It had to happen sooner or later

I have been struggling with the idea of totally retiring from my music profession for the last 6 months. Truthfully, I have not missed playing and actually have spent very little time playing my keyboards at home. So, the problem is what to do when the calls start coming in. Well, today I got a call from an AD wanting me to play every Friday night the rest of the year for dinner hour. I had to really think this one through but decided it just was not something I wanted to do so I graciously declined the offer.

Truthfully, I don't understand the senior places trying to open up and putting their residents in danger. But I guess that is their call.

Deane

Deane, please consider recommending another DFW keyboardist, like me for example I play and sing all the old standards. My parents are in their 80's, I grew up with and love their music!

Whatever you decide, good luck to you!

Deane, I'm in the same shape. 9 weeks off in 63 years. The club closed for the virus and I think I'm done...even from the Philharmonic. I don't want to embarrass myself. AT 76 years old, I have had to lower some keys and stopped "back-to-backs".

Still have my 24-30 annual film scores for my productions and about 10 studio calls a month.

Never was much of an entertainer, anyway. And, the songs I loved to play were not what the dining room audiences wanted to hear.

Was a BALL while it lasted, though.

Best of luck!

Russ

I totally understand Deane. I too have retired from the music business, at 83 it is about time. I don't feel motivated to sit behind the keyboard and play the songs on my playlist. Tired of playing the same thing over and over again because that's what the ADs and audience wanted or expected. It's still too dangerous to go to Nursing homes and other venues. I'm in the process of restoring the keybed on my Yamaha YPG 525. If I'm not successful I will give it away, sell my arranger keyboard and purchase an 88 key digital piano and play piano. That's how I started at 8yrs old and will finish in my 80's or later, Lord willing. The one that comes to mind is the 88 key Korg XE20, Italian or German piano voice, hammer action and if one longs for styles, rhythms and other voices, there is an Korg EK50 on board. I'm not giving up on music, but giving in on the circumstances that surround all of us.

Gerry

Russ
I am curious as to why you feel your music was not what the audience wanted to hear. I am asking thinking maybe mine isn't either. What music do they like, as opposed to yours?

Bernie

I was staggered when I realised reading this that the music I play by Abba is circa 40 to 50 years old...and that was the 1970s. So if you are playing 60s music or even earlier then the years have really caught up with you...

I always try to tell my audience ‘Here’s a song you would have requested, except you forgot how good it was!’ 🎹😂

Personally, I think too many entertainers place too high a value on requests. We’re not Spotify... it’s our job to take them somewhere they didn’t know they wanted to go, but are glad they got there!

Bernie, I am a hopeless "jazzer". What I want to play is George Duke's T Jam, Legrande's How do you keep the music playing?, Popsicle Toes, Four, etc. I can get by with that playing simple versions at low volume in country Club dining rooms.

At parties, no one is familiar with what I want to play, and I don't need to play anything I'm not interested in.

It's all a compromise. I will play requests, but, left alone, I head for the stratosphere, tune-wise without ever realizing it.

Russ

Russ, maybe the thing to do at this stage is to simply tell people what you want to do, what you want to play, and let the chips fall where they may..?

I’m sure with your reputation and ability, you will get at least a few jobs that let you be you, and even though it won’t be back to backs, the charge you get from playing live can energize you and make a break from the cloistered studio life. Especially if you finally get to play only your favorites!

Every musician you admire took this step, to say that they would only play what they wanted. The greats still kept playing live, and found an audience for what THEY felt was good. If you can contemplate stopping altogether, you can also contemplate this alternative...

Hey Roger
It has been awhile. Perhaps it has, unless the people I play to are in the same boat. I don't take requests and play a good mix of vocal and instrumental from the 40's to the eighties. I hate feeling like a fish out of water, and watch my age group carefully. Like Russ, I play the music I like, but would not last an hour at one of his jazz sessions.

I just try to adapt to the event the best I can. If it's a senior residence, I'll do Great American Song Standards, old time C&W, maybe some rock n'roll and R&B. If there's baby bommers, some 60's-70's classic rock, and 70 's disco and other popular selections.

If I'm doing an event in the Latino community, it's a whole different ball game. If it's a private party, I find out the host's and guests county of origin. Your not going to play Mexican music and a Puerto Rican party! Also even if the guest are mostly Mexicans I need to know what region. People in Northern Mexico and Boarder towns have very different tastes from the people from Mexico City, for example.

I don't mind adapting, and reading the crowd, but if I could play just what I liked, it would be a blend of Bossa Nova, Latin Jazz-Salsa, bebop, and funk. Not much of demand for that kind of thing, so I'll save that for my bedroom studio projects!

Life is so much simpler playing US music, Montunoman! Regional US music is pretty rare, radio and the Internet have homogenized music to the point that it’s the same almost everywhere..! I do a little Cajun and zydeco because I’m down in the Panhandle of Florida, and as a beach musician I can get away with more reggae than most, but I’m pretty sure I could take my song list anywhere in the US and get by!

I kind of miss how music used to be more regional, but that’s the price we pay for the corporatiztion of music radio... Check out Tom Petty’s ‘The Last DJ’ for a great song about that! 🎹😎

https://youtu.be/6Knw_GxXPHg

Diki, great Tom Petty tune! Yes, it is sad how homogenous everything is becoming in the US, and beyond. It's happening too with Latin music to some degree with the global polarity of the "urban" Latin sound known as reggaetón. You hear this style in all the Spanish speaking countries now. Look how big the hit, "Despacito" was all over the globe!

Here an article from Rolling Stone Magazine on the reggaetón trend in Latin music.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/latin-pop-urban-reggaeton-trap-755772/

Yeah, I’ve heard that one, but it’s tough to tell apart from a myriad of other songs with the reggaetón beat. Plus, I’m more of an old school kind of guy, I’m not much of a fan of AutoTuned vocals and that mechanical Latin sound. Give me some old Rubén Blades kind of stuff, real musicians, no machines!

But it’s cheaper to market globally than locally, so regional stuff isn’t prioritized so much any more. I’m glad that this is being resisted in Latin America better than we have in the US...

Hard to understand how reggaetón got the name, ‘cos there no reggae in it! Bob Marley is spinning in his grave, LOL 🇯🇲🎹😂

After retirement I moved to SW AZ from the NW. Once settled played a couple of gigs with my NW playlist, but it didn't take long to learn that most of the residents in the senior communities are of Latin heritage and used to hear and requested Latin Rhythms. After finding out the type of tunes they liked I changed my playlist, even took Spanish language lessons so I can sing some of the slow "musica romantica" songs, quite a challenge for a transplanted guy who speaks English with a Dutch accent. Lots of fun, though.

Gerry

Up here in Canada you could get into all sorts of regional musics. East Coast jigs, reels, Québecois, straight up country music, etc. Here in Alberta it's pretty much country with liberal sprinklings of 50's, 60's, 70's mainstream pop on the NH circuit.

We'll do our 'Canadian content' with songs by Gordie Lightfoot, Ron Hynes, Chilliwack, etc., but with us being products of sixties Britain, we'll do a British Invasion show. That always goes down very well.

I hear ya on both of those comments Deane. I was never a full time gig musician, but I did play at a few Senior Homes. No way would I do it indoors today though, just too risky. Good luck on your decision. If you don't miss it, why risk it.

I, also agree, but will never quit unless I have to. I won't play any inside jobs yet, but have accepted a Veteran's Day party held outside on a 150 ft porch. This is a place I have played three times a week for the past 15 years. Aside from that, I am just biding my time and working on better days.

We're not doing any indoor gigs, either. Luckily, we've managed 15 outdoor settings this past summer.

An interesting twist now is that we've been contacted by a couple of places asking if we do Zoom gigs. If this is the way it's going to be for the foreseeable future, then I'd better dig in and find out how all this Zoom thing works. Not an ideal situation, but whatever works.

Diki, I have the public fooled. They think the really smart people have to like jazz and have to hire me.

I never looked for a job my whole life. The problem now is, I make lots more doing my research, writing, films, etc.

Thankfully, music is part of many of those projects.

It's just hard giving up something I've been doing since I was 13.

MUSIC MATTERS!
R.

Russ, yeah, appreciation by clients of studio work is nice, but nothing gives you that frisson like a bunch of people clapping!

Mind you, that's a little demonstrative for the average jazz crowd!

Hello all.

I was playing gigs up to Dec 2019. In March, we moved to Webb City/Joplin MO.

There are playing opportunities here but I’ve passed on them. I’ve lost interest in gigging at this point.

I do have my Genos and my Roland RD2000 set up and I try to play one or the other each day.. just for my own enjoyment.

Time will tell if I gig again. Right now I’m enjoying time with grandkids, a new puppy(crazy enough to get one at 71) and electric bicycling.

😊

They say grandkids and pets keep you young, can you tell us what the name and brred of the pup is please?

I love dogs but have had cats since I have been married lol. Also, I have 13 grandkids so, I am a busy boy when not doing my stuff.


Allan

Lock down can destroys our desires, playing music is one of them. There have been times when I had to push myself to play my keyboard; once I got to playing, I did not want to stop.

John C.

I am the same way, John. When I was playing out three times a week, it was automatic that I prepare for the gig. Now, my need isn't as urgent and I have to look farther ahead, but when I sit down, the morning's gone.

John,
Mental health is so important, we need to be discipled in our mind especially these days. Going to our "pick me up" like our music, singing or other hobby is even more vital to continue. There is so much tearing us down,we need to stand strong for ourselves and our family.

Anxiety and fear has taken chucks out of our tough exterier, but we can take back our space - including our head space. Just by doing what we know nourishes our soul.

Fourtunately we have modern technology ( love or hate it) if we use it as a tool we can keep in touch and use it to our advantage. We can jam together even when we are forced apart. Make a quick track and forward it to the group and get someone or many to add to that single track to create a master piece. Like we do on this forum even just talking. There are ways of doing your thing, but maybe just a little differently.


Allan

Well said Allan

DO NOT, DO NOT run from something you hate.
Run to something you love.

Human beings hate change, so they fight the change, wanting to hold on to what they have; this is a formula for unhappiness.

Run to your family, your music, your hobbies. Helping others has a magic effect, it helps you to forget you.
John C.

Hello

Our new baby is a female Pug

I always felt you needed to be pretty crazy to consider music as a career, so a little extra craziness just feels like more of the same! 🤪

Actually, Diki, my projects involve lots more than studio work. I script, storyboard, write and record the sound track, edit and
package the projects. I do voice-over on most. That's lots more areas to develop and get good feedback from.

I never could decide what I wanted to do when I grew up. I like copy writing, photography, videography, voice overs, communication research, design...lots of things. Music has always given me a little "leg up". Live playing, after I realized it was more than partying and meeting girls, became my primary marketing tool. A large number of jazz listeners are potential clients for my organization. In fact, more than 1/2 the on-going work is something that resulted from contacts at gigs.

In many ways, positive opinions about a film is more important to me than appreciation of live performance.


Russ

Fair enough, Russ! Who knows, ‘that day’ might come for me too the way the world is going!

But damn! I’m going to miss it if I quit playing live 🎹😢☠️

Well, I must be the crazy one out here. I'm 77 and haven't played a gig in years. Putting together a playlist so I can go out once this virus breaks.

“Well, I must be the crazy one out here. I'm 77 and haven't played a gig in years. Putting together a playlist so I can go out once this virus breaks”.

That is so positive, you have something interesting to do today. 77 is still young, go and fill your purpose.
John C.

To good to hear someone being and talking positive of what they can do, instead of just saying I am giving up or what I can't do, because of the lockdowns that are happening now.

It is good mental health and it is better to look forward to things getting back to somewhere that was normal, than to say this is the new norm; which in my mind is a victim mentality, and what some in the news and other places are trying to force us to accept.

Ok, sometimes we get to a place and say things are too hard or my body can't take it anymore, and that is just being smart to recognise its time for a change.


Allan

" Accentuate The Positive" Most of you old duffers remember the song. I have adopted it as my credo.

Bernie

Bernie, you got me thinking.

No one to talk to, all by myself
No one to walk with, I'm happy by myself
Ain't misbehavin’, I'm spending my time alone

Like Jack Horner, in the corner,
Don't go nowhere -- what do I care?
I sit and play my Sx900 Yamaha keyboard

I don't stay out late, don't care to go;
I'm home about eight, just me and my radio.
Ain't misbehavin', ?????????????
Someone fill this last line, I ran out of ideas; it is
11:45 P.M. It’s been a crazy day.

John C

Back to the recliner and football!

Gary

Well it's one thing to talk and another to do. I've got a lot of good ideas but getting down to doing any of them is another thing. Read somewhere that one of the best ways to fight depression is to use exercise. I do suffer from a sight bit of depression and it and elevated sugar levels manage to keep me tired all the time and I just end up spending all my time in bed or at the computer on the forums. Well, gonna try and start doing some morning calisthenics so I won't be so tired and get to doing something.

I really want to use some of the vsts I own in real time and just found out that this is actually a fairly easy thing to do. I've owned the equipment I need to hook it all up for some time. I just need to do it. I also want to build up a collection of tunes in OpenText ane registrations on the 3000. Again, I have what I need to do this, just need to do it.

ekurbursk,

This is what I have learned, it’s all about what I believe in. Since I live with Parkinson disease which does it’s best to steel my life mentally and physically, I have been forced to fight back, to do the best I can to keep my spirits strong and positive. Understanding the rules have brought me success.

1-What I feed my mind today will set my mood for tomorrow.
2-My mood would change suddenly, and I would not be tired, in fact I would be filled with joy and energy – and I would run to my keyboard –IF I JUST WON $3,000,000 IN THE LOTTERY.
3-Find how to live with a positive and joyful attitude. Deny all destructive thoughts.

Need help? I have many writings on the subject that may help, they are yours for-the-asking.
Trying to help, John C.

I retired from playing about 5 years ago. No more booking hassles, lugging equipment, and traveling in inclement Michigan weather. Haven't missed it much. I do play bass, keys, and drums at church yet and that is enough.