Who do you play for...yourself or the audience?

My answer is not as simple as some may think it should be.

If I played everything the audiences wanted, I'd make more money and work a littler more.

I still do about 1/2 my work as a single in upscale restaurants.

BORING!

I'm happiest backing others and playing straight ahead jazz.

When you commit to jazz around here, in "horse" country, you automatically cut the number of club and restaurant jobs by 2/3rds. And you cut the money in half, at least.

Playing jazz-oriented "one-nighters" involves a lot more work, equipment, moving and, frankly, the music is more of a challenge...which I like.

I use upscale jobs to "fish" for day business clients (films, print, research, photography, etc.). The average new client I sign up is good for $100,000.00 or more business a year.

If it weren't for this nightly "fishing" expedition, I probably wouldn't play clubs and restaurants at all. I'd stick with Jazz arts groups, State government jobs, film score work...the kind of jobs where you convince the audience/customer that it's cool to hire you, even though they don't understand the music or even like it very much (LOL).


Understand, I'm certainly not advocating this approach for anyone else. But I do wonder, how do the ones of us who play out resolve the "us or them" situation?

On the one hand, a pure entertainer would be glad to play anything the audiences request. A hard nosed purist would refuse to play some materials and spend their lives bitching about "dumb" audiences and others who they feel have "sold out", get all the jobs and make all the money.

There are clubs/venues I won't play and material I won't play. I can do that now, but there was a day (college) when I had to play anything that would pay a buck.

What about you?


Russ (picky old dude) Lay

Of course there are venues I won't play, but then I'm probably not going to be asked anyway - dance clubs, bars, etc. ...

If I'm playing background in a CC or restaurant a lot of what I play is for me ... in most cases, if I am going to like it the audience - who ever might be listening - will like it as well ...
When playing a Senior Housing or NH venue, definitely I am playing for the audience ...
That goes for private parties as well ...

For me at this point of my life music is a hobby and I’m happy to play out when I get a call. I try to please the client the best I can. If they ask for something I can pull off, I’ll play it. If I don’t know the song, I’ll compliment them on their song selection and apologize for not knowing it and sometimes I’ll try to learn the song for the next time.

Sometimes people call me to do things I feel I’m not a good fit for and I’ll politely decline and perhaps recommend someone who might be a better candidate.

For a short while I was playing music full time and the band I was with did lots of material I hated. I just did my best to keep a professional attitude and remembered I had bills to pay.

I’d say 90% of the stuff I play I really enjoy and the rest I can tolerate. I’m not playing anything I hate which is a good thing.

Hmmm...

Its kind of circular if you ask me.

I've dumped my band because of various reasons I've discussed before. By doing so, I've really been able to broaden the repertoire I perform in the various animal clubs, country clubs, etc. Those gigs have, as expected, gone from frustrating to extremely satisfying ones.

The Nursing home gigs have always been great and I seem to keep adding more and more as I go along...

I've stopped pursuing restaurant jobs as I just don't like them...

I've also stopped the clubs where its more of a bar setting. I'm fine in those until "my crowd" leaves around 10:30pm or so but then it turns into a weird kind of 2 way torture for both myself and the gang at the bar who really dont' want to hear what I'm playing.

Does that answer the question?

Hey Ron here from so california , i do what you guys do in so cal i find i do what I like for music content but i find it very frustratiog to be playing great stuff in a restraunt where everybody except 1 table love what i am doing but that one table want it turned dowm they dont care about anybody else and they will not tip on the way out , i find this a bit tuff but i suck it up because i have kids who need stuff and bills to pay .

it is a fine line between laying down and playing hard I am blessed to have that second gear to go to when i need it you just gotta uzs it when the opp presentes it self .

I hear you, mfyd. The old truism is at play: "You can't please all of the people all of the time." My own take on that is that if it's one table that thinks it's too loud, well, sorry, but I'm not compromising the enjoyment of the rest of the room for their one table. If they don't like it, they won't be back and that table tomorrow night will hopefully be occupied by customers who like what they hear. Play on.

I guess I am really lucky because I get to play the music I really enjoy playing. All my gigs are for the senior venues and seldom last more than 2 hours which is nice. I will not play jobs in smoking environments and that eliminates a lot of possibilities - but I don't care. I have taken on a monthly country club dance group starting next month only because the money is exceptional - but it has been years since I played a four hour gig - so we will see how it works out.

Long ago I walked away from the traveling big bands, the dance hall gigs, the lounge gigs and have not missed it a bit. I guess the only gigs I really would go back to are the Dallas and Ft. Worth Symphony gigs.

Anyway, what I do now is a great way to spend my time and is very satisfying.

Deane

I play what my audiences want to hear.

Gary

Cap,

First I play for the person writing me the check, then I play for myself.

Tom

Good point. I just try to gigs playing stuff I enjoy.

My goal is to satisfy the bulk of the audience. Problem is, at dances there are always a few who make the same requests and want them NOW. It kinda stifles diversity...but its just something to contend with and a programming challenge.

In the course of most evenings I will slip in something I really like to play which I doubt most are familiar with. Sometimes it even works and I get requests for it later. Other times it bombs and I make a mental note to deep six it.

NHs are a different story. I stick with what is familiar to them.

Eddie

I like most of the tunes I play, and with the ones that are played a lot and/or start to get tiring to play, I try to find something in the music that I can add without affecting it's overall authenticity too much, yet give me a bit of inner satisfaction.

There are tunes I generally "have to" play...Last Date (Floyd Cramer), A Whiter Shade of Pale, Music Box Dancer (Frank Mills) to name a few...fortunately I like these tunes a lot...for a change I may play Whiter Shade using an orchestral string arrangement as the tune borders on the classical...for Music Box Dancer, I use acoustic guitar instead of piano. For Last Date I sub in a pedal steel for piano.

Playing all instrumentals does not give me the advantage of different lyrics for each verse/chorus, so I have to work a little harder on the arrangements to make them more interesting, for both me and the listener.

Thankfully, I find it a lot of fun.

Ian

Right you are, Ian. The day it stops being fun, that's the day to hang it all up. Glad to say I'm not even close to that.