Author: sfalexi
Date: 2013-02-18 14:41
Disclaimer - It's a little disjointed, as are most of my thoughts, but this is mainly from a spectator standpoint. What would I want in a guest artist or when I attend a performance.
Just been thinking about stuff. And I realize there are many musicians out there that are really truly great. I mean, there are clarinetists left and right who have technique out the wazoo.
But after some thinking and seeing/hearing what I consider to be some truly great musicians play over the recent past weeks, I've come up with a short list of things that I believe would help to get the gigs. Pros, I'm curious if you think these are important too.
1) Adaptability - Not necessarily just to musical styles, but to personalities. I feel that getting the gigs requires you to almost be a bit of a "clarinet chameleon". No one is going to hire someone whose personality doesn't mesh well with the group. Maybe you can play the crap out of that classical excerpt, but there are probably at least a few others that can be hired that can play the same stuff. But if they dislike you and you bring a negative vibe to the group, hell, I wouldn't want you around. As far as musical styles go, I think it goes without saying that the more capabilities you have the more likely you are to be hired. You don't necessarily want to be known as the "mozart" guy, cause you'd be jobless during Brahms month.
Accompanying Story - This weekend I went out and watched a young new sax players (22 years old, straight out college) sit in on a few tunes at a local jazz club. This dude is one AMAZING jazzer. All tunes straight out of his head, and he can has amazing ideas and connects them so smoothly. Easily CD/Radio worthy. But he looked awkward. Sounded great, looked awkward. He wasn't used to playing with this group and so was trying to use conventional hand signals (circle the finger for "take another ride", pat the head for "back to the top", stuff like that). The group could've 'felt' it out with more subtle signals, but he just needs to learn to "gel" and feel the group out better. He'll get there quickly, but I could tell the group kinda looked surprised and might've had a, "You don't need to tell us to go back to the top, we've been doing this for more years than you've been alive" feel. They kinda smiled at his signals, accommodating them. But he'll learn to be more adaptable, and he'll be called in more often.
2) Getting parts down quickly - The less time it takes to get a piece down, the more marketable. Studio time costs money, last minute substitutions and sicknesses happen. If you can be "that guy" that can get the music a week before and pull off a good performance, that saves YOU the time needed to rehearse, and gets you that callback. It'd be nice to always have months to prepare for a recital, but getting started, until you can fill an auditorium months out with your name, it's about getting it down quickly and cleanly and working your way up the chain getting your name out there.
Accompanying Story - A community band I'm in played with a professional clarinetist a few weeks ago (3rd movement to one of the Weber Concertos). The first rehearsal with us he played and it was obvious he was just reading right off the page, with the exception of the very technical spots which were obvious he had rehearsed them. The second run through two weeks later was damned near perfect, and the concert went amazing. And I got to thinking, "That's why he's a pro. He knows how to prioritize and get it down quick." Obviously, running through excerpts and repertoire like this is not so you can have it all memorized all the time, but so you can get get ideas and patterns in your fingers so you can call them up at a later time. And it was obvious that he planned out his practicing to get the hard parts down solid, quickly. The parts he could read through, he read through the first two rehearsals and just planned it down to get it flawless by concert time. That kind of planning and ability to get it down quickly is one reason he's a pro. Not to mention, who knows what else he has on his plate.
Reminds me of what I've heard very often. Don't rehearse the easy parts, rehearse what you CAN'T get.
side note - this professional clarinetist was very personable and courteous to our community band and our director. I'm sure it's his personality as a whole, but I'd have a hard time believing that a stuckup "know it all" clarinetist would be invited for repeat performances without at least being professional.
3) PR. Public Relations. Smile, show happiness with your job and performance level. Shake hands and kiss babies. Well, maybe not necessary to go that far, but remember a live performance is just that - a performance. Sounding good is all well, but looking like you're having fun, engaging the audience, sticking around afterwards, having business cards and networking are important. You sound great in a practice room, well, time to show the world. I've watched groups play and if I close my eyes I love what I hear. And when I open them I get bored out of my skull. Why pay for a show or performance when I can hear it on a CD? I don't need fireworks and T-shirts shot at me, but I've heard plenty of times about energetic conductors getting the audience fired up, and go ahead and dress nice. Sad to say, but despite whatever you're playing, people listen with their eyes as well as their ears. So take that extra step to wash up, shave, put on some nice clothes, and smile during the rests as though you're enjoying waiting for your entrance. They'll see you smiling, and subconsciously smile and enjoy it too. If it's a mad angry piece, look mad and angry during those frantic passages. Think about how you look as well as how you play.
When you record yourself, make a VIDEO recording. I've been told I'm too boring, and so I need to work on moving a little MORE to the music. And we've had discussions about people who move so much sometimes they can border on distracting and keeping you AWAY from the music.
Just some thoughts I've had over the past few months after contemplating what makes a performance good, and what would warrant a callback.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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