One of the things that I realized early on in my entertainment career was that my playing ability was not that of a trained musician, and that my vocal ability would have to carry the load. Consequently, when I discovered arranger keyboards and moved away from performing with my 12 string guitar, I realized that the less was better when it came to style files and I rarely performed a song with a variation higher than "B" and rarely "C" or "D". This allowed me to bring my vocals to the forefront and place my learning emphasis on my voice. However, the arranger keyboard not only allowed me to do this, but additionally, perform using a variety of right hand instruments that would not have been available to me as a guitar player that also sang. The arranger keyboard opened a whole, new world of entertainer opportunities for me.

Now, as an entertainer, I quickly realized that no one was would be ringing my phone off the hook to hire me unless I looked at the business aspects of being an entertainer. In order to be successful, and make enough to cover my expenses and support my family, I would have to market myself, just like any other product. Some folks on this forum thought that word of mouth would be all that was necessary in order to get your name out there - NOT! It just doesn't work that way.

Like any successful business I first put together an advertising package. I used a presentation folder, one that allowed me to insert a photo on the cover, and inside, a cover letter containing testimonials from previous clients, a CD with a dozen songs that I recorded, additional photos, song list, and a list of popular holiday playing opportunities for special parties.

The cost of the package was about $2, and at the time, about $1 to mail it out to perspective clients. Just 7 days after mailing the package, I contacted the perspective client on the telephone, asked if they received the package and if they had a chance to listen to the CD. Most of the time, the answer was yes to both.

I then went about becoming a salesman and asked to meet with them in person, during which time I gave them a high quality pen and appointment wall calendar that I purchased from National Pen Corporation. I also had my copy of the same calendar with all of the booked dates, and showed them the openings that were still available. Most loved the pens and calendars, and more often than not, we would sit down and book them for the entire year.

After booking, I would then sit down and send them each a contract that listed all the dates they booked, have them sign a copy and return it to me in an SASE and retain a copy for their records. At this point, I had to become a booking agent.

The very first year of operating my entertainment business, I booked just over 220, one-hour jobs at $100 per hour. The following year, using the same techniques, I booked more than 450 jobs and raised my price to $125 per hour. Now, you are essentially a book keeper, must keep a detailed ledger of income and expenses, which would be later used to file your income taxes.

With that "Travlin' Easy" wall calendar hanging right in front of your customers every day, when a special party opportunity came up, I was usually the very first person they called. These included birthday parties, corporate parties, political fund raisers, and special holiday events. These events were often longer than 1-hour, and often ran 4 to 5 hours, during which time, I took a 5 minute break every hour. So, $500 for a 4-hour party made for a pretty profitable day.

For me, being an onstage entertainer, was the best job I ever had in my life. Not only was I making a good living, but I was able to establish a couple retirement accounts, buy a sailboat big enough to live on, and still make time for the family and having fun sailing Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic waters of the East Coast.

Like all good things, this eventually came to an end when my health was shot to Hell. My back gave out, my lungs gave out, and a few body parts were repaired and some, removed. Unfortunately, after more than 30 years on stage, at age 76 I was forced to retire. Fortunately, Social Security, in combination with my retirement accounts, allowed me to do this. The doctors said that given the lung disease I have, pulmonary fibrosis, I would probably make it for another 2 years, but doubted that I would see my 80th birthday. Well, if I make it to next October, I will be 82, and in late September Carol and I will celebrate 60 years of marriage. (Keeping my fingers crossed for both dates.)

So, this is my perspective on arranger keyboards, but strictly as an entertainer - not a professional musician. An old friend of mind, who was Peabody Trained as a pianist, Jerry Burns, once said to me "Musicians are a dime a dozen out there, and most never make a decent living. Good entertainers are a rare commodity, and most make enough to retire on, but never seem to get around retiring until they drop dead on stage."

Sorry about the rant,

Gary