Donny....I don't know if you were serious with your reply/replies or it's Chas type satire?

Either way this "going South" really irks me. I think a lot and I put my thoughts to paper. I'm a person who finds other people interesting, fascinating......I like to hear how others think about things. Each person is like reading a new book. That's why it really irks me when the subject matter goes off course. I mean, you take the time to write a thought out, you get two replies "on course" and then it turns into Saturday Night Live.

I don't write for myself. I write to give fodder to the group to think about instead of the keyboard A vs keyboard B vs keyboard C program. And I only type at 5 WPM!

But the group is what it is. A very funny "social saloon." I DO enjoy that aspect of it!

Mark

I agree completely with theses comments. I worked one facility where millionaires lived. They didn't want to hire me that often because the residents were just as happy to hear their grandchildren's choir or band group from one of the local high schools. In fact, after a resident had their grandchildren come the others wanted to do the same. All for free of course. Times change and the market changes and that has nothing to do with the quality of the performance and in fact the AD complimented me as did several residents. They just preferred the grandkids. I should add that they would hire me once a year, but it wasn't worth it to me.

Yours, on the other hand, is crystal clear .

chas

Chas........I knew you were a class act.....a man who recognizes quality when he sees it.

To Mark79100 ...

re: going into the Lecture circuit. Some years ago, I found out that many of the senior places where I played, also had something they called "Enrichment Seminars". These were usually just talks/lectures. I presented them with the idea that if there was interest, I could do an Enrichment Seminar on some aspect of music playing with arrangers. Since then, I have done a bunch of these, including (at a couple of places) a whole series of such seminars. I do them as "lecture/demo" format, that is I do a fair amount of playing of songs too, as part of "demoing" what I am talking about. They seem to go over quite well!

I also have done a small # of similar talks in middle schools (via a friend who had the right 'contacts' to get me into a couple of schools). Kids ate it up! I did have to play different kinds of music than I'd play in a senior place though. Nothing more than some rock'n'roll, R&B, blues, so it was still "the older stuff", but as long as it had good energy and interesting rhythms, kids seemed really interested. The kids of course loved the "synth" side of things- how odd/unusual sounds can be made etc.

I had never thought about approaching other places (such as libraries) - sounds like a good idea, the lecture/demo/talk idea could be viable in a bunch of different kinds of places ...

Thanks ... interesting topic ...
Jim

Jim.......and "thanks" to you for revitalizing me. I'm going to give what I said here some serious thought again. Let's face it, change is essential if you want to stay ahead of the game.

I remember when I became a full blown disc jockey. I went into it with a lot of reluctance. Within a few gigs, I remember thinking how much I enjoyed DJ-ing, freeing yourself up, detaching yourself from the keyboard, a whole new format for producing music and why did I take so long to do it.

It sounds like you're halfway there already. All you need are more venues...you've already got a handle on the "job description."