Power to the People

Here's one that happened last night that's a little embarrassing. I was to play the bass with a college gospel choir outdoors at their King's Island campus for a Spring Celebration. There were several roadies and sound engineers on hand to prepare the stage as there were a dozen bands to perform throughout the day. They were only to have only 10 minutes to set up between acts. 

It was an outdoor concert and the temperature was 92* in full Sun. I grabbed my bass, music and 30 foot cable and proceeded onstage with about a minute before the first song was to begin. A cable was already plugged into the amp and neatly rolled up on the top for me to plug into my bass. I did, and played a test note, but nothing sounded. I quickly switched cabled but still nothing. I check the power light and it was shining brightly. I yelled into the talk-back monitor that I had no sound and the engineers quickly descended upon me to trouble shoot the problem. 

(Here's the embarrassing part)......

The amp wasn't plugged in! The Sun was shining so brightly that the power light on the amp appeared to look lit, but wasn't.

Lesson learned is to visually check to see if the black power cord is actually plugged into an outlet.

My test note sounded clearly with about 5 seconds to spare.

No time for a sound check, the director is about to start.

Standing ovation after the show.

Thanks sound team.

Power to the People!

Stop, look and listen!!!

Have you ever had to sight-read a broadway show at the performance?

Last night I played the bass with the Sinclair College Show choir and sight-reading the pieces for their quarterly vocal choral performance.

The music wasn't extremely difficult, but the musical director loves to alter the form of the pieces to fit with certain skits, vamps, and written in dialogue that the choir adds in the middle of the songs.

The choir was to perform four broadway medleys. They were "Lion King", "Hairspray", "Grease", and "Guys and dolls".

The medleys segue immediately from one to the other, and the pianist had no time whatsoever to inform me about all the cuts and repeated sections that the music director had written in. 

To give you an example, we were to start one medley on page 41 which then was to repeat to page three!  None of these changes to the original score were penciled in to my music. 

(This was going to make for an interesting evening.)

When the pianist first saw me walk in, he was aghast. "Are you actually going to sight read this  entire concert????", he quipped while a look of stark panic shot across his face. "There's no way anyone could do this".

Let me interject to say that the accompanist has his masters in piano performance and is the keyboard professor for the College. He plays wonderfully and we have done other venues in the past with good results. His reaction wasn't that he doubted my ability to play the bass, or ever sight read well. He just knew that there was no way I would "mind-read" all the changes that the director interjected.

So what was I to do?

Don't panic. 

(This isn't the first time for me that it's been fourth and ten with no time left on the clock)

I positioned my music stand directly behind the pianist. So I could see his music as well as mine. I elected to stand to give me a bird's-eye view of his measures as well as mine. This also gave me a good vantage point if I needed to see his hands on the keys.

The pianist was so busy that he couldn't even give me a second to point to where on the music he was playing. 

Here's where those three little words that I learned in kindergarten about crossing the street comes in. "Stop, look and listen".

I would be playing  along with the combo. The very instant I could tell that the Show Choir had repeated or skipped to another section, I stopped playing. The piano was playing the bass clef notes in the piano part anyway, so the music didn't suffer at all. In fact, the music suddenly took on a lighter quality to keep the audience's attention.

Then I would look at his piano score to figure out where he was playing. When I felt that a bass entrance was appropriate, I would start playing again. This way the overall harmonic structure of the band didn't suffer with the root note being wrong. 

This also made the band sound more interesting as playing the bass on every beat gets a little monotonous, whereas cutting out and in occasionally keeps the listeners interest.

When I would see the word "freely" over a section, I would stop as it is very hard to play exactly when the piano plays the underlying chords. You can get very close, but not exact.

When the show was over, the pianist just sat on the piano bench shaking his head.

I asked what was wrong. He just whispered, "That was amazing". 

Then, he apologized for looking so shocked when he first saw me. He said that he just felt bad for me because of what I was up against musically.

"All in a night's work" I replied.

It's easy when you....

stop, look and listen.

Larry

www.musicteachers911.com

It's the little things that count.

It's the little things that count.

Last night, I was the pianist with the Hauer 18 piece big band for the Miamisburg, Ohio Veteran's Memorial Day Dance. 

The band featured music from the 1940 WWII years and also included many of the Armed Forces Songs. 

Since I wasn't the Band Leader, my thoughts were concerned with being a good sideman. 

Thoughtful sideman will be offered work more then poor ones.

Here are some of my ideas ideas.

1. I always arrive at least 30 minutes before the downbeat to insure that my equipment is fully functional 

and i am not forgetting anything. This will allow me to scramble and get anything I need and still not be late.

2. I always help the band leader with additional equipment set up. 

The band leader not only has to set up and wire his own equipment, but also the band PA, 

18 music racks, 18 stand lights and pass out 18 band music books. Last nights band book had over 1200 charts.

One thing I noticed was how many other sidemen would show up to the performance at the last minute

with only their instrument and nothing else. Many didn't lift a finger to assist the leader with the set up duties.

3. I always volunteer my dolly and extension cords to anyone else who might need them.

I also have my name and cell number clearly marked to make sure I get them back.

4. I am never the last one to return to the stage after a break.

5. I make sure that any charts that I pull out of the book for that last set are filed in order after that set.

5. I make myself available after the performance to assist the leader with tear-down.

6. I search the stage after every else is gone to insure that nothing is left behind. 

I currently have the bass players guitar stand and will contact him so he doesn't worry about it.

7. In these troubled time, the more paying performances the better.

These tips will help to insure that you are always on the band leaders "call back" list.

Good Gigging,

Larry Marra

musicteachers911.com

The top ten in my gig bag.

Here are 10 items that you might consider taking to your next gig.

1. Portable folding music rack with clothespins (in case you're outside).

2. Your own stand light (you never know how dark the stage will be).

3. extension cord. I carry a grounded, 25 foot-four outlet outdoor reel for my stand light, keyboard and amp and one left over. I also have a three t two pronged outlet adapter for older buildings.

4. An inexpensive dolly. I bought a fantastic one from welcomproducts.com called a magna cart. This dolly weights about five pounds and folds flat for transporting. It carries over 150 pounds. I added a bungee cord to keep things from shifting during transit. It cost $25 and had free shipping.

5. three apples (you can never assume that there will be food available when you get there). I had an hour drive to a four hour gig once, and was pretty hungry afterwards.

6. An extra 1/4 " amplifier cord and mic (for announcements). 

7. I take my gig clothes and wear jeans and a tee shirt to set up and tear down. If you are on a raised stage, make sure that your shoes are shined. 

8. breath mints, water and solid deodorant. 

9.  a GPS, or a mapquest.com  printout of the driving directions.

10. the cell number of the band leader (just in case).

I got this list the hard way. I hope that you find out how invaluable these items really are.

good gigging!

Larry

www.musicteachers911.com

location, location, location

Last week, I played electric bass guitar for our local senior center with the University of Dayton Big Band. UD purchased a rather large and heavy 400 watt bass amp for me to use for this.  

At rehearsals,  I love how this amp cuts through the horns and give a booming feel to the overall sound of the band. However, I don't like having to lug the thing around the campus and heave it in back of my car.  

For the performance last week, I decided to leave the big UD amp on campus and  take a much smaller and lighter 50 watt practice amp that I bought for my keyboards. In order for the bass sound to cut through the horns, I brought my ultimate support speaker stand that extends to a height of eight feet. Having the bass amp so high enabled the bass voice to be heard over the horns even from the back of the room. Of course, I tone of the bass voice was there, but not the gutsy booming feeling that you can only get with the larger amp. The good news is that it was an absolutely beautiful day and the little amp fit in the trunk of my new goldwing motorcycle. I rode to the venue with the bass guitar strapped to my back. After a long, gray winter in Ohio, there was no way that I was going to drive a car on such a perfect Spring day. 

For anyone who is thinking about getting a sound system, make sure to invest in good speaker stands so the you don't have to blast out the first few rows of people to be heard in the back.

The financial saving of not having to buy a larger and more powerful amps will pay for the stands. The additional height will make for a more overall balanced sound from anywhere in the room.

printed gig charts

This week I am going to focus on printed gig charts. 

First, make a copy of the master part that you are playing and file away the master. Gig books get lost, drinks spilled on them, marked up with specific gig directions etc. 

Second, premark the music by taking a highlighter pen and highlight every key change, tempo change, dynamic marking, repeat, DS, coda,and every rehearsal number or letter.

                                         

Third, Tape multi page charts together so that they are all connected when placing on the music rack.

Fourth, highlight an arrow from every repeat, DS, and coda to the place in which it repeats.

Fifth, take a portable mp3 recorder to all rehearsals so that you can record the rest of the band playing this chart for later individual practice. I use a Boss micro BR digital recorder ($250) that fits in my pocket and creates mp3 files to load on my iPod for later use.

This easy tip will make every future rehearsal and gig a more pleasant experience. I learned this the hard way!

Don't forgot to check out www.musicteachers911.com and subscribe to the musicteachers911 podcast available for free on iTunes.

Hope all your gigs are successes!

Larry Marra

Don't make a rule that you aren't willing to follow.

This week I am going to focus away from the professional side of performance and talk about something that I tried musically just for fun.

I heard about a great new site for meeting people of similar interests called meetup.com.

This free site is so simple to use, but such fun as it involves meeting people in your area with the same interests.

To get started, type in your zip code and search for meetup groups in your area. I found several in the Dayton OH are that looked appealing. Two that are the most fun are: Dayton Swing Dance and Dayton Folk music. 

The swing dance group meets at a local club every Wednesday evening and offers free swing dance lessons to the members. The first week, I walked in to discover that the instructor is the guitarist for one of the College gospel choirs I'm in. I learned to swing danced for two hours  and loved every minute of it. I have been back twice since and plan on making this a weekly event. If you are looking to find  groups of nice people  in which to spend a free evening or two. I highly suggest checking this out.

The other group is focused around folk music. This group mets at a coffeehouse once a month. Everyone brings a guitar and sits around the couches. Each person is given a turn to chose a favorite folk song and everyone just plays and sings along.  The first night I attended, I had a nice time as I had just bough a Washburn acoustic and have only used it on one professional gig since Christmas. Since I play a lot more bass and piano than guitar, I had hoped that this group would be a way to keep up my guitar chops hot while having a nice time with other musicians in the area.

Something about the overall  sound of the group bothered me though. All 18 of us were strumming the same chords on acoustic guitars. There was no musical variety from song to song. I tried fingerpicking and even playing chord inversions high on the neck for variety, but the volume of the other guitars made it hard for me to hear myself. I felt my playing was unnecessary to the group and stopped playing after about an hour. 

Laster, I suggested to the group leader that I bring an electric bass and small practice amp for the next meetup. This would give the group a fuller sound and different bass lines would vary the song styles more.

She looked at me with shock and disbelief as if to say, "What!!! all electric instruments are forbidden!!" I tried to reassure her that there is electric bass and a lot of folk music. Her response was staunchly against it. I offered to let her work the volume control on the amp if she questioned my ability to balance with the rest of the group. She still didn't budge. She did offer to let me play her grandfathers fiddle. (no telling how badly in shape this is in). but I knew that it would be unplayable an no fun at all. She informed me that only acoustic folk instruments would be allowed to participate. PERIOD!

Now, as a band leader for too many years than I care to remember, I know that the director is the one in charge. If I meant what I said to my band students all these years about how they should respect and follow the director's wishes, I should do the same.

I wish you could have seen the look on her face when I told her that next time I would be bringing my banjo!

Banjo?????? A banjo is way too loud for this group and you'll drown out every guitar in the place! Is there any way to play a banjo softly? 

Not really.....

(I have used a felt autoharp pick on occasion when I played "Mame" and "Hello Dolly" for a local community theatre group and it did help). Finger picking without fingerpicks is another option.

She tried everything in her power to dissuade me from bringing my banjo but still remained firm on denying my electric bass to participate.

(The truth is that my could play a lot softer on my electric bass than I can on my banjo)

The next meetup folk sing is in three weeks and I will try to post what happens.

The lesson for her on this post is post is:

Don't make a rule that you aren't willing to follow.

I will give you a hint and let you know that I have every intention of playing my banjo with a balanced volume as a courtesy to the other members. The old rule still applies:

If you can't hear the other musicians, you are to loud.

Don't forger to check out the musicteachers911 podcast available on the itunes store. It's free!

Larry Marra