When the gig you drove 200 miles for to make $100, and had to pay for a hotel room, is later referred to as your “summer tour.”

When your most sincere, heartfelt comments are made by people that are drunk and who won’t remember you in the morning.

When you are repeatedly told that the lead singer who can’t read, never practices and has been singing for only six months is “The strongest part of the band”, primarily because she is “hot.”

When you are pleased that the pay for the gig, when looked at hourly
from the time you leave your house to when you return meets minimum
wage.

When someone comes up to you to tell you how much they love your
playing, because they didn’t think anyone played those things anymore.

You get to the gig to find out that nothing is comped, and you’re
charged $10 to park.

When someone seeks you out to complement your playing as the “best sax player they have ever heard”, and you’re the trumpet player.

When you realize that a small piece of equipment- such as a wireless
mike you need- will take months of weekly gigs to pay for.

When you have to add $30 or $40 out of your pocket to find a sub, cause no one will cover you for what you are paid.

You aren’t offended when all of the young wedding guests leave after
the second set to dance to the DJ at a club down the street.

When you are told that you must play until the very end of when you
were contracted for, when your only audience is the bartender, and
you’re being paid 40 or 50 bucks for the night.

When the bandleader or club owner wants to pay you in food or drinks,
and you have $100,000 in school loans to pay off for that music degree.

When the guy collecting money at the door for the band’s performance makes twice over the course of the evening what you do as one of the band members.

When as a member of a blues band you no longer even pretend to smile
when asked to play “Free Bird”.

When you know that other musicians who routinely claim they don’t work for less than $100 a night only work a few times a year.

You notice that all of the musicians playing the better functions to
young audiences are mid 40’s+ and balding, because young musicians that read don’t exist anymore.

When people who are drunk tell you that what you are doing is
absolutely great and the best thing thing they have ever seen or heard,
but refuse to pay more than $5 at the door.

When someone calling the cops for noise is a good thing. You get to go
home early and you still get paid.

When you realize that asking women out that you meet on gigs doesn’t
work, for now they know you’re a musician.

When you get invited to play the same gig the following year, which
means that you don’t have tear down after this year’s gig.

When you have, for several years, been paid the same amount for a gig,
but are afraid to say anything about it for fear that you might lose
the gig.

When you spend more on the bar tab than you get paid for the gig.

When you finally have to resort to playing Proud Mary in order to get
the audience dancing.
]]> http://myjazzcoach.com/?feed=rss2&p=191 0 http://myjazzcoach.com/?p=188 http://myjazzcoach.com/?p=188#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:58:08 +0000 admin http://myjazzcoach.com/?p=188 All your jazz favorites done in ’60s-style Japanese–too fun to miss this one!

YouTube - モダン・ジャズ・オペラ 桃太郎.

stardom when she lost her life to heroin addiction at age 31. I have all her albums and enjoy them

frequently.  There are two “Retrospective” albums of her work  (Volume 1:  Standards and Volume 2: Compositions), but my favorite is probably East to Wes. (BTW, I purchased most of her tunes as downloads on emusic.com.)

Emily was not only a great player, she was a dedicated jazz teacher, too. She made several instructional videos which I have found quite valuable, and her approach to soloing has really helped me to find “good notes” over the changes. I’ll

share some of what I learned from her in an article on using melodic minor scales.

Click here to visit a fabulous blog with TONS of great info about Emily, her music, and her life. Enjoy!

REMEMBERING CHRISTMAS

Stay tuned!

1. Everyone should play the same piece.

2. Stop at every repeat sign and discuss in detail whether to take the repeat or not. Listeners will love this!

3. Carefully tune your instrument before playing. That way you can play out of tune with a clear conscience.

4. Take your time turning pages.

5. The right note at the wrong time is a wrong note (and vice versa).

6. If everyone gets lost except you, follow those who get lost.

7. If a passage is difficult, slow it down. If it’s easy, speed it up. Everything will work itself out in the end.

8. If you are completely lost, stop and say, “I think we should tune.”

9. Happy are those who have not perfect pitch, for the kingdom of music is theirs.

10. If the ensemble has to stop because of you, explain in detail why you got lost. Everyone will be very interested.

11. A wrong note played timidly is a wrong note. A wrong note played with authority is an interpretation. [Actually, this is pretty much true! DR]

12. When everyone else has finished playing, you should not play any notes you have left.

They publish in Adobe PDF format–just download and enjoy. I haven’t read a copy yet, but will say more about it when I have a chance. I’ll also post it as a link.

Enjoy!

These links just point to files in standard Windows Media format. If your browser doesn’t automatically open them when you click the links, RIGHT CLICK (Windows users only!) and “save link as” to your hard drive. They should open and play with any media player (iTunes, WinAmp, Windows Media Player, etc.) Please let me know if you have a problem hearing or downloading them.

Enjoy!

Once I Loved

All of Me

Summertime