Setting up a good environment for online lessons at home

2020 has been a year of transformation in many ways. In the world of music education, learning to learn online has been a huge adjustment that teachers and students alike have made. Even when the pandemic recedes, my bet is that we will continue to learn online. Why not? We’ve discovered an incredibly convenient tool for learning that makes scheduling easier and geographic barriers weaker. While apps like Zoom (which I use in lessons) have made this transition a lot easier than it would have been even a few years ago, there are still a few things students can do to make the online learning environment a pleasant one for them and their teachers. Here’s a list of a few things you can do to make online lessons work for you from the get-go!

Use a laptop if possible

I’ve found that laptops have been the best device for conducting lessons online. Of course, with a solid internet connection, you can use a phone or tablet as well. But laptops allow you to access more clearly the gallery feature feature of Zoom which, in the case of a piano lesson, would allow you to see both your teacher’s face and a second camera pointed at the instrument. In general, the larger screen of a laptop makes the experience far more satisfying than squinting into a tiny phone screen. I personally like to ‘screen share’ (showing my laptop screen where I have access to a whiteboard, music notation software and more) and students who try to following along over a phone often struggle to see what I’m showing.

Using a phone and tablet has its perks. With a device-appropriate mount/holder, you can place a phone in many locations to provide your teacher with a solid view of you and your instrument, often in ways not possible with a heavy, bulky laptop. Also, it’s worth noting that you can use your phone in conjunction with your laptop/tablet as a second camera, opening another set of possibilities. If you do use a mobile device, make sure it’s plugged in, connected to WiFi and all nonessential apps are closed! If you’d prefer to use a laptop but want to have flexibility with placement and angles, for less than $50 you can purchase a laptop stand.

Position your camera well

As a teacher, I want to see my student hands from an elevated position. If at all possible, the best angle to place your device would be somewhere where I can have a clear view of your keyboard. This is going to mean an elevated space. Preferably, the camera is giving me a view of the keyboard straight-on so I’m seeing the keyboard like the student is or as is if I were standing slightly behind the student and to one side or another. If you’re using a laptop for your web camera, your best bet is going to be a shelf, window sill, dresser or other sturdy piece of furniture that is on the taller side. If you are using a phone or tablet, you can use a clip/holder to attach it to the music stand of your piano or keyboard, a mic stand, a lamp or any tall and thin stand. It’s not a great angle, but positioning your phone on either side of a piano can also work. Of course, you must do what is best for the space you’re in!

That said, I’ve taught lessons to students where I cannot see the keys at all and that’s worked out fine too. A lot depends on the level of the student – I need to see a beginner’s hands a lot more than an advanced students’.

Check your internet connection!

A frequent issue I have with students is a poor internet connection. Let me just say that an hour piano lesson with consistent internet outages is not going to be a great experience! If there’s one investment I’d encourage students to make, it would be in a reliable broadband connection, with speeds in 25MBPS+ range (test here). If you are using a laptop and are able, try plugging an ethernet cord directly into your router.

Zoom tips and tricks

If you do use Zoom and you are on a laptop, you actually have quite a bit of control over your sound, both in what you hear and how the sound from your microphone is being transmitted. As a teacher, I find that I can help my students better when I can hear them better.

First things first, please ensure your environment is quiet. With a ton of background noise, any chance of a successful lesson is severely diminished! Assuming your room is quiet, here’s a few things to do in the Zoom settings to improve your audio quality:

1. Go to the Zoom app, open the settings (the gear icon at the top right), and click on the audio tab.
2. Adjust your microphone input volume so that your teacher can hear you.
3. Put suppress background noise to ‘low’ (If you don’t, Zoom will suppress your piano all the time!)
4. Click “Show in-meeting option to ‘enable original sound’ from microphone in the advanced section and “enable original sound” when in meeting. This gives me your audio from your piano without Zoom’s filtering which kills the quality of your piano sound.
5. Try “High fidelity music mode” – it can make your connection lag if your internet speed isn’t great but can also greatly enhance audio.
6. Unclick ‘Automatically adjust microphone volume’.

Other applications offer similar features though it is worth noting that Facetime, among others, do NOT, making the sound-quality of lessons inferior. It is worth noting that these features are only adjustable on the desktop version of Zoom. There you go, another reason to use that laptop!

Find a quiet, well-lit room

While the piano tends to be fixed in it’s location, if you’re taking lessons on a keyboard and have the option, try looking for a quiet room to have lessons in or schedule lessons for a less busy/noisy time. A lot of background noise can really decrease the quality of the lesson and distract you and your teacher! And please make sure the lights are on and bright enough for your teacher to see the keys clearly.

These little tips and tricks should help you have great Zoom lessons with your teacher and feel like you are having a worthwhile experience! The great thing is that once you have figured everything out, you will not have to think about these things much more!

-Alex

11 ways every parent can help their young child make the most of beginner piano lessons

You’ve found a great teacher for your child, teacher and child get along, and everything seems to be going well.  A few weeks into the lessons, you ask her to show you what she’s been working on and her fingers hesitatingly produce a cacophony of musical nonsense.  Clearly this can’t be worth the pretty penny you are spending to educate your child!  Maybe music just isn’t … inside her!

Relax! All is well.  You’re doing the right thing by arranging for piano lessons and even though you may not be a musician yourself, there are ways you can help your young child through her initial few months of lessons. With your help, she can become self sufficient at the piano, work well with the teacher, and look forward to time alone at the piano every day.  This involves a little bit of self-education on your part, to help get her on the right path. But soon, with the guidance of a good teacher, your child will respond to your inquiry with something that sounds like music!.  

Here are 10 ways to help your child with piano lessons.

1. Help with directional issues

Younger children have a tough time understanding direction in music. This can make instructing them, especially in the online teaching era, more difficult. Here’s a primer. On the piano, down is to the left and signifies the lower notes in pitch. Up is to the right and signifies the higher notes. This can be tricky for kids, so please have them remind you what the lowest note and highest notes on the piano are, which way is “up” versus “down”, which hand is their left/right, etc. You can even have them start on a random note and play a “Simon says”-style game using middle C (the C in the middle of the piano, see below for finding where middle C is) as your starting note and commanding them to go up, down, to the highest and lowest notes, etc..

2. Learn names of notes

Our music alphabet goes from A to G, of which I love to remind my kids by asking them where H is on the piano. In the picture below, the keys are labelled with notes. Feel free to get some white stickers, put them on your keys and label the notes for a couple of weeks. Get your child to learn to recite the alphabet from G backwards (G-F-E-D-C-B-A) and do it while playing the keys. This will help them really learn where notes are on the piano. Because the keyboard is organized in a repetitive sequence of two black keys followed by 3 black keys, you can find all instances of a note by observing its relationship to the black keys. So, for example, all Cs sit to the left of the two black keys and all Fs are left of the 3 black keys. Sharp notes (#) are a half step above the reference note and flat notes (b) a half step below (see two sections below for explanation on half steps).

3. Learn basic music notation

One big hurdle your child will face learning to read music is understanding how notes are represented on the staff (the group of horizontal lines and the spaces between those lines that written notes appear on). Notes are either on a line or in the space between lines. The grand staff for piano music has two clefs (systems for giving us the pitches of notes): treble clef and bass clef. Treble clef (the top clef which looks like an ornamental ‘S’) is for the middle to upper register of the piano, is usually on the top staff and is for the right hand to play. Bass clef (the bottom clef that looks like a backwards ‘C’) is for the middle to lower register of the piano, is usually on the bottom staff and is for the left hand. They are not to be interpreted the same — note how the lowest line of the treble clef is the E above middle C while the lowest line of the bottom staff, in bass clef, is the 2nd G below middle C. This makes learning how to read two-handed piano parts quite challenging in the beginning! It does make sense – having to cover 88 keys, piano notation efficiently allows us to read music that covers quite a wide range of notes. Have patience because it does become second nature over time. Having a guide printed and ready to consult (the one below should do for most beginners) will make learning to read music much easier:

4. Learn intervals.

The distance between notes is called the interval. While there are many intervals, to get started you should only know a couple of interval at their most basic level.

The first interval to know is the step. A step is when you go up or down one note on the piano. An example would be to go from ‘A’ to ‘B’ or ‘E’ to F’.

The second interval to know is the skip. A skip is when you go from ‘A’ to ‘C’, skipping over ‘B’, for example.

The last interval to know is the octave. An octave is when you go from a note to another of it’s type. This would mean, for example, to play ‘middle C’ and then play the ‘C’ above or below that.

You can play a similar “Simon-says”-style game with your kids, instructing them to go up/down a step, a skip or an octave!

5. Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm

‘Rhythm” is a surprisingly difficult word to define and I won’t attempt to do so here but rhythm is an incredibly important component to your child’s success with playing music. One way to understand it is rhythm deals with how we feel music in time. While pitch is rather easy to understand on the piano, (you hit a key, it makes a sound, we label that sound with a letter from A to G), time can be divided in many ways. When learning to read music my beginner students have struggled the most with rhythm and often don’t even know they are struggling with it . Music needs a beat to feel good and your child needs to develop a beat. Here’s a simple exercise that will strengthen both you and your child’s rhythm.

1. Hold a note on the piano and count to 4 while holding the note. Please start counting as you hit the note. This is a whole note. (e.g 1-2-3-4). It last for four counts or beats. The speed at which you count is what we call the tempo.
2. Do the same but count to 2 and then strike the note again, on the 3rd beat. (e.g. 1-2, 3-4) This is two half notes. Each half note lasts two beats.
3. Do the same but play on every beat. This is a quarter note (e.g 1 , 2, 3, 4). A quarter note lasts one beat.
4. Now do this exercise going seamlessly from steps 1-3 and then repeat it. Again, for a whole note count 1 2 3 4. For a half note, count 1 – 2 – 3 – 4. For a 1/4 note count 1 2 3 4. (The bolded numbers are the beats where you are striking a key, non-bolded ones are beats where you are holding the note). Below is how this exercises would look notated.

The more you do this exercise, the more you both will feel the difference between, for example, a quarter note and a whole note. Knowing this type of difference is what will help take your child’s performances to the next level!

6. Practice every day

The importance of consistency with young children is well documented. In addition to practicing, kids should be thinking about music every day. Even if they practice and mess up a bunch and seemingly make no progress, they’re getting used to having music be a regular part of their lives. This practice time can be as a little as 5 minutes and make a huge difference in the long run.

7. Allow for plenty of mistakes

Monitor your child’s practicing but please don’t feel that you need to correct every mistake! If you know they’re making a mistake, occasionally ask them if what they just played was right or wrong or if it could be better but there’s no need to constantly stop them while practicing and demanding a better product. Let them learn to hear mistakes and take their time. This builds a sense of independence and avoids them feeling afraid to try new things and make mistakes. it’s far more important for them to experience music a lot than for them to chase perfection. Practicing isn’t always fun, but we don’t want your child to dread piano practice either.

8. Sing songs together

If a child is learning a song, have them sing it at the dinner table, in the car, on a walk. Sing songs together that you like. Sing songs they are playing in their books or learning in lessons. Singing music is the most organic and direct way to connect with music. Musicians always say “if you can sing it, you can play it”. We educators really are trying to build the connection between what’s in the child’s ears and coming from their fingers. Since singing a piece requires the singer to internalize it, playing it becomes that much easier.

If you notice your child (or YOU!) consistently sing off-key, trying “matching pitch”. This is a basic ear training exercise where you try to recreate the pitch of any note – whether it is sung, plucked, played, etc. – with your voice. If you cannot do this, try practicing it a little bit every day to improve.

9. Listen to music at home and go see live music

If you want your child to have an interest in playing piano, try finding music that features piano in it. Classical, jazz, gospel, motown, pop, tango, singer-songwriter, rock and a plethora of other genres of music often highlight the piano. Play this music at home and in the car. It doesn’t need to be a deliberate thing; you just want your child to hear this music in the background and develop positive associations with it. Absent real-world examples of hearing piano, very few students will ever develop a passion for playing the instrument. We do not learn in a vacuum! While seeing music live right now, when concerts are quite rare is hard, plan to do it when society opens back up. A trip to see great musicians perform live will inspire you both! Ultimately, the more your child loves music, the more they will want to practice and play music.

10. Take lessons in parallel

If possible, you might want to take music lessons alongside your child to better help them along their journey. It is less important that you take piano lessons than you taking any kind of lesson, so long as it’s an instrument that you’re passionate about. Moreover, this gives you a chance to grow artistically on your own and share that journey with your child. At a young age, when they still look to you for inspiration, your kids will surely notice your musical efforts and see music as a part of their family life. Eventually, this will afford you chances to play music together, which is an amazing experience. Every kid will react differently, of course, to your music making but this may help motivate your child.

11. Have them teach you!

Once in a while, sit at the keyboard and ask them to show you some things they know about the piano. In medical training, they say “See one, do one, teach one”. We learn even more by teaching others how to do things, which is one reason I love to teach! Getting their brains going just opens up one more pathway for them to absorb music and make it their own.

-Alex

Becoming a working musician

There’s no application. You can’t contact a recruiter. You don’t interview and your degree isn’t particularly useful. Don’t even bother with LinkedIn! How in the world does somebody interested in a career as a working, performing musician get started? Though a small few start on a professional track in music from a very early age cause they come from musical families, are ‘discovered’, or are just put in the right environment at the right time by their doting parents, most of us musicians have to figure out the answer to that question on our own to some degree. It is a tough and often strange road but one that is traversed successfully by all kinds of fantastic people.

Let’s start with as concise of a definition of ‘working musician’ as is possible. How about this:

A working musician is someone who makes all or a significant portion of their income performing music in a variety of settings, including concerts, private functions, public spaces, religious, and educational institutions and recording studios.

The majority of working musicians I know also teach, which to me is a different practice from performance, or do something else, from composing music for television to working day jobs, to make ends meet. After all, gigs generally happen nights and weekends and that leaves a good chunk of time to do things other than perform (unless you’re on tour). If you’re recording a lot, you’re mostly doing that during the day. Being an NYC musician and living in the times we live, I don’t know too many ‘studio’ musicians, i.e. musicians who make their living recording in a studio. A studio scene does exist still in Nashville and LA and maybe to some extent in NY but I don’t know a whole lot about that world so I won’t be talking about it here but am planning on writing an article about how the business of recording music has changed so dramatically in the last twenty years.

Performing can mean a lot of things. I’m not distinguishing playing a sold-out concert from a wallflower background music gig from a dance class from recording in a studio. In all these examples, different as they are, you’re getting paid to play your instrument. I don’t equate making your living as a musician with being a superior performer — plenty of full-time, ‘working’ musicians are far less interesting to me as artists than those who may make their living doing something else. But I do think there’s a group of us who take pride in making a living playing music, enjoy the lifestyle and find the variety of settings and opportunities quite stimulating.

There’s a plethora of ways to work as a musician but before you put yourself out there, it’s good to know the prerequisites for “applying” for the job. You need to be able to:

• Play your instrument in tune and in time with an understanding of rhythm, dynamics, articulation, etc. You need to know your instrument. Please take a few lessons with a professional you look up to as a bare minimum!
• Own an instrument that is in good shape! If you’re borrowing a friend’s bass and want to be a bass player, go out and buy one. What if you get called for a gig and you don’t have something dependable to play on?
• Have some experience “playing out”. If you’ve just dabbled with your guitar in your bedroom, you’re in for a whole ‘nother thing on your first gig. Practice playing with people and for people however you can before trying to get paid to do it.
• Know the scene you’d like to dive into. Most styles of music have active scenes, where there are communities of musicians with shared interests and influences. You can blend and defy genres later on but if you’re trying to get called for work, it’s helpful to have an identity when you start. I also think it’s really important to demonstrate a passion for the kind of music you want to play. You don’t need to be a scholar or an ascetic devotee to your musical gods but you should be immersed in something.
• Know what’s expected of your scene and of your instrument in that scene. As a jazz musician that means having an understand of swing feel, knowing tunes (melody, harmony and form of 50 or so “jazz standards is probably a bare minimum), being able to solo over a tune and not constantly wonder where in the form you are, etc. If you’re more interested in, say, musical theatre work, you might not really need to know any tunes in particular by memory or be able to improvise over them but you need to be a superb sight reader!
• We’ll save the “is a 4 year music bachelor’s program worth it?” discussion for another day but my opinion is that while a degree is NOT a prerequisite it does give you a structured way to get really good as a musician and make connections for life. I’ve felt I had an uphill battle to fight at times having not attended college for music. Many successful musicians I know not only attended prestigious conservatories but also were actively playing music during high school! But I also know many musicians who attended small music schools or didn’t attend school at all and are doing just fine. Moreover, there’s quite a few deep in debt who regret their decisions to attend fancy schools with large price tags.

If you read the above list and feel pretty confident you’re ready to go, it’s time to move somewhere where there is a music scene, ideally with savings in your bank account because this ‘working musician’ thing will take time to become a reality, and hit the ground running. Before getting into specifics, let me just make a general observation after having spent 10 years in the profession: The musicians who are most successful at gaining employment and staying employed are the ones who are dependable, consistently spend time on their craft and sound, get out to hang and are easy to work with. I don’t think this is too different from many other lines of work! With that in mind I’ll try to outline a few more specific ways to get started with a career in freelance gigging:

Jam Sessions

Going to jam sessions in the scene you’re trying to break into is a surefire way to at least meet people. You may not get hired for anything, even after going for a long while, but if nothing else you can get the scoop on the scene you’re into, make a bunch of new friends, get better on your instrument and learn the things that you didn’t know you needed to know. There’s not a ton of “you’re hired!” moments at jams where you just got up and play your ass off and instantly get hired for a gig. OK, that basically never ever happens ever. And yeah, you will meet a lot of annoying amateurs and people with insecurities on and off stage. But regular attendance at a few different sessions will keep you on people’s minds. Staying at home will lead you nowhere. “Out of sight, out of mind” indeed. You will not get called by people because you are ranked somewhere on some list or have a nice website. You get called by other musicians and bandleaders because they remember you. It takes a lot of years of hanging around any kind of scene for you to make a permanent imprint on enough people’s minds that you can take your foot off the gas pedal and even then…

You can also set up jams at friend’s studios, apartments and spaces. This is a good way to build relationships, grow together musically, try new pieces you’re writing and play other’s music and meet friends of friends. In the freelance music world, you’re trying to both deepen and develop relationships while meeting new people as much as you can, especially when you’re starting out. When I reflect on who has called me for gigs it often ends up being people I’ve played with a handful of times. Sometimes you get called by people who not only have never met you but are referred to you by a musician you barely have played with. Knowing a lot of people is extremely helpful in the path towards getting work.

Befriending more experienced players on your instrument

I have not had a “father-figure” mentor in my musical life but I’ve had teachers and I’ve had musicians anywhere from my age to 30 years plus my senior that I’ve looked up to. One really good thing to do is meet people who play your instrument who are playing a way that you admire and have the kinds of gigs you’d like to have and go check them out. Communicate clearly to them that you really like their playing and are just trying to learn more. Some may never call you for anything. That’s fine — you learn just by watching them. Some will, eventually. I’ve gotten a lot of gigs from fellow pianists who were older than me and/or busier than I and looking for a sub. As musicians get better and busier, different opportunities may arise for them and they need someone to cover their gigs. A lot of their peers will already be busy and that’s exactly where you come in. If you’re reliable and good, you do them a favor by covering their ass and you get yourself a gig, a gig that may turn out to be steady.

Peer group

Get together with your friends and shed. Get drunk together. Get some coffee. Go on a hike. Get drunk again. OK now watch out, you may have a liquor problem. Go see your friends’ shows and support them. Call them for gigs. Be a good friend. Just because you support friends and hang with them doesn’t mean you should expect work to come from that but it’s really great to feel part of a community and a peer group. The more you deepen your relationship with your peers the more likely they are to recommend you for projects that they’re involved in and bands they work with. Your peers will know your playing best and those projects they recommend you for are the kinds of things you want to be doing in your musical journey.

If you don’t already have friends who are musicians, find some. It’s important to know and trust musicians so you can get through the top-turvy, crazy nature of this journey a little saner and stronger. You friends are the bulwark against the seeming entropy that a freelance lifestyle can often invite.

Booking your own gigs

When I was just starting in NY and pretty gig-less and doing other things to make/save money (SAT instruction, tutoring at a high school, working some odd jobs, living at home, etc.) I actually had the idea to start a band playing jazz for weddings and private events. Nightingale Jazz Band doesn’t really play much anymore but our vocalist and I got a lot of gigs from just establishing a website, paying a minimal amount for advertising and investing in a good video. Running an event band like that ultimately wasn’t for me — you spend a lot of time emailing, texting, writing charts, organizing rehearsals, dealing with clients and people in the wedding industry (which I kind of loathe) and doing everything EXCEPT practicing — but in the 4-5 years we were quite active I got more of a chance and to develop improvisational fluidity, a repertoire, and relationships with the musicians we used than I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t started the band. I also developed some business savvy. These experiences help me to this day: Now when I get called for gigs with jazz singers, I feel more confident that I can take care of business because I’d already done the type of gig they are asking me to play countless times.

I think you can be creative with this. I got a gig at a vineyard after emailing a list of 50 of them on the suggestion of a family friend who said wineries were often looking for live music. They eventually hired me for what turned into a steady (albeit seasonal) gig for over 5 years. The emails probably took me between one and two hours to write and send. I’ve seen musicians take a once a month show at a local bar and make into a weekly hang, curate concert series in places where they didn’t exist before, develop bands from scratch into extremely busy and in-demand outfits. You don’t have to wait for the work to come to you.

I guess I’ll walk back my snarky website comment and say having a strong online presence will help you book gigs as a bandleader. A brief aside: “marketing” yourself to people in the music, entertainment, and hospitality businesses (where a lot of music “jobs” can be found) is an entirely different matter than developing a reputation as a musician among other musicians. They are two different approaches and what works in one world often does not in the other.

Broaden your skill set

If you find yourself working but wishing you had more dates on your calendar, you may need to start taking other types of gigs than those you initially set out to get. Restaurant gigs, church gigs, dance class gigs, musical theatre gigs, singer songwriter gigs, accompaniment gigs, wedding gigs, corporate gigs, and so it goes. Find people on your instrument who do them and ask them what they needed to do be prepared to do those types of gigs. If someone asks you to do one and you’re feeling bold or desperate enough, fake it and say “yes, I can do that”. That may seem irresponsible but at some point you need to “leap before you look”. No one’s life is in your hands and you may find yourself a new niche!

Broadly, you can do more things to enhance your appeal. Learning a new instrument, including how to sing in a band, getting into other genres of music and hanging out in new scenes come to mind. Or if you really just want more work in a certain world, dive deeper. Sometimes you think you’ve exhausted all you’re options in a scene when really you just need to shuffle things up a bit.

Cold Call

If you’re particularly hungry, you can reach out to agencies that book bands and offer your services. This might be something like a wedding band or an agency that books groups for private parties. You might also try to get a contract with a cruise line. Whoever you call, let them know your skill set, attach a video/website, offer to audition. These agencies are often looking for particular instrumentalists to plug holes as needed. You might not get a lot of work at first but you never know. These are very different situations from getting referred by a friend but if you’re professional, know the skills that you need to possess and are able to do the job, you might just get hired. It’s also helpful to…

Get a car

This one is certainly not necessary but for better or worse (and I often wonder which one), having a car has opened up a whole class of gigs to me that wouldn’t be open to me otherwise. Of course, in most cities in the U.S. everyone has a car so this move is probably necessary. NYC is definitely not car-friendly but there are plenty of gigs to be had in surrounding suburbs and regional cities and town. Weddings, festivals, smaller clubs in the suburbs and smaller cities of the region, wineries in eastern Long Island, colleges across the area – if you don’t have a car you often can’t make these gigs, especially if you have gear to bring. Sometimes people call you for those types of gigs because you have a car. Ah, what a great way to feel like a complete accessory.

The car thing is a mixed bag. Yes, you get called for those gigs but having a car is expensive and a hassle. I totaled my car coming home from a wedding gig in Mystic, Connecticut this past summer and the accident forever changed my view on car ownership. On top of that, our planet is burning and our rates of automobile ownership and use are totally unsustainable. But I still have one and depend on it to get me to gigs. It’s an option worth considering if you’re trying to work more.

……………..

I used to think a career in music performance was exclusively the realm of child prodigies and those from musical families. The truth is that it’s possible for anyone willing to put in the work. Music has always been and will always be one of the most ubiquitous parts of human culture. People want to hear music live and because of that there are myriad opportunities to perform. As a musician I’ve played in hotels, restaurants, basement clubs, burlesque clubs, skyscrapers, theaters, concert halls, lobbies, farms, atriums, boats, stores, a pharmacy, a woodworking shop, parks, castles, beaches, mountainsides, mountaintops, churches, casinos, synagogues, airports, offices, catering halls, old age homes, dance studios, wineries and state fairs, among other places. I’ve played with musicians from around the globe. Music is the truly the universal language. So if you’re unsure this endeavor is for you, take comfort in the fact that there is and always will be demand for music. You just need to get out there and find chances to play. Happy gigging!

When to say ‘no’: Taking borderline gigs as a working musician

When graduating from college, armed with a degree and a dedication towards making a living as a musician, I scarcely could have envisioned how things would look for me over 10 years later. I wasn’t very good , an OK pianist w outsized dreams, and was very happy that anyone anywhere would want my musical services. My journey over that time will perhaps be the subject of another post but what I want to talk about in this entry is how my philosophy on accepting gigs has begun to evolve from what I’d call a ‘take everything’ free for all to a ‘take what works for you’ calculus.

I’ve changed my philosophy mostly because my life has changed. Firstly, I’ve learned you have to make a living AND stay healthy while doing that cause you can’t tolerate exhaustion, poor diet, etc. as you accumulate years. Moreover, you want to budget time for family and friends, perhaps a partner, etc. Maybe you’d like to even take a vacation with these people. Then as we grow older, we take on responsibilities, and, in my case, dependents. So you can’t just be busy all the time, jetting around from commitment A to B to C, at least not without a plan. All the while, you’ve improved at your craft and have come to expect the quality of the gigs you get called for to improve. And yet external circumstances might not change much — I continue to get called for the same category of gigs that I was more than happy to take and did take at age 25. The onus is on me and no one else to decide whether to take those gigs.

I think most people intuitively understand that the basic premise of judging the worthiness of a gig is the ratio of money to time. So, my basic premise has been to go beyond the obvious arithmetic of calculating that figure to trying to glean the little things about a gig that might not be immediately apparent in say $75/hr. You may be missing details about the gig that would lead you to see that the gig is far more time consuming than you thought. Or more arduous. Or things that would help you realize the gig is such a drag that maybe your rate for it should be higher!

So I decided to list out a few things to come to my mind about whether I should take certain “borderline” gigs that are offered to me. Not gigs that pay hundreds of dollars or are with amazing musicians who are a joy to play with in an electric, cool and receptive setting. Those kinds of gigs I’ll (almost) always take because I need to make a living and I NEED to play good music! The gig I’m referring to is more like this: ‘hey man, can you do this restaurant gig? it’s Wednesday night, 8-11, pays $85, one drink and you can get food from the band menu. jazz standards. Oh and you need to bring keyboard, amp and all your stuff! place is called Romeo Romano’s on the Upper East Side”. OK, now that’s really a borderline gig! There are situations where I’d take this and situations where I wouldn’t.

In no particular order, here are some questions I’ve learned and am learning to answer before saying ‘yes’ to the borderline gig offers that come my way.

1) Does this bandleader get other work?

If my sense is that the bandleader/artist is actively booking gigs or might refer me to those who are, I’d consider taking a borderline gig. Meeting new people is invaluable in the music world. If I already know them and they call me for good gigs a lot, I’ll take the borderline ones as an implicit signal of my trust and faith in what they’re doing. Additionally, if a gig has the chance to be regular (once a week, month, etc.) this enhances it’s appeal and makes lower pay more acceptable. I can at least count on this gig being a dependable source of income without having to worry about the details of it from week to week. Now, if a certain bandleader calls me for a whole lot of borderline gigs, that’s another story.

2) When is it? Where is it?

A borderline gig on a Saturday, when musicians are busiest, is a lot less appealing than a Tuesday afternoon when very few are doing anything at all. Time of year is a factor too — there are fewer gigs in the late summer and winter when the weather is unpleasant (July, August, January, February and March) than in spring, early summer and early Fall when the weather is ideal for parties/festivals and people are out and about (April, May, June, September, October). and holiday season (December). So gigs in those lean seasons are inherently more valuable.

Location is key. It’s not just obvious things like distance (AKA 200 miles versus 50 miles) but the time of day you are going to that location. For example, making gigs in midtown Manhattan at 6PM on weekdays is the worst. If I have to bring gear, I’m either schlepping it onto a crowded subway or paying for a parking spot (hidden cost right there). I’m paying a higher amount in tolls if I drive (peak pricing) and I’m going to sit in more traffic, thus taking more time out of my day. If the gig starts at 7 or later, I can find a spot easily (street parking often “opens up” at that time), spend less time in traffic and be a much happier camper. That might be my calculus but for others it might be different. If your a violinist, taking the crowded train is less daunting and that 6PM start time gets you home earlier. If you’re already out and about, tacking on an extra gig might work out swell for your schedule. It’s all relative.

3) Can I learn something new from it?

Sometimes a gig gives you a chance to work something out that you’d like to get real time experience with. Maybe you take a gig cause you’ll get to play a new instrument on it. Maybe the music will be difficult to read and will help keep your reading chops strong. Maybe you’ll have to learn a new groove or feel (say a jazz musician gets called for a salsa gig). It’s good to keep pushing yourself and you can think of these as paid training opportunities!

4) Who is on it?

Is this a gig with friends from the past or people you like hanging with? A lot of borderline gigs have old colleagues on them that you just want to catch up with. The older you get the harder it is to find the time to do that. Also, if you feel you might meet some new great people (see item 1), you might want to consider saying yes, So take em! P.S. this is why it’s great when bandleaders tell you who is on the gig when they ask you!

5) Do I have to bring gear? What’s the parking like? Let’s talk logistics.

A borderline gig can often fail to make the grade if the logistics aren’t right. If the venue doesn’t have a backline (sound equipment in house), if parking is impossible in the neighborhood (and you need to drive), if loading in equipment is particularly arduous, if there is anything that makes the act of making music more difficult than it needs to be, my decision may be swayed.

6) Does the bandleader have policies I’m uncomfortable with?

Some bandleaders do things I’m not particularly fond of. One such practice is called “continuous music” where basically the band is playing the entire night, rotating breaks for different band members. This happens in club date type situations (think weddings, corporate events, etc.). If the gig pays well enough, I’ll usually take it but I am not a fan. I find making music, an intense activity that demands a lot of our bodies and minds, to be often exceedingly difficult when I get two rushed 5 minute breaks the whole night.

That’s of course not all. Bandleaders could be habitually bad at making sure the band gets fed. They could have horrible charts. They could demand you dress a certain way or demand you arrive incredibly early. These people are not paying you a salary with benefits. There’s a limit to how much I’d like to be asked to do and it heavily factors into whether I’ll take something. They have the right to run their ship as they please and I have the right to say no.

7) Am I new in town?

If you’re new in town, many once borderline gigs now are just opportunities to grow out your roots in a new environment. This is a good thing for all. I can forward to the bandleader the newcomers contact info, newcomer gets a gig, I get a night off and don’t take a gig that would just annoy me. A musician once referred this phenomenon to me as “passing a gig down the food chain”. I used to complain about how venues didn’t pay enough for their bands but now I see a low paying restaurant gig as a chance for someone else to play when they’ve first moved to town. Or a chance to play with a friend. Something positive can be gleaned from most situations. In this crazy world of ours, low paying gigs aren’t the worst thing.

8) Is there a rehearsal?

Oftentimes, a gig is conditional on being available for one or multiple rehearsals. Rehearsals should be paid but often the artist organizing them does not have paid rehearsals in their budget. While an unpaid rehearsal does not preclude me from ever taking a gig I’m growing to be more weary of them. I’ll ask myself whether the rehearsals/amount of rehearsals is necessary and whether the rehearsal is for me or whether it’s for the bandleader. The rehearsal is for me when the music is challenging and I need to spend time playing it and studying it in advance of the show. It’s for the bandleader when I’m being asked to come rehearse music that doesn’t need to be rehearsed, in my estimation. When the rehearsal is for the bandleader it should be paid at a level I deem adequate. Otherwise, I’m dedicating an afternoon of rehearsal plus commute for nothing.

Interestingly, some gigs can be considered “rehearsal gigs” for bigger upcoming shows or recording sessions. I may be forgiving for low pay on a “rehearsal gig” if we’re preparing for a really cool show.

There’s also the frequent ask to learn a few to a whole lot of tunes. In many scenes in NYC, you are expected to know a certain number of tunes. But beyond that, it’s really helpful when a bandleader has charts if the gig is going to be a covers gig. This often eliminates the need for rehearsal. That said, it’s common to ask the musicians to learn tunes for the gig. I’m OK with this, especially if I like the tunes and/or the number of tunes to learn is low – you get really good at doing this sort of thing quickly with experience – but if someone is asking me to learn a lot of tunes for little bread, I’m likely to pass.

9) Am I am I being asked to do this gig because of who I am or because of what I play?

This is a question that took me a long time to even formulate but I think is hugely important to me the more experienced I get. Many gigs are just jobs and that is fine. You go and play a certain style of music as it is supposed to be played and then pack up and head home. Top 40 wedding gigs are exactly this kind of gig. Many jazz gigs are like this too. If they pay well, then you generally feel like the effort you gave to do that was worth it. Some other gigs are creative gigs and, when they are good, involve musicians hired because they bring a certain skill set, artistic vibe or general presence that is sympathetic to the music being performed. As an artist, I can say that playing music where I feel like my identity is closely aligned with the music’s identity is immensely satisfying to the soul. Conversely, when I’m hired to play music a certain way I don’t identify with and the money/details aren’t right, the feeling is very crushing to the soul. Note that this can happen on both commercial gigs and artistic gigs.

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I feel compelled to remind the reader that this is my personal list. It’s not exhaustive and doesn’t apply to everyone the same way. And, trust me, I break the “rules” I’ve laid out here with alarming regularity, just taking gigs willy nilly. It’s worth remembering that when someone asks you to do a gig, it’s not good form to take more than 12 hours to get back and confirm. Anyways, I’m working on it. Finally, I should note that I am usually (95% of the time) happy to get a text or call asking me to play anywhere. I’m not god’s gift to the world of music so I appreciate people asking!

All that said, I also know what it’s like to feel burned out and I think we owe it to ourselves and to those we play with to avoid unnecessary wear and tear. I’ve found formulating this list quite helpful in solidifying a structure of priorities and hope it helps my fellow musicians make better choices and give non musicians a little insight into how our world works! And, of course, when truly in doubt, just take the gig! It’s better to be out there.