Gig diary
As a somewhat skilled player of the 'cello I sometimes wonder what life would be like had I pursued this any further instead of leaving serious study of music aside after one year in university. I have few regrets about this, seeing that rather unglamorous and occasionally hectic schedules of real professional musicians. I might classify my current musician status as semi-professional, in that I am sometimes paid to engage in musical pursuits, to the tune of maybe $1000 per year. For example, after Wednesday I will have bowed and plucked my way to about $400 of income in 2007.
These thoughts are in the front of my mind this week (although it would be better if they were displaced by an in-depth knowledge of linear algebra, until Thursday afternoon) because I have two 'gigs' (I enjoy insider terms such as this one) in the next few days. As far as gigs go, they are typical: one is accompanying a voice student for her grad recital, the other is a friend's wedding.
Not all gigs are quite so straightforward. I've been involved in performances/services that have run the gamut from bizarre to awkward to intensely stressful to laughably disorganized. What follows is a list of some of the more memorable gigs I've played for:
1. Weddings ceremonies, especially for people you don't know, are the best kind of gig. I've plied my skills at several of these, usually subbing in for another cellist in a string quartet. The music is almost always easy (there is a pretty standard 'wedding set' that most string quartets play from) and, besides the dreaded Canon from Pachelbel (that guy knows where I'm coming from), is rather pleasant.
Outdoor weddings, though, are a different story. If you choose to get married, and plan on holding your wedding outside, by all means don't ask me to play. String music requires decent acoustics for the sound to carry, and I am fairly certain your backyard doesn't have such. Sheet music blowing off of stands is another occupational hazard. Last summer, with my sister, I played for a backyard wedding that was windy, during which our music certainly must not have been heard in the back rows, and was ultimately besieged by a flock of crows in a nearby tree, which distracted attention from nearly everything else going on. I've played at probably 4 or 5 outdoor weddings and the situation is nearly always the same.
2. Funerals are a different story. Unless my memory is failing me, I have only done one of these. It was for a mentally challenged girl, and the choir from her former high school was providing most of the music. I was called in by the choir's conductor to accompany them on just one of a half-dozen songs, which left me feeling rather awkward sitting in front of them doing nothing while they sang (thankfully the choir loft was in a balcony at the back of the church). This would all be fairly unremarkable, though, if it were not for the fact that my unique contribution to the event was to accompany the song "Only Hope", from Mandy Moore's hit film A Walk to Remember. If any of you reading this should die in the near future, please think long and hard before choosing such cheesy, sentimental stuff.
3. Recording sucks. Unlike instruments like electric guitars or keyboards, whose sounds are usually distorted or synthesized, stringed instruments are prone to slight hiccups and rings that aren't heard by an audience 10 feet away but are certainly caught by a microphone mere inches from the instrument. I remember recording a piece for radio broadcast (highlights from the Winnipeg Music Festival or something like that) back in my junior high years, and sighing out of frustration right as I finished the piece, which had to be edited out. Maybe I just don't like hearing that I'm not perfect, but I bet you wouldn't like that either (if you want to hear what I'm talking about, go to this myspace page and listen to the second track).
4. Orchestra or chamber music concerts, though usually minimally paid or entirely voluntary, don't often cause me much stress or worry or feelings of awkwardness or embarassment. An exception was a concert in Febuary of '06, put on in celebration of Black History Month. First, the music from a selection of black composers was all quite contemporary, which I don't often enjoy. Second, I felt kind of strange about being a central part of a concert celebrating black history when the only black member of the orchestra was its conductor. Third, the concert, held in a hall that could seat 300 people, attracted hardly more than 20, each of whom paid $25 to see a show worth maybe half that. Fourth, at the concert I was surprised to hear for the first time that the orchestra in fact had a name (which I have since forgotten) and that the show was the inaugural one in a series of concerts that would celebrate cultural diversity or some such thing. Needless to say, there hasn't been a follow-up to this original concert.
5. In terms of stress level, besides adjucated events like examinations or festival performances, the most significant performance took place during my third year of university. I played a solo, accompanied by an orchestra, in front of a packed gymnasium and two high school choirs as well as the university's own ensembles -- a crowd probably somewhere in the range of 1000. The piece, Faure's Elegie, isn't terribly technical, but requires a great deal of musical energy. When I think back on it now, I imagine myself enjoying it, but I doubt I felt that way at the time.
6. My most bizarre gig never quite happened. I was invited to be part of a quartet performance that was to take place at an anniversary part at someone's cottage near Kenora. Or, more precisely, on a boat on the lake adjacent to the cottage. In fact, I was brought in because the regular cellist suffered from seasickness. This would not be some large, enclosed, boat, but rather a barge completely open to the sky.
In the end, though, the weather didn't hold, and we ended up playing for an hour indoors, for six people, who left right after we finished, but invited us to stay and eat as much as we wanted from their fridge. Besides the 5 hours of driving for a 1 hour performance (sorry, David Suzuki), it was a well-remunerated good time.
7. When I was in high school, I was invited to be part of the pit orchestra for the performance of the Anne of Green Gables musical put on by a children's musical theatre group. Or, to be more accurate, 10 performances of the Anne of Green Gables musical. In 5 days. One in the afternoon and one in the evening, for a whole week. Somehow it wasn't a big deal for me to miss half a week of school (I think it helped that I wasn't the only one from my school in the group). I remember being paid $25 ($2.50 a show!), and I also remember a song about ice cream, but the rest have thankfully been pushed far back in the recesses of my memory. I also remember being the only stringed instrument in the ensemble (besides an electric bass player, which hardly counts).
8. I almost forgot this one. Again, my quartet connection had me sub in for a gig, at the Regent Casino. We played about 1 hour of classical quarter music at a reception held by a Christian radio station, after which we packed up our instruments and the assembled masses tuned in to watch a live broadcast of a Christian rock awards show. It just didn't seem like the right fit.
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I'm sure I have forgotten more weird gigs from my more distant past, because my more recent work has been fairly straightforward. But I know musicians more professional than myself, and these sort of things are all in a days work. If you know me, please remind me if you can remember any other off-the-wall gigs.
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Now, a question. Have any of you seen a pair of guys in suits walking around Winnipeg trying to sell off a bunch of miniature digital cameras for $10? Those of us at the bus stop this morning were approached by the pair and I was almost curious enough (but thankfully too cheap) to oblige them and see what these cameras (probably 1' by 1' by 2') could do. Even though it is the lowest form of commerce, it felt vaguely cosmopolitan and reminded me of the Turks that roamed Rome pushing various toys. Maybe some of my travelling companions can add to this, but I remember especially a little dog that did back flips, kind of like the Aibo robot dogs, except that it was powered by a hand pump attached by an air tube, or a wind-up mechanism, or something.
