This has been debated here before. There are so many different skill levels here on the forum, we don't need to have the real vs faker arguments again. Personally, I can play other instruments "for real". As has been said earlier, it's a tool that that allows you to do more. Similarly to Bill, with different details I moved from acoustic accordion and a drum machine, to midi accordion and sound modules, to an arranger, which allowed me to play more genres of music that wasn't accordion appropriate (I know a guy that plays Pink Floyd on accordion, but shouldn't..really..). And easier on my back. Much easier to sit down and turn a switch on than connect peripheral equipment and strap on the squeezebox.

And Donny is right..we are aging and much of our audience is as well or further. We all love to play what we like, but not everyone is going to continue to want to listen to it. None of us want to be that guy we've seen whose privately loved music doesn't work in public anymore. All you can do is ride the wave until its gone, and be wise enough to know when that is..

Hi - on the opening (initial) topic of this thread - in my area (central North Carolina) I have asked many ADs (and folks at private functions I play at) if they had or knew very many others that "do what I do" (they think of it as "one-man-band") - and pretty much everywhere, they say things like "...never have seen anyone do what you do" ... then I ask another question or two, and they tell me that most of the other entertainers/musicians they know or use either play piano, play guitar, or use a laptop with recorded tracks. Most seem "amazed" what can be done with an arranger, but I guess there just aren't many players at least in my area, that know about arrangers, and there are apparently far more guitar players and "singers only" (who use recorded tracks).

Anyway, I have been playing at many places for almost 20 years and keep getting asked back ... so they must like the idea of an arranger player overall, even if they only have 1 person locally who does that (me) ... many places have asked me if I could play every week (or some similar 'regular' schedule), and since I still work full-time I had to decline and only play at each place about once a month ... (I do no more than about 6-8 gigs a month).

Side note is that I used to be in the suburbs of Boston, MA, and it was about the same "story" there too, although there were a couple of others that played arrangers (or organs) back then, in that area.

Jim / Raleigh, NC

Here in south florida, ft. lauderdale area we have lots of arranger players doing assisted living, condos, dances and parties, ect..Probably 75 percent of nursing home players are arranger players. Some of us use a track every so often for unusual requests like uptown funk or iconic songs that have a very demanding background.
The Ipad karaoke people are here too but not as popular because of the ability of players to "fake" a song if we are able or to do a medley if people are dancing or stretch a song.
As always I always say If I can play it live and make it sound great I will. \

MEL

Bill, you're correct; but you also touched on something else that's not talked about much that exists today that DIDN'T exist 'back in the day'. Nowadays, journeyman-type performers are expected to cover a gazillion different genre's in a single gig. That's where an arranger shines. Back in the day, if you were a blues performer, you played blues....all night. If you played jazz, or country, or rock, or folk, same thing. Now, with the aid of electronics, we can cover practically any genre' and sound pretty good doing it. Purists will hate it but the great unwashed masses will find it totally acceptable. As Donny would say, that's just the way it is these days. The question is, are you, as a PROFESSIONAL musician, willing to 'dumb down' a musical performance in order to eke out a very modest income. Truly high-end clubs/hotels/CC's/Restaurants will still favor a solo pianist/singer over any other kind of 'single' act. Always have, always will. Just no substitute for the real thing (and they know it). These are hard truths but nevertheless, truths.

We can deny it till the cows come home but Donny is correct; there are not only very few arranger KB's in NH's but probably even more so in other more audience-critical venues. We can't definitively prove this because we don't have scientifically derived numbers to back it up, but I CAN say that in my ENTIRE LIFE, I have never seen an arranger KB in ANY venue ever. Maybe I just lead a sheltered life (but I don't think so).

chas

Agreed Chas. The few times I've had the opprtunity to do a piano solo at a very upscale communnity I was appreciated for my musicianship. I had no tip jar as I was a fill in and didn't know the house rules yet but I bet I would have done very well on top of being paid a nice amount.
My tastes have changed and I do enjoy this type of thing the most.

I can't speak to the NH circuit, but there seem to be many on this forum that do or have done them- should we take a count?
Doing ethnic based social clubs and festivals I see it frequently with many of the guys I know in the business. Locally, two yamaha tyros users, two Ketron users, and one Technics user come to mind right away.

lets not forget OP is regarding WORLDWIDE calculations

Unfortunately, the gubment, colleges and universities haven't funded an in depth study on this subject, and likely will not, favoring studies of the sex life of an anopheles mosquito instead. Consequently, we can only go with what little, local knowledge we possess on the subject. Now, if someone has a published scientific study on this, I would love to see it.

Gary

Also the next time your performing in an NH and someone from the audience calls out...
"HEY YOU GOT THE MUMMERS STRUT IN THAT CONTRAPTION OF YOURS"?
the you realize no one cares how your doing it and all your talent is translated to the audiences now a days as some kind of musicbox/dj/canned music player,computer pilot operator, etc, etc,
..it's the sad truth,...and can you blame them for NOT knowing?
and why should they? in addition if you sing well at least they know something is happening that is "REAL"
...but as long as YOU are enjoying yourself it's all good.

Donny, I used to hear that kind of stuff until I began demonstrating to my audiences how an arranger keyboard works. I would usually begin by playing a well known song using the keyboard as a grand piano, then begin adding accompaniment instruments, drums, bass, etc...

The irony of this was one night while I was performing at a location where I had been performing twice a month for 15 years, a lady walked up on stage while I was singing and playing and began asking me questions about another song. I stopped playing and singing instantly, looked her, never turned off the mic and said "Maam, I cannot talk to you while I am singing and playing." She blushed and said to her husband who was sitting at a nearby table "Herb, he really is singing - it's really him playing too." Geeze Herb! It never happened again. Sometime, you must educate your audiences.

Ironically, the same thing used to happen when I was playing a 12 string Yamaha guitar, sitting on a bar stool and singing my heart out in a smoke-filled bar room to a bunch of red-neck drunks. At least once every night I played, someone would inevitably come up to me and begin talking as if I could answer them while playing and singing. Most of the time, I just ignored them, but some of the ladies, especially the younger, drunker ones, would really get upset that I was not responding to their questions.

Just another day in the life of a musical entertainer,

Gary