Based on the fact that in the US of A any so called serious musician would never get even close to an arranger...
While i. Europe its fuly acceptable.... Just to point out how different the arranger market on the other side of the big blue pool is.
Well I guess it depends upon who REALLY is a serious musician. I mean, what is the actual definition of a "serious Musician"? In the Mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S. and on the West Coast, there are lot of top, academically trained musicians using arranger keyboards nearly every day of the week and making a good living with them.
And, from what I hear from many of my friends on your side of the pond, there are a lot more OMB jobs available here in the U.S. than in most of Europe. Granted, I've opted to play the nursing home/retirement community circuit, but there are still lots of club jobs in this part of the world, too. I just prefer the higher pay scale and better working hours that I enjoy in the NH circuit. I still get calls from club owners to go to work for them, but I turn them down for the above reasons.
When I was in the Florida Keys, there were loads of fantastic guitar players trying to scratch out a couple bucks a night from the bars and restaurants. Most could really play their butt off, some could sing reasonably well, and I think they were in the "serious musician" category. But, they were not good entertainers, and didn't have the variety available at their fingertips that an arranger keyboard player enjoys. Those serious guitar players were lucky if they found one job a week, and they were paid less than $100 a night.
Cheers from a not so serious musician,
Gary
The serious musician was offcourse a cynical remark.. pointing out to the general concensus about arrangers
My personal opinion is, If you dont need to tweak your sounds real time, any of the totl arrangers will work just as good as a top of the line workstation..
If you have to play a lot of Brass, woodwind and strings (i.e. real instrument emulations).. A tyros 5 might actually do better then most of the workstations.
If you mostly play Piano, a Nord might do best, and if its mostly synth sounds then teh Kronos comes out best..
Offcourse in general all these keyboards will get the job done in a 5 man or in this case i beleive a 7 man band.
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And you might be right about a lot of OMB work being available in the US, saw a lot of live music all over the place the few times i visited it, while overhere in europe it was mostly weddings and such, but these days there is a strong competition with Deejays in the wedding scene..
Also, when i am informed correctly, most jobs pay better in teh US, most OMBīs here in europe (or 2 mans key/drums) are still more hobby and 2nd job, i dont think there are are many OMBīs here that have a full time job from it.
Tough a cousin of the wife had a steady job with his OMB as he played 5 evenings a week at the same hotel for years.. But it payed just as good as any other job in paid employement.
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