 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: clar502
Date: 2007-03-25 22:48
The live pit is alive and well in Mid-Michigan. A local music group has performs Broadway shows twice a year with a live pit. Several local high schools still use live music. I am fortunate enough to be involved once in awhile. No one in this area could make a living doing this, but we have fun.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2007-03-25 23:41
Yeah, same situation in Mid-Ohio. I just played a pit this past weekend.
But these are not high-level productions. Frankly, I think they use live orchestra because out here, it is CHEAPER than the investment it would take in the technology to bypass live performers.
I don't know what they are doing in Columbus.
Susan
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Author: marcia
Date: 2007-03-26 05:22
Libe pits are also alive and well here in Vancouver. Amateur, but real breathing living people.
Marcia
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Author: marcia
Date: 2007-03-26 05:34
Oops, of course that should be "live". My typing, she is not so good.
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Author: bob49t
Date: 2007-03-26 06:23
Yes, over say 25 yrs, in our area we have also seen the erosion of the pit orchestras in the amateur music/operatic society scene.
Musical Societies are cutting the performance week down to balance the books. ie to optimise the expense of hall rental fees and band payments. Years ago you could get people out of their houses to fill the auditoria. Now we have rampant apathy and people would rather sit at home on their telly couch or computer stool.
First to go were the strings. I only rarely come across live strings and stings are so badly synthesised. This year was the first time in 10 yrs that I played with live strings and that was for Verdi's Ernani (12 strings in a 30 piece orchestra) but this was funded by a private benefactor.
The modern trend is to go for productions where the band is made up largely of wind doublers, brass, (keyboard for strings) drums bass and perc.
Rarely then, do we find specialists in any of the strings, bassoon, oboe, flute, horn, but it's great when we do. So we now don't have a local musical platform say, for aspiring youngsters to hone their skills.
G and S productions seem out of favour just now. I suppose because the historical pokes at politics and society are not understood today. G and S productions were always a joy to play because they were orchestrated so well.
Bob T
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Author: ned
Date: 2007-03-26 07:23
When I was playing regularly, weddings were the go for live music, nowdays the happy couple will opt for a DJ who might charge $400 for a 3 hour ''job'' but it's still cheaper than a 5 or 6 piece band.
Some DJs 'downunder' are feted as quasi musicians these days. I don't really understand fully what they do but apparently, from the little I have read, they mix bits and pieces of recorded music and, of course, the dancers see it as fashionably groovy and, consequently, the gig money goes in to the pocket of a bloke with a loud record player rather than a real musician.
It's obvious that the general listener would not give a toss and I (despite my cynical ranting) have given up worrying.
As for the bit about ''synthesised strings'' - it's quite true - a muso can pick the difference, but the average punter would not care any more than he would care if a real band or a disc jockey were making the music.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-03-26 08:03
When I was a young pup, one-man-bands with electronic accordions <shudder> became "modern", soon followed by those "pianists" with a synthesizer. (I think they all must have bought the same book with the same lame jokes)
The only live orchestras I encountered back then were in mountain restaurants and farmers' festivals - the clarinet/squeeze box/bass/fiddle folk music combos. I still like them, especially those who try to evolve a bit.
I've been to an opera once but the musicians were hiding in a pit.
Yeah, those were the days.
--
Ben
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-03-26 13:19
Yup, economics rules the world, but "just ain't as good". Here in "mid-Okla", a good share of pit music is made by students, so no intrusion of much technology yet. I recall a few times playing musicals in small groups, Annie Git with 6, and saw one with a Synth and 2 tenor saxes, [passible], most still with 20+. Hang in there, folks. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: EuGeneSee
Date: 2007-03-26 15:02
This trend must have started some time back, as I have seen several stage & theatrical performances over the years that have used recorded music rather than a live pit. Some that come to mind are "Carousel" in 1974 (a college performance, Conway, AR), "Giselle" about 1980 (a travelling company from NYC, Little Rock, AR), "Tourandot" late 1980's (an amateur production in Northern VA) and "The Nutcracker" in 1993 (The Virginia Ballet, Arlington, VA).
AFAIK the use of recorded music in college and other amateur productions, as well as by some professional companies while on the road, has been fairly common for quite some time now.
Eu
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-03-26 19:19
Ballet likes recorded music, as the orchestra is their one significant controllable expense in their bottom line. Cut out the payroll for a ballet pit and, right there alone, you've saved almost 50% of your operating cost. With dwindling interest in ballet in the first place, it's a logical step that they can take that will help them stay viable.
Musical theater is a bit more "intimately" associated with music than is ballet. There are more timing issues for a vocal number than for dance, and much more "stage business" to throw the timing out of sync in the first place.
The one ballet I played (a production of the ubiquitous Swan Lake), the only real coordination performed by the musical director was starting a particular piece when all was ready behind the scenes. Once he got that cue, he did little to vary tempo in light of what was (or was not) going on up on stage. He even conducted with a metronome on the podium, the better to regulate the tempo I would imagine.
Admittedly, it wasn't much to go on as an experience, but that's what I've got.
In fact, playing for the ballet reminded me a lot of the circus gigs that I've played. Same "cue the start only", same played at a constant tempo approach. That seems about right, as both are basically dance acts performed to music.
This same attitude was present when recordings first came around in the 1920's, and it is true that live music took a nosedive after records and talkies came on the scene in the 1920's. More ground was lost went broadcast radio made its debut, and still more has eroded with the advent of long time recording abilities (compact disk and audio tape).
(I suppose that the same could be said about live theater as well. Once Hollywood made it possible to make twenty prints of the same theatrical performance, there was no need for twenty touring companies to be out there in the sticks. So, we're not alone with this problem.
All of these events had the unpleasant effect of driving out of the business the "marginal players". (Note that I don't mean "players of marginal ability", just "those on the margins of the music business". It's the same sort of thing that happens whenever any specialist trade suddenly becomes open to the masses.
To cite one example, back in the 1950's you never heard of anyone doing their own plastering. This was for the very simple reason that plastering was a complicated, multi-step process that required some specialized equipment, a lot of skill and considerable patience. Not so any longer - the combination of gypsum-based "wall board" with screws, joint compound and a broad spatula have put interior wall construction within the reach of even the most ham handed. In the process, the plastering trade contracted accordingly.
Like it or not, recorded music (particularly versions in digital form) are excellent substitutes for live music in many situations. Musical theater and opera, and to a certain extent dance, can get by pretty well without it, although there are still timing issues involved.
Concert presentations (where there are essentially no external factors to influence the music) can easily be exchanged for a quality CD recording. Purists will object, and there is a certain amount of ambiance that a live performance can offer that cannot be obtained from a recording. But, the recording gives you the performance perfectly every time, can be 'revisited' as often as you want, and (in effect) gives you twenty or more times the music for half the price. Hard to argue with them numbers.
The last time that I've attended a "live art music" performance was some fifteen years ago. I get the same product (as far as a reproduction of the music) through a quality sound system, none of the negatives (travel, parking, cramped seating, a neighbor who coughs through the whole thing, having to do it at a certain point in time), plus an endless number of replays, all for that same 1/2 price of a concert ticket cost. Sad, but true.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: EuGeneSee
Date: 2007-03-26 20:08
Terry: . . . and coming from the leader of an orchestra, which no doubt feels the effect of those changes, that must have been a tough post to write! Eu
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2007-03-26 21:04
Well said, Terry, my ballet experience, we wanted to play something a bit slower, NOPE, dancers CANNOT stay up in the air !! That ended our small orch's participation. Musicals are fun, we never know what to expect ! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Bubalooy
Date: 2007-03-26 21:25
We rarely get a chance to hear clarinet in a bar anymore, but even the guitar players are loosing venues, and why not? The sound system never comes to work late, doesn't get drunk, never has an issue with one of the patrons, never has an attitude problem, and always plays with a certain quality, none of which is guaranteed when the club owner uses live musicians. I made my living playing clubs for a long time, but I have to say, if I were a club owner, I wouldn't have live music.
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Author: BTBob
Date: 2007-04-02 18:54
Terry Stibal wrote:
" live music took a nosedive after records and talkies came on the scene in the 1920's. More ground was lost went broadcast radio made its debut, and still more has eroded with the advent of long time recording abilities (compact disk and audio tape).
(I suppose that the same could be said about live theater as well. Once Hollywood made it possible to make twenty prints of the same theatrical performance, there was no need for twenty touring companies to be out there in the sticks. So, we're not alone with this problem.
All of these events had the unpleasant effect of driving out of the business the "marginal players". (Note that I don't mean "players of marginal ability", just "those on the margins of the music business". It's the same sort of thing that happens whenever any specialist trade suddenly becomes open to the masses."
Not only that but...every time recording technology got better, the standards got higher for instrumental perfection. Now the musician has to be as good as a record - no allowances for the fact that live music adds something "intangible." Especially not after musicians didn't work so cheap anymore.
The side effect of this is...instruments like strings, clarinet, etc, are played better but LESS often and by fewer people. This makes it even more costly to organize pit bands and such, as the few excellent players are really busy and there just AREN'T a lot of "merely good ones" whever you go.
I play bar jazz gigs sometimes. A lot of people don't wan't clarinet/sax because they think "it'll be loud" or nobody likes music that's not guitar based. (I work with a guitarist, so that helps me over the 2nd hurdle at least.)
Mostly they don't want it because they don't know about it or what to expect. That is a direct result of less live music in the public ears.
I sometimes think if we had to make a choice between more and better music, there should be more music rather than better. But that's a non-virtuoso opinion . Hopefully there doesn't have to be a tradeoff.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-04-02 19:54
I'll add something here later about the differences between rock and other music, but right now I have to go negotiate something for the real world.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2007-04-02 20:13
My "folk" band (largely E. Eur music) plays as the core of the pit orchestra for a local dance company called Ethnic Dance Theatre (EDT). EDT has been around for 30+ years and is always on the brink of financial failure, but keeps pulling through. The pit orchestra gets paid, and sometimes the dancers do too! We're fortunate to work with such a "revolutionary" company, actually.
And as for recorded versus live music in this particular style...the live music adds energy to the dance performance. IMO, we're indispensable.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-04-02 21:31
I forgot to go off on the rock music tangent before, so I'll do so now. And, what I've put together is kind of free formed, so please forgive me if it rambles a bit
And, I know that this doesn't cover all types of music. I'm more than willing to go on about jazz or art music as well, but they are not the most "viable" forms of the art. So, let's stick to the below for now.
Anyway...
What "works" with rock music in entertainment venues (not coffeehouse settings or something along those lines, but rather "modern" rock 'n' roll settings) is solid, 4 beats to the bat, "bounce around and call it dancing" dance music. Anything other than this will receive some respect, but by and large that's what the audience wants to hear and that's what successful groups are willing to provide.
To a certain extent, they (hoi polloi) look for the same sort of thing from me. I've got a few numbers in 2/4 time or the equivalent that get some play time, as well as a few classic and modern (rock-based) waltzes in the box, but 99% of what is looked for is in a solid 4/4 meter, even in the older crowd that makes up some 30% of our target market.
Push comes to shove, very few people dance the foxtrot, quickstep, or jitterbug any longer. Boogie woogie may be fun to play, but you play it to an empty dance floor. Dancing these days for the most part means that vague hip and arm motion that "the young folks" (many of whom are in their sixties right now, I hasten to add) do when they are called upon to dance. Not too fast, not too slow, but with a solid (often afterbeat heavy) rhythm and a decent melodic line to engage their ears while they are "dancing".
(There are also "clutch and hold your partner tight" numbers ('slow dances') that can come from a variety of sources, some quite surprising. Try and do more than three of these a set and you are taking chances, however.)
Groups that don't play what the audience wants to hear don't do as well as those that do. You might get a one-off booking, but your reputation is built on your performance, and it you are "stuck in the Thirties" in a world where few can dance to that sort of music, then you have poorly served a good part of your marketplace.
This all comes under the heading of "know your audience", and it's something that I've worked on for years after seeing how others "mismanaged" the same problem.
Long ago, I took a look at the live music 'scene' from the point of view of what was out there and who they were playing for. I then added in some real world experience as to what seemed to work best, and made my selections of repertory accordingly.
I found that the folks that were paying good money for the groups in my size range (19 to 22) were:
• Corporate folks, those who are looking to set a particular mood with their dollars, and who usually have a decent budget
• Weddings, where people are looking for a "turnkey package" that covers what they want to hear; they generally are either on a budget or don't give a hoot how much it costs
• Charity work and the like. (This means benefits and galas and auctions and such, not free music.) Similar to Corporate, but much more fragmented.
Then I took a look at the age groups involved:
• Corporate folks were likely to be in the 20's - 40's age range
• Wedding folks are in their fifties and sixties (with children in their twenties
• Charity folks are all up in their forties or higher. Once in a great while I will encounter a chair in her thirties, but that's the rare exception
Now, let's take a look at the type of music that these folks grew up with:
20's - 30's - It's pretty here and now stuff. Of course, they are probably programming it for an older crowd, so they can mostly be disregarded
40's - These folks were "young" in the 1980's, the tail end of disco combined with "rock"
50's - These folks were children of the Sixties - some arm waving and hip wiggling is what they're going to want
60's - Children of the 1950's, who look fondly at stuff like Elvis & Company, and will co-exist with later tunes but not be as comfortable with them.
That's the population and its cohorts. Very few people above age 70 will be booking a group of any kind, and those under 30 (unless Mom and Dad are involved) are only looking for wedding music.
And, keep in mind that I'm not saying that there's something wrong with any particular period. There's nothing wrong with the 1930's or disco, or rock 'n' roll, or even grunge and techno. It's just that I'm not aiming to service some types of music because I know (based upon long experience) that there's not going to be a call for them.
Examples:
"Big band" stuff, as a general rule, is not going to be a bread and butter item for my group. We've got a lot of it, we all like to play or sing it, but the only function that it serves for 99% of the population is that of a "performance piece". True, there was an upturn in interest in "swing" a few years ago, and true, there will always be those who will keep lindying until they are in their grave. But, it's not the main thrust.
Fifties stuff, except for the core rock 'n' roll classics, it good to fill the cocktail hour, but not the sort of thing that 99% of the customers can manage on the dance floor. On a typical job, I've got two sets to fill during dinner and drinks time, and that's where these get slotted.
Disco, for some strange reason, continues to command some respect. Sure, we all have reviled it over the years, and sure, the steps are as intricate as any of the "old" dances ever where. But, there seems to be a core 30% of the customer base that goes nuts when a Donna Sumner tune is queued up. I've got enough of it to do an entire set if asked, and generally spread out the better tunes in two song clusters.
Broad band "pop". Motown, R&B, and some of the stuff that everyone made fun of at the time but is now nostalgic. Lots there to choose from, and a big band of listeners who will like some portion of it. I've worked long and hard to get enough of this to do a solid set, and now (dependent upon the vocalists available) I almost have two sets' worth.
Latin. Some of the traditional stuff (cha-chas, tangos and so forth) but a lot more of the up-tempo stylings of Gloria Estephan and her ilk. Latin rock is a good change of pace, and it makes for magic if you have some good, solid Latin dancers in the audience.
(We did a first class, gold plated benefit down in the Rio Grande valley a while back, and were prepared with a lot of Latin tunes. The dance floor was filled with people who knew all of the moves, and I was left feeling that I needed another ten minutes of the stuff. I now have it...)
Many will differ with these selections (including some in my own group) but I am aiming for what people want to hear. If I give them what they want to hear two-thirds of the time, I can sneak in what they should want to hear in the remaining third.
Oh, and vocals - lots of vocals. People can't readily associate with a hot tenor sax player, but they can with singers. (Not everyone can bar walk, but we all can (and do) sing.) My mix of what we normally play is probably 80% vocals, 20% instrumentals.
The practical effects of all of this theorizing are easy to see. In fact, they are what was behind my decision to do this stuff in the first place.
In the first group that I played with down here, the leader was your typical "big band" enthusiast. He loved the stuff of the 30's and 40's, tolerated that of the 50's, and pretty well frowned on anything else.
Sometimes we would hit a lull in the evening, and he would be at a loss as to what to play to get things moving again. Malicious person that I am, I would suggest in a not too quiet voice that we play Mustang Sally. Presented with a fait accompli (and having no good alternatives to mind), it would become the choice and up on the stand it would go.
Immediately that the distinctive opening to the tune would start, the dance floor would be packed full of forty-something couples, happy at last to have a tune that they didn't have to know how to swing dance to enjoy. It was almost magical how it worked, and I saw it work time and time again, to the point that my neighbors were taking bets as to when I would start the ball rolling.
Then, after it was done, and you had a dance floor chock full of couples, the leader would have regained his composure and (just as invariably) the next tune would be Tommy Dorsey's Original Boogie-Woogie. By the time we were ten bars in, the floor would empty, again as if by magic.
There's a place for all kinds of music in the world. However, those places are not always co-located. You can field a decent swing band and play the occasional (very occasional) swing band gig. Find the right bar with the right clientele and you might be able to do it once a month.
The same can be said for almost any specific kind of music. But, if you want to book a group into money-making opportunities, you better be able to play the schlock that hoi polloi wants to hear. Ignore those feelings if you want, but don't complain when your audience isn't there...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Bruno
Date: 2007-04-04 02:08
Did you hear about the two musicians watching a 60-piece Hollywood orchestra making a sound track for a movie?
One said,
"Just look, Harry! Those guys are putting two synthesizer players out of work!"
Okay, already! I'm sorry!
B.
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Author: grifffinity
Date: 2007-04-04 03:20
Bruno wrote:
> Did you hear about the two musicians watching a 60-piece
> Hollywood orchestra making a sound track for a movie?
> One said,
> "Just look, Harry! Those guys are putting two synthesizer
> players out of work!"
>
You aren't too far off. In fact, there is a movement towards "live musicians" and new compositions for video game soundtracks, which today cost about as much as movies to produce. Synthesized sound went OUT with the CD and DVD rom drive game systems.
The demand has shifted. Times have changed. We just need to find our niche.
Post Edited (2007-04-04 03:20)
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2007-04-04 04:25
Terry Stibal wrote (in part):
>
> There's a place for all kinds of music in the world. However,
> those places are not always co-located. You can field a decent
> swing band and play the occasional (very occasional) swing band
> gig. Find the right bar with the right clientele and you might
> be able to do it once a month.
I'm a swing dancer and a folk dancer, the latter mostly New England - style contra dancing. Contradancers love and demand live music, but can't afford to pay for it; consequently they got a lot of "community - level" type musicians, including me, with uneven quality as the result. But we have fun. But we could never make a living at it, even in part. Even the top - notch groups that tour struggle, staying in people's homes as part of their reimbursement package, earning perhaps enough from dances to replace the transmissions on their cars when they blow from all that mileage.
Swing dance groups only hire "pros", but rarely hire, as you suggest. Pros may be good, but recorded music is perfect and offers more variety.
The local electric blues jam around here is considering banning Mustang Sally
Steve Epstein
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2007-04-04 06:26
in the end we're all going to be replaced by machines. and those machines will be replaced by other machines and so forth. who needs humans anyway.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2007-04-04 08:03
Perhaps if we weren't all such mechanical 100%-note-accuracy-before-worrying-about-such-grotesque-luxuries-as-style-and-musicality perfectionists, we wouldn't be in this mess. We scream and holler if someone botches a note, but quietly let it pass if the music is bland but accurate. It's no wonder we're so easy to replace by computers.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2007-04-04 15:52
Here in the greater Houston area, I've played with a group that gets booked (on average) once a year for swing dance clubs. The problem, as you say, is that recorded music is too available and too convenient and too inexpensive compared to the price of live music. No question there at all. But, they (or at least around here they) do book live music.
There are some unpleasant parallels here, if we want to extend them. For example, many musicians complain that "live music" is being eaten alive by recordings.
The "pros" there are many: usually "perfect" quality, control over content, "big names" producing the content, and cost (a good CD player with a pro CD of your selections might cost as much as you would pay for one sideman in group, plus you've got the player and CD for the long run, not just for one night.
The "cons" there aren't nearly as numerous: "presence that only live music can provide", a horde of locust-like musicians devouring your buffet line (oh wait, that's probably a bad thing), and...what else? Perhaps the possibility of being able to obtain tunes that aren't available on a recording.
Not much to put in the other balance pan, is it? Hence, the prevalence of "canned" music.
But, I am unbiased enough to state that we all favor recorded music over live. For example, when was the last time you hired a 100 piece orchestra to perform an evening of listening for you and your family? Hell, let's even be more realistic and say a combo?
The answer, of course, is that you haven't. Instead we all rely on canned music for well over 90% of our "musical needs", and only the good sense of the American Federation of Musicians back in the confrontational days ensured that musicians who create it get something for their efforts. But, that's just the ones with the recording work.
The "heyday" of musicians had to be back in the days before there were school music programs (before 1900, most likely), where only those who came up through the "guild" system (learned at the foot of a teacher, plus practiced a lot) were there to provide the music. That was a true "guild" situation, but alas, those days are gone forever. Ever since that time, the "pool" of "professional" musicians has been diluted by each advance that came along. Ample training provided the first glut of musical bodies, then the technological advances arrived (recording, radio, "talkies", high fidelity recording, portable music players (record, tape, CD, computer), digital sound and synthesizers.
(By the way, a synthesizer player is still a musician (for the most part; I have met a few exceptions in that line of work).)
Will it all end at some point in the future? Will there be a way of calling up a "perfect" pre-recorded performance that draws on patches and sequencing to trot out a digital equivalent of Mel Torme fronting for Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, this at 3:00 in the morning in five different Midwestern cities?
Well, not yet, at least for the vocalists. I have not yet heard a "decent' synthesized vocal "performance". Digital recordings - yes, but synthesized - not by a long shot.
But, in some areas and with some horns (the bulk of the strings, oboe, flute, trumpet over much of its range, percussion, a decent digital piano (our's sounds great; it's a Yamaha P-88 with a decent amp)) the synthesizers are getting very close, like it or not.
I still haven't heard a sampled line of clarinet or bass clarinet that sounds "good" to me, as a clarinet player. However, for hoi polloi (aka "the great unwashed massess"), what we have now is probably good enough. And, every year they're going to get closer, simply because we musicians "cost too much" to obtain for most purposes.
Does this mean that we should throw up our hands and call it quits? Or, that we should be taking a pay cut in the hopes that it will convince some that our price point is as good for what they get?
My grandpa Bill was one who didn't think so. He was in the AFM back in the disasterous 1920's, and he saw the havoc wrought by recordings (both movie and records). He went to work for the fire department, and only played on the side for the rest of his life.
But, as far as it goes these days, I've determined that "we're" (i.e., us live musicians) ain't through yet. And, the response involves more than just sitting around grousing. It involves getting creative, looking for the niches, and marketing what you have.
One of the main advantages of AFM membership is the column in the monthly newsletter International Musician written by Bob Propyk. In that monthly half page, he addresses not how to be a better musician (after all, that's up to you and your time in the practice room) but rather how to better market your talents to the listening public.
(Disclaimer: I have made a guest appearance in Mr. Propyk's column, this for our musical business cards that we hand out. If anyone is interested, I'll forward the instructions for making these.)
Each month, Propyk takes one aspect of the music business and dissects it, usually with real world examples of how someone else has already confronted a problem and solved it. Very good advice for my money, and I'd say that there's not a quarter that goes by that I don't get some new "angle" on how to make those jobs happen.
(He also has several books out on the topic; these can be purchased from AFM through their website I believe.)
Looking at music from a marketing standpoint, I have found that I get hired for a variety of purposes. And, as unfortunate as it may be, some of them have very little to do with pure musical reasons. Thinking like a purchaser helps with this appreciation, and you learn to sell yourself for more than just musical notes coming from one end of the room.
In effect, it means more marketing of the "sizzle" rather than the "steak". It means marketing that which people like to see and hear (in our case, the vocalists) and more or less keeping excellent musicians "in the background". And, it means marketing "entertainment" rather than "music", a concept that some musicians have trouble understanding at first. Hard to do, particularly if you are "stuck" in one period. But, it has to be done.
(One thing that I found "helped" our image is the same thing that Dorsey and Goodman and every other leader back in the day knew as well: "Cute Sells!" What does this mean? It means dragging a musician out as a vocalist (as well as an instrumental soloist. It means, for the want of a better term, "schtick like waving the derby mutes around in unison rather than just using them as the player sees fit. It means dramatic entrances and exits rather than just having a vocalist rise from his or her chair, take three steps forward, and start singing into a mike stand.
All of this comes from feedback from prior clients, and it's a strong indication that the little (and very non-musical) stuff matters. Ignore it at your peril.
Example:
We have the Ray Charles number Hit The Road, Jack, and for a while we just did it as a standard "This is our next number" sort of item. But, for the last year or so, I've been using it as a transitional number to take off our lead male vocalist and turn things over to the female vocalists, all with very little choreography. And, done this way, it's a rousing success.
The system is set up by opening a dance set with some up tempo, R&B stuff, maybe three in a row of the likes of Soul Man, Mustang Sally and the like. Then, it's time for a little stage business on the part of the male vocalist, idle chatter about how much he's enjoying his time in the limelight and so forth.
As this is going on, the opening eight bar phase of Hit The Road, Jack is cranked up on the piano, bass, drums and guitar. Pretty low key, and it continues under the tail end of the male vocalist's patter.
As the opening is vamped, the female singers (in a fresh costume from the earlier stuff) come on stage, one after another, walking in time with the vamp. Each of them does a little "cutesy" wave as she enters the vocalist's area in front of the group.
Finally, as they arrive in their spots, the lead female vocalist cues the rhythm folks and they launch into the opening chorus: "Hit the road, Jack! And, doncha come back no...", as they sway in time with the tune.
In turn, the lead male vocalist appears somewhat surprised by all of this, and basically reacts through the words in the song. His protests continue as he is shoved off the stage by the backups. Then, the lead female turns back to the audience and finishes up with the "Yeah" at the stinger at the end of the tune.
Then, about ten seconds later, the lead female with her backups launches into R-E-S-P-E-C-T and the transition is complete.
Simple, very effective, and it always gets a great positive reaction from the crowd. It gives the dancers a five minute rest from their exertions and something to watch while they are resting. It really "launches" the next tune in a big way. And, best of all, it costs nothing to do.
Another example of the "value added" stuff that we do is "birthday boy", where I preselect someone (with the help of the client) who is close to or having his birthday. He gets taken up on stage, there to have Happy, Happy Birthday Baby sung to him "in the right way".
A band vocal is another real "crowd pleaser". Something that's not expected, and that exposes the musicians in another light is always a change of pace for the audience, something that takes the group to a different (although not always better) plane. In Play That Funky Music, White Boy, most of the band does little more than play "hits" scattered through the verse each time around. But, the net effect when you have fourteen men rise up and sing as one the well-known chorus is, once again, a real crowd pleaser.
For these, I both seek out the unusual as well as the "usual suspects." For example, there aren't too many other groups on this planet who are doing In Hollywood (Everybody Is A Star), one of the better The Village People numbers), but we do, drawing out our better vocal talents to sing the four non-cop parts.
I've also strip mined the repertory of Louis Prima, and have seven or eight numbers from him that are "crowd pleasers"; it seems that everybody likes singing "I ain't got nobody!" three or four times a night.
And, finally, there's disco. People may make fun of it, they may have burned their white belts and platform shoes, and in normal public opinion it may "suck", but whenever we trot out a disco number, it's time for the dancers hidden in the crowd to get up on the dance floor. (Some of the music is quite good and musical as well - I like Lady Marmalade myself, but that's because I have a fancy baritone line to play on that one.)
All of this helps, in addition to the help that you get from excellent musicians and vocalists. Even stuff like lights help.
On those occasions when we have been provided professional lighting, you can tell the difference in the reactions of the audience. When I get the space for the gear (trailer purchase is still in the works), that will be the next thing that I add.
I'm already "carrying" a reserve position so as to bring along another female vocalist, and either she or my Trumpet IV will get to punch the buttons on the lighting controller. With a controller and cues in the music, you can really put on a spectacular visual effect with two stands, eight fixtures and a trumpet player with a free hand to punch the presets for you. (This little "value added" item is going to cost some money, however...)
In short (even though it took some time to get here), live music is about more than just the fact that the music is live. You will see many musical groups where the front people are not the best in the voice department, yet they stay on. (Rock is particularly bad in this department.) It's usually because they look good, or they engage the audience better, or due to some other intangible factor. The "front" might be holding a guitar, and even strumming it, but the real work is being done by the folks behind him or her on the stand. It's all part of the performance, not just the music.
You have to use all of factors just as much (or, sometimes more) than you do the music to make it all "happen". It's a bit of a blow to your musical ego, but once you get over it, you'll do just fine.
One of our best jobs to date, a full boat gig with our theatrical lighting supplied and excellent food and an open bar, was for a group that wanted two things from us or any other band that they were looking to hire. They wanted to set a 1940's mood at the beginning of the evening (which most groups like ours would kill for the chance to do), and then trend into "modern" dance tunes by the end (which few groups like ours in the greater Houston area can do). In effect, we were being hired for the music but also for our acting ability.
(This was the same professional organization that had enough money for the entertainment to hire three swing dance couples (at my suggestion) to "prime the pump" and get others up on their feet during the "old music" section. And, it worked pretty well, even though any self-respecting zoot suiter would have knifed those who thought they were jitterbugging. They were also the group that had $3,500 in the budget to have a carved ice bar set up at the other end of the ballroom, all spectacularly backlit. That's money to burn, folks...)
It ended up being an excellent full pay job marred only by the unfortunate coincidences of a driving rain storm followed by having to retrieve the van from the impound lot since my lovely wife had parked it in a valet parking zone (right under the sign that said "You Will Be Towed"(!!)). Even with all of that considered, we still made a tidy profit, doing work that the group and I have (in effect) tailored the group to do.
The options are there if you make the effort to look for them. Just keep in mind that most people don't want to hear works by Dukas and Brahms and give them what they want to hear, and the money will follow.
But, don't ask me for suggestions for those who want to perform on alto clarinet - well, I'm afraid that I don't have a clue there...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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