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

wait to be asked

I was just hired to play piano with an eight piece house band for a local Christian radio station's live remote at a shopping center. The special guest was a female Christian guitarist/folksinger. During the sound check, she started playing one of her songs that had very simple chord changes. 

The bass player is very accomplished and started adding a very tasty bass line to her song. After a while, I started adding a light string descant as well. She stopped and told us in no uncertain terms to stop and never to play along with her. Period. She was absolutely right! We should have not played a single note unless asked. She had two parts in the show where she played her songs while I sat and listened. Afterwards, I apologized to her for playing along without being asked. It did hurt a little to be asked not to play as I felt it added to her song. The point being that it was HER song and she has total control of what instruments should be used. I had to focus on the fact that this was a job and I should play only when I am asked and leave my feelings in the car. After 40 years, I am still learning from every gig.

Don't forget that I have a music podcast on iTunes called musicteachers911. Feel free to search the iTunes store and subscribe. It's free!

Larry Marra 

www.musicteachers911.com

 

Don't ignore your audience!

Last night I was invited to attend a HS band concert and saw things that bothered me. I won't mention the school name, but hope that my written observations might help to make your next event better.

1. For God's sake, dress up! If you want your students to treat your concerts like a big deal, don't direct in your work clothes! Wear a dark suit or nice evening dress if you are female.

2. After a song is over, turn around and acknowledge the crowds applause! Do not ignore them, or seem impatient to get on with the next song as if you want the concert over as soon as possible. These parents want an opportunity to support their children. Let them.

3. If you have a soloist, treat them like a VIP. I heard a marimba soloist. He had practiced hard and deserved a little special treatment. He should not have had to wheel out his own marimba or roll it back behind the curtain when he was done. He should have just taken a bow and let a few underclassmen do this for him. Let your stars shine!

4. Take as long as you need to to tune the band. Don't be in such a hurry to start on time that the entire concert sounds bad.

5. Take a moment to tune between songs if your need to. Last night the second song sounded worse than the first because the horns had warmed and expanded during the first song and were terribly flat on the second one.

6. Don't start conducting until the hall is quiet. You have a lot of parents in the audience that came to hear their child, not a baby crying or cell conversation. Allowing a rude person to disrupt everyones enjoyment is allowing them to be in charge of the concert, not you.

7. If a song has a soloist, or a select group or section is highlighted, motion them to stand during the applause to accept a little extra gratitude for their effort.

8. Don't give your honest assessment of the concert to the director unless they specifically ask for it. Several of the other music teachers I was with encouraged me to "kindly instruct" the director after the concert on a few of the aforementioned items. I made it clear that my role this evening was an audience member and nothing else. If I was asked by the director to comment on the evening (which I wasn't), I would have started positive and sugar-coated every observation so as to uplift and encourage.

9. Videotape every performance for later critical review. I am guess that some of the items here will be made evident and will help to improve the next event

If you want to know more about successful teaching, be sure to listen to the musicteachers911 podcast available on iTunes, log on to www.musicteachers911.com or spend some time searching Chad Criswell's excellent teaching site, www.musicedmagic.com.

"The Times They are a Changing"

 Monday, I went to Milton-Union Schools in Southwest Ohio to give a presentation for Macmillan Publishing on their elementary music textbook series, "Spotlight on Music". This was the first time that I had an opportunity to use a smart-board. 

I quickly surmised that it  is basically a touch-screen monitor. The jack to plug into my Macbook is the new "female type, so an adapter for the older projectors was not needed.

Luckily, my Mac is automatically configured to handle this. The attachment cord comes included with all Macbook Pros. This is very important, listen up:

Remember to plug in the cable to the smart-board into your computer BEFORE you boot up your PC. I had to learn that one the hard way. 

I had used the system preferences and configured the smart-board to run in in parallel mode. This means that the smart-board was a continuation of the right side of my laptop monitor. I had to drag the open windows to the left until they were not visible on my laptop monitor. I kept scrolling the window to the left and they eventually showed up on the smart-board. cool!

I chose to used my touchpad on the Mac and remain seated to run the powerpoint presentation. Only occasionally, did I get up and drag my finger against the screen of the smart=board to control the mouse. 

The Final Word..........

I love smart-boards! 

I wish I had one when I was teaching. I remember entire classes scrunched around the 14 inch monitor on the only PC in the room to watch computer demonstrations about music technology. Dylan said it best, "The Times They are a Changing".

I, for one, think that they are changing for the better. 

Follow the Leader

Wednesday I was asked to play the bass with a swing band for a Valentine's Day Party. I usually am the pianist for this bunch, but the bass player is in Florida for the Winter. I have played the drums with them on occasion, as pianists are easier to get that good drummers. Wel,, I guess the same it true of bass players. I walked into the club carrying my bass to the confused looks of the other band-mates. They thought that I was carrying the bass for someone else, as they had no clue that I could play. 

The gig went off great except for one song which was a total train-wreck because of me.

(Yes, after all these years, I am still learning the hard way)

Here is what happened.......

The band is very established and has over 1200 charts in their books. It is such a pain tolisten to the band leader to  find and get out the songs before we play. (Here's where I got lazy)......

I had the bright idea of just looking over  the pianist shoulder instead of getting out the bass parts when the leader called them. Well, we had just finished playing a tune and I noticed song 217 on the piano rack. Being the nice guy I am, I told the drummer to get out song 317. The only problem was that the next song to play was 1226! The pianist hadn't put his songs in the right order. Because of this, the piano, bass, and (because of me) drummer started off playing the wrong song!

My ear cam name that mistake in one note, so I scrambled over to look at the bandleader's rack and see what the horns were playing. I ran back to the piano and drummer and shouted 1226! 1226!

About 20 measures into the song, we were all sounding like a band again.

Lesson learned?

Get the tunes out when the bandleader calls them, and then double check by glancing at the bandleader's rack just before the count-off. 

In other words, follow the leader.

Yours musically,

Larry Marra of www.musicteachers911.com

Female to Female

First, I would like to thank Chad Chriswell,  from MusicEdMagic.com for making musicteachers911 a featured blog on his site. MusicEdMagic.com is a fantastic resource for music educators and I highly suggest that anyone affiliated with music check it out.

On Monday Jan, 26, I gave a presentation about Macmillan Publishing's  Spotlight on Music, elementary music textbook series, to the fine arts staff of Tipp City Schools. 

Prior to the event, I spoke with the Macmillan Ohio Sales Rep, Larry Bohannon, and asked what he needed me to do. He said to present a general overview using a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow. He suggested that I plug my Macbook Pro into his multi-media projector via the 15 pin jack. I looked and saw that my Mac indeed had a 15 pin jack. Then, a post music-tech sick feeling deep in my soul got my attention. 

I called him back and asked if he would bring the projector by to "road test" it and insure that all would go smoothly. Sure enough, his projector had a 15 prong female jack just like the 15 prong female jack on my Mac. Both the projector and PC had 15 holes but no pins for the other unit! A quick trip to Staples and $12 later we were in business. The presentation went off without a hitch.

The lesson here is to check all hardware in plenty of time to iron out any glitches prior to an event. This goes for music performance equipment as well.