return I will peddle myself to more local facilities.

I used my G70 with two CM-30 monitor cubes. I was pleased with the overall sound; the room was crowded but the sound filled the room comfortably. Bass response was pretty decent, in fact I had to up the treble a little more than I expected to get the right balance. I didn’t use any of my harmonizer. I tried it early on, but didn’t get a good response from it IMO, so I left it off.

I really enjoyed myself. I couldn't believe how nervous I got playing this one-hour gig. The apprehension of what to play and if the audience would appreciate & respond really did a job on me. I'm open to more song suggestions; I know I need to become more familiar and knowledgeable of my keyboard. I'm also aware of the weight and size issue with the G70. I may start looking for a S900 or a PA500 if things continue positively. Thanks for reading.

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Cass P Online
Lovin' my G70 and XK-1