Posted by: travlin'easy
Sometimes you need to educate your audience... - 02/11/09 03:43 PM
Once in a while I stray from performing at nursing homes, assisted living centers and retirement communities and perform at a couple Italian restaurants. At both locations the audience age ranges 55 to 75 years of age. However, they love to dance, which makes for a great night of entertainment.
During the vast majority of my performances I sing nearly every song. Most are in English (British), a half-dozen are in Italian, and I usually throw in a couple of songs in Spanish.
In a typical one or two hour performance I usually do one to three instrumental songs, which includes a Polka medley, and a rock & roll song with a guitar or sax lead. Most of the time time the dancefloor is packed to capacity. I use a laptop computer for lyrics, MIDI files and for MP3s prior to the performance while folks are eating dinner or just siting around an talking. I keep the MP3 level quite low so it's really nothing more than background music.
When I fire up the keyboard I usually begin with something that everyone can dance to, something along the lines of a 50s doowap song, or maybe a ballad such as Unforgetable by Nat King Cole. In both settings (venues), which are relatively small, it is quite clear that I'm playing the keyboard and singing--at least that what I always thought. However, more often than not someone will come up to me and ask "Do you have this song, or that song, in that machine?" I usually respond by saying "There is no songs in the machine--it's me playing those white and black keys, and it's me singing the words to the songs."
The last time this happened I was tired, the nite club was the second job of the day, and I just about went berserk. This was an audience that I have performed in front of for nearly three years, and the person that came up to me and asked for a song was someone that had been at the venue since I began performing there three years ago. He asked me if I had a certain song in the machine, and he did this while I was playing and singing. I stopped dead in my tracks, hit the stop button, and said "Well folks, it's time for Gary's musical education class. This will take about two minutes, but it will require your undivided attention." I then went about demonstrating several instruments in the keyboard without accompianament. The next step was to bring in the drums, bass, etc until I had the entire style file playing. Then I applied the icing to the cake. The song I was working with was La Bamba, which I sing in Spanish.
During the entire demonstration, the guy who interrupted me was standing at my side--he was flabbergasted. His jaw dropped, and at the end he walked over to the table where his spouse was sitting and said "Grace, you're not going to believe this--it's really him playing live music, and that's really his voice you heard singing." At the end of the night he came up to me and said how much more he appreciated what I do, handed my a rolled up $20 bill, shook my hand and said "We'll be back next week with our dancing shoes on."
I've spent more than a half-century learning play music, learning to be the best performer/entertainer I can be, and learning to read an audience. It really irks me at times that some of my audiences, after all these years, still does not realize that I'm not a DJ. Yet, when the MC introduces you, more often than not, they refer to you as THE DJ. Therefore, I decided to provide all my audiences, even those in the nursing homes, assisted living center and retirement communities, with an introductory song where I introduce them to what we (OMB entertainers) actually do while on stage. You would be amazed at the responses--all of which were very positive. I don't do this every time I perform at each venue--only when I see new audience members. Not only does it educate them as to what I (we) do, but it's usually a lot of fun as well.
Cheers,
Gary
During the vast majority of my performances I sing nearly every song. Most are in English (British), a half-dozen are in Italian, and I usually throw in a couple of songs in Spanish.
In a typical one or two hour performance I usually do one to three instrumental songs, which includes a Polka medley, and a rock & roll song with a guitar or sax lead. Most of the time time the dancefloor is packed to capacity. I use a laptop computer for lyrics, MIDI files and for MP3s prior to the performance while folks are eating dinner or just siting around an talking. I keep the MP3 level quite low so it's really nothing more than background music.
When I fire up the keyboard I usually begin with something that everyone can dance to, something along the lines of a 50s doowap song, or maybe a ballad such as Unforgetable by Nat King Cole. In both settings (venues), which are relatively small, it is quite clear that I'm playing the keyboard and singing--at least that what I always thought. However, more often than not someone will come up to me and ask "Do you have this song, or that song, in that machine?" I usually respond by saying "There is no songs in the machine--it's me playing those white and black keys, and it's me singing the words to the songs."
The last time this happened I was tired, the nite club was the second job of the day, and I just about went berserk. This was an audience that I have performed in front of for nearly three years, and the person that came up to me and asked for a song was someone that had been at the venue since I began performing there three years ago. He asked me if I had a certain song in the machine, and he did this while I was playing and singing. I stopped dead in my tracks, hit the stop button, and said "Well folks, it's time for Gary's musical education class. This will take about two minutes, but it will require your undivided attention." I then went about demonstrating several instruments in the keyboard without accompianament. The next step was to bring in the drums, bass, etc until I had the entire style file playing. Then I applied the icing to the cake. The song I was working with was La Bamba, which I sing in Spanish.
During the entire demonstration, the guy who interrupted me was standing at my side--he was flabbergasted. His jaw dropped, and at the end he walked over to the table where his spouse was sitting and said "Grace, you're not going to believe this--it's really him playing live music, and that's really his voice you heard singing." At the end of the night he came up to me and said how much more he appreciated what I do, handed my a rolled up $20 bill, shook my hand and said "We'll be back next week with our dancing shoes on."
I've spent more than a half-century learning play music, learning to be the best performer/entertainer I can be, and learning to read an audience. It really irks me at times that some of my audiences, after all these years, still does not realize that I'm not a DJ. Yet, when the MC introduces you, more often than not, they refer to you as THE DJ. Therefore, I decided to provide all my audiences, even those in the nursing homes, assisted living center and retirement communities, with an introductory song where I introduce them to what we (OMB entertainers) actually do while on stage. You would be amazed at the responses--all of which were very positive. I don't do this every time I perform at each venue--only when I see new audience members. Not only does it educate them as to what I (we) do, but it's usually a lot of fun as well.
Cheers,
Gary
