Irregular Performers: How Many Gigs a Month?
Oct 24, 2017 11:43:15 GMT
Wild Violet, leoroberts, and 1 more like this
Post by Cams on Oct 24, 2017 11:43:15 GMT
For the past three years I've been playing a minimum of two gigs a week from April through to the end of October. I'm in two bands, one a three piece and the other the same three plus two others. The two musicians that are common to both bands own two bistros on Arran and they run music through the tourist season, so it's been fantastic for me in terms of musical progression and income. Performing doesn't come easily for me, so working on that has been perhaps more important than the musical bit. I know that if I go even a couple of weeks with no gigs I start to lose my bottle, but I know how to get it back now.
The biggest thing I've learned to deal with is that a bad gig isn't a reflection on me personally. In fact, I had a couple in a rowdy pub, an environment in which I'm extremely uncomfortable, and was able to walk away at the end without feeling like I wanted to quit gigging forever. But I did refuse the next one and explain honestly why, then refused the next one after being asked again despite my first refusal.
Performing so regularly has been good for me in so many ways, but mainly in personal development and getting to know myself and how to put on an act when it's the last thing I feel like doing. Some nights I just can't pull it out the bag, but the music doesn't suffer from that, just the interaction with the audience.
Band politics though, that's a thorny one that I still struggle with. One band just broke up because of it and the other isn't looking too solid either. But I'm okay with it as I've learned so much musically and personally and know that I want to keep playing, so I'm out there playing solo once a week for October - talk about fear! It's going okay though and I'm enjoying dusting off some old repertoire and considering new material. My Boss looper has helped a bit.
I wouldn't play for free though. I've left those days behind me now. My nights in are too valuable for that, and I have plenty of music to practice on my off nights!
The biggest thing I've learned to deal with is that a bad gig isn't a reflection on me personally. In fact, I had a couple in a rowdy pub, an environment in which I'm extremely uncomfortable, and was able to walk away at the end without feeling like I wanted to quit gigging forever. But I did refuse the next one and explain honestly why, then refused the next one after being asked again despite my first refusal.
Performing so regularly has been good for me in so many ways, but mainly in personal development and getting to know myself and how to put on an act when it's the last thing I feel like doing. Some nights I just can't pull it out the bag, but the music doesn't suffer from that, just the interaction with the audience.
Band politics though, that's a thorny one that I still struggle with. One band just broke up because of it and the other isn't looking too solid either. But I'm okay with it as I've learned so much musically and personally and know that I want to keep playing, so I'm out there playing solo once a week for October - talk about fear! It's going okay though and I'm enjoying dusting off some old repertoire and considering new material. My Boss looper has helped a bit.
I wouldn't play for free though. I've left those days behind me now. My nights in are too valuable for that, and I have plenty of music to practice on my off nights!