If you are really bad? A friend and I argued about this after witnessing a truly awful session recently. I don't understand why someone wouldn't woodshed at home til they're at least sloppy/mediocre before tackling the public arena. Her argument was "You were that bad once". True enough, but I didn't subject anyone to it except my cat (R.I.P.). Also; they were americans in kilts. Why?
I think you should play in public when you perfect tunes. It is good to build up courage, but if you want good feedback then play in public when you really know your stuff. Don't be mean to a person though if they aren't that good. Also, I think an American wearing a kilt is just getting in touch with his Irish/Scottish roots.
It's okay to play if you suck, as long as you are in an environment where there are much better players to learn from. But if the whole session is awful, what's the point?
Depends on whether you like (short, fat) hairy legs etc. Most of the sessions I see are mostly men. And they don't sit with their knees together in a ladylike fashion.
No. Unless one is utterly deluded or a masochist, a sense of self-respect and/or shame should keep one at home practising until there is something worthwhile to present.
Twaddle drone! What is worthwhile? ... and worthwhile to whom? ... that's the useless negativity that keeps some potential musicians locked in their rooms fer life. Get a life! If yer having fun doing it ... do it ... there will always be supporters and detractors (even if you are the greatest) ... why worry about what someone else might think?
Everyone has to start somewhere, but one or two tunes during the evening for the beginner are as much as they should expect. They should spend the rest of the evening learning by listening.
Americans in kilts? It's just going back to their roots.
Don't we all wander round the house sometimes wearing only a dried creeper round our waist to stay in touch with the African roots we share with all humanity?
Isn't there a session somewhere where the players do that?
When I was a music major at a university with awful stage fright, my professor kindly gave me some advice. She told me that as musicians, sharing music with others is the best gift we have to give.
I'm still not totally over the stage fright though, so maybe she was fulla hay.
And as far as kilt wearing on the north american continent, look up "highland clearances" on wiki, I'm thinking that I read that there were more gaelic speaking "cultural scottish" in Nova Scotia than in Scotland for quite some time...
If it makes your audience happy then on one level your playing is ok.
If it makes your musician peers happy, that's the best you can hope for.
A player with high standards will never be happy with their own playing;
that's how it should be.
Before I perform in public, I record myself playing at home and then listen to it. If I don't think my playing is good enough, I practice some more before performing in public.
Argh! ... but that doesn't mean you are not working to better yourself ... its just that you aren't beating yourself up in the process. Yep, of course, noone with any self respect is ever totally happy with their playing ... and most are striving to improve ... but getting out and playing in public is a way to improve your playing yes/no? I was once told: if you want to improve your playing, go busking. Certainly closetting yourself and telling yourself how bad you are isn't going to make you happy or any better either. Quite the reverse. I know ... been there, done that!
I'm very enthusiastic about bad American Trad musicians sessioning in kilts. I love that image! Scots girls in cowboy boots and not much else on, is something to conjur with too. Irishmen in warpaint and feathers is disturbing though.
I'm not sure I'd want to session with the kilted bunch; though your bio would suggest that they are just up the road from me. Does sound as though it'd be worth looking in on, just for the spectacle value. They might be horrified to look at me though......
Quigley . . . just up the road? who in San Francisco thinks a man in a skirt odd? Role playing is part of life in the city by the bay. This gives a whole new meaning to, "closetting yourself and telling yourself how bad you are . . . "
True, the shock value of men in skirts isn't what it once was. It's the combination of the awful musicianship and the kilts. Where is this venue? Dosen't sound like it was at the Plough. Sean Heany wouldn't have put up with that goings on for very long. He would've chased them out with a broken pool cue.
I should add one of the main reasons to play is to play for others -- that's
what I think anyhow. While you may not be happy with the quality of
your playing you can still enjoy playing -- I do, otherwise I'd quit. Also
it's a buzz when you see your audience smile and tap their feet. When
that happens, it doesn't matter what you or anybody else thinks.
I played at my wife's Aunt's nursing home yesterday and (being mostly
deaf) the gang at morning tea really seemed to like it.
Thanks for that, lisaniska. In your wanderings around the life and works of James M. Barrie, have you ever detoured a little bit in to the life story of Carl Frohman, the man who produced the first theatrical version of Perer Pan?
That probably describes me well, fidkid. And I organize my local session. But I don't own a kilt.
My blues playing friends did OK backing O'Keefe's Slide last thursday but didn't know what the hell to do with Morrison's! LMAO
I just tried "House of the Rising Sun" into "Morrison's"
Works for me. You have to do "House" in a key that works (Em?). & someone can leadoff the 1st part of the jig for the tempo change. Then again, I have not tried this in public. I seriously doubt any audience would be expecting that.
;)
Fishmonger, that's great they can back your slide!
Now if those guys witnessed by Farr were wearing those lip-service-green-plaid-mini-skirt kilts WITH high heel shoes like in the link from Ben ... with scanty bodices and false nails and eyelashes ... well ... then they would have to be bluudy good (or grossly rotten!!!) .
... and oh gosh, here we go, every play in public a flipping paid performance Bob himself. Nothing wrong with doing a spot at a local fete, an old people's home, joining a blackboard concert at a folk festival, playing at the markets, going for a busk, doing a turn at an office do, attending a session with yer mates, sitting in a park somewhere in the shade and playing ... almost anything really. If you're enjoying playing the music the audience that happens across you will be enjoying it for what it is too. Its a lovely open thing to do. Why not?
There is nothing nicer than being happened upon and for people to stop for a chat, tell you about their own musical experiences, being asked not to stop because the audience is enjoying the music. Music can be enjoyed and enjoyable at all levels (by audience and players). IMHO!!!!
Hey Random_notes, when I first went busking and I was brave but crap and didn't have many tunes, I used to play the Crystal Gayle tune "Here I go once again with my suitcase in my hand, chasing my dreams down river road" into The Butterfly then The Boys of Ballisodare. Oh well!!! I enjoyed it ... it said what busking was about for me then. I've still got two tattered busking lists (right here beside the computer!!!) ... 22 sets 77 tunes ... most of them I haven't played for over a decade.
Hey ya know, Spock had a great session with the space hippies in the Star Trek episode "The Way to Eden".
Yes, along with ITM and fishing, I also LOVE Star Trek.
And yes at my session you actually are likely to hear "House of the Rising Sun", then maybe "Morrison's" then "Piece of my Heart" (Janice Joplin's version), followed by "I'll Tell Me Ma" (our autoharp player pulls that one out), then a few more blues songs I can never remember the names of, then O'Keefe's Slide and at some point a mandatory gospel song... usually Amazing Grace or Hallelujah.
It's a mix mash of a little bit of everything. But we have a great time.
On the Star Trek: Voyager series premiere (1995), a being known as the Caretaker, a noncorporeal extradimensional lifeform who can manifest in solid humanoid form, takes the shape of an old grizzled man with a banjo. Don't recall if was a 5 or 4 string.
Wasn't that the entity responsible for the ship ending up in the Gamma Quadrant? Better watch out for old men with banjos. Not playing articulations like flutes and pipes clearly causes rifts in the space-time continuum... oh wait, wrong thread.
The world is filled with self-styled artists who overestimate their own talent... witness YouTube, filled with the gifted and the utterly mediocre. I'm not saying, as alleged in earlier posts, that one does not play in public, but it would be a kindness to both oneself and to the punters that everyone be happy with enough of your playing so as not to be wasting everybody's time. Having followed that advice, when I felt I played with the degree of proficiency, and was personally ready to perform, there was no major shower of rotten produce. To the contrary, there were compliments and gigs in the offing. In my opinion - which was either misinterpreted (or, as the case may be in a free exchange of ideas - not shared ) it was well worth the patience and time taken "woodshedding". Whatever your inclination - fair play to yeh.
I don't remember the Caretaker from Star Trek: Voyager carrying a banjo but my memory could be faulty because it is thirteen(?) years old.
Although I have watched most of the episodes of all of the Star Trek series, fortunately I am not a Trekkie--probably because I have my music to keep me busy and out of trouble when I am not at work at my day job.
I guess that I have either been luckier than I deserve to be or that I am a better musician than I think I am because no one has ever thrown anything (such as rotten tomatoes) at me when I was performing.
I don't think I would look good in a kilt and my wife agrees with me. Besides, I will always be plain, homely, and unhandsome no matter what I wear.
Clear Drops, I've been paid on a number of occasions for playing the cello, but not yet for the fiddle. The second sentence of your post certainly applies (as it should for anybody!), as does my post immediately before yours
Incidentally, does posting on YouTube or Sound Lantern count as "playing in public" for the purposes of this discussion? I'm inclined to think it can, but not necessarily on all occasions. For instance, a video or audio of you playing on stage in front of an audience probably would, but perhaps not if you were just recording yourself (video or audio) in the privacy of your own home.
Sorry Drone, that was me, and it came out a bit stronger than I intended ... maybe I missunderstood ... but there are many many many people who love Irish Trad and who play it amateur but in public because it is part of who they are inside that shouldn't be denied, and they might be heard at the kind of venues the big wigs would never deem to go, busking the streets, or for organisations who couldn't offer the kind of money required to book some super dooper pro band, or even run across them on the internet. Good on them for being open with who they are. They might be playing in your local park, heaven forbid, or at the local school fete, bushfire brigade lamington drive, or whatever! Maybe there's a different level of appreciation .... but it is appreciation none-the-less ... except if you judge them against a too high a bar. That is your problem, not theirs!
Why does everything HAVE to be a paid performance? "in public" is NOT "big paying gig with audience who has travelled long distances, booked early and forked out more than a day's wages to go listen to ya" ... Farr said it was "a truly awful session" ... why twist things and raise the bar?
I don't have time for this (got woodshedding to do) ... soooooooooo ... I'm outta here again. Don't know why I bothered ...
episode 1 ~ commentary by Tom Paris
You can hear the 5-string at the opening (1st 30 seconds)
The caretaker 'guest star' is Basil Langton.
Much later the banjo appears @;
7:20" & 9:30"
Thank you for the information about the Caretaker on "Star Trek: Voyager", Random_notes.
Have you ever been unfortunate enough to meet any Trekkies? I have and it isn't a pleasant memory.
I'm sorry, I got incensed yesterday ... I'm still incensed! ... there is a valid reason for it ... I've had over 1,675 days (for over four and a half years of the last nearly six, since I've been here) of what you might call "woodshedding" ... just to put the issue into my perspective, and my own experiences strongly agree with fidkid's:
"People who play in public before they're ready to, generally become better players faster than those who stay in their bedrooms practicing."
In fact I would say closetting yourself long term can be extremely detrimental to your playing ... talking from experience and in my own most humble opinion
... don't go telling me to woodshed till you've got something worthwhile to present ... I've regurgitated it and chewed it several times over the last day or two and its still twaddle!
Sharing and being public about who you are is a miles happier and rewarding option ... you can still put in the hard yards and it isn't a cop out ... I've done things that way too in the past, you see, so I can easily make the comparisons.
As to:
"The world is filled with self-styled artists who overestimate their own talent... witness YouTube, filled with the gifted and the utterly mediocre. I'm not saying, as alleged in earlier posts, that one does not play in public, but it would be a kindness to both oneself and to the punters that everyone be happy with enough of your playing so as not to be wasting everybody's time. "
The internet presents a number of options for "social networking" ... do you really think the creators of these sites want to put up bars that you have to reach before you can contribute to their social networking sites? The answer to that is: "No!" ... they want you to represent yourself. It isn't performing ... its a bit of fun ... sharing ... and its linking likeminded people without consideration of physical distance. Yikes! Of course sharing yourself via the internet is not performing (unless as lazyhound says, it is a recording of a performance) ... its an opportunity to listen and be heard ... how else are you going to social network with like minded people around the world? It isn't supposed to be deadly serious stuff. If you find it a waste of time ... no sweat ... don't bother ...
Sometimes threads here are silly and petty and I'd be well advised to take my own advice and leave them well alone ... I was going to ... then I didn't ... I let it get to me ... sheeze! I'm sorry for that.
I really enjoyed the review of Voyager - Caretaker thanks Random_notes ... I've never met any Trekkies, it seems fortunately, fauxcelt.
Clear Drops, I am glad to read that you have never met any Trekkies.
I first was exposed to Trekkies when I made the mistake of attending a local Star Trek convention. I seemed to be one of the few rational, sane people at the convention.
Two of the less insane people at this Star Trek convention were the two women who were trying to run the convention almost single-handledly by themselves without much help. They were very grateful when I offered to help them. I enjoyed the convention much more after I started helping to run the convention.
Zippy, if the audience is doing some serious, heavy drinking on open mic night and they don't like the performances, then, for the sake of the performers (to protect them), I hope there is some heavy-duty chicken wire in front of the stage between the performers and the audience.
Zippy - not if they're serious listeners. Though of course in reality you get both the drinkers (chatting non-stop to their mates) and the listeners (gulp!), in varying proportions. Getting all of one or the other is hard, for different reasons.
Should You Play In Public?
Should You Play In Public?
If you are really bad? A friend and I argued about this after witnessing a truly awful session recently. I don't understand why someone wouldn't woodshed at home til they're at least sloppy/mediocre before tackling the public arena. Her argument was "You were that bad once". True enough, but I didn't subject anyone to it except my cat (R.I.P.). Also; they were americans in kilts. Why?
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Farr
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I think you should play in public when you perfect tunes. It is good to build up courage, but if you want good feedback then play in public when you really know your stuff. Don't be mean to a person though if they aren't that good. Also, I think an American wearing a kilt is just getting in touch with his Irish/Scottish roots.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by pipersgrip
Re: Should You Play In Public?
It's okay to play if you suck, as long as you are in an environment where there are much better players to learn from. But if the whole session is awful, what's the point?
Also there's no such thing as perfecting a tune.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by polkageist
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Maybe it's just me, but I find the whole "Americans in kilts who can't play" thing very troubling.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by John Galt
Should I Play OFC?
What if I just woodshed for this whole week & promise not to wear the kilts next session?
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Ben Steen
*
Only For Cats.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Yes mickray. It's kind of on the dividing line between aspiring to be a musician and just being total LARPer, wouldn't you say?
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by polkageist
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I might, if I knew what a LARPer was.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by John Galt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Oh, OK, I get it now. Playing dress-up, like little kids.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by John Galt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
LARPer: A word that describes a live action role player or someone who enjoys acting out fantasy adventures.
"That guy dressed up like star trek is such a larper"
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by polkageist
Re: Should You Play In Public?
At least she knew she was bad. it's worse if someone plays badly, but thinks they are OK.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by minijackpot
Re: Should You Play In Public?
well, if you're really bad, here's the rule: bring your instrument and dont play until someone asks. then its their fault.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by daiv
Re: Should You Play In Public?
"Also; they were americans in kilts. Why?"
Hey Farr,
You'd have to ask them I suppose. Anyone else would just be speculating.
All the best!
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by ejsant
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Should?
Shouldn't?
Rubbish!! Play what you want, when you want, for whom you want, and, in public with an audience, when invited (either directly or by implication).
"americans in kilts": Why not? I've seen Scots in cowboy boots - Problem?
I think not.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Piece
Re: Should You Play In Public?
How about Irish in warpaint and feathers?
http://www.irish-showbands.com/images/dwane/ddxindians2.htm
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I'm no fan of crappy playing and live action role playing either. Some people just love it though.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go don me sweater and cap. Faith and begorrah, who wants to hear "The Wild Rover"? All together now! [/sarcasm]
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Since a session is not a *performance*, it doesn't matter, does it?
What's wrong with Americans in kilts, anyway?
These ones look all right to me:
http://www.plaidskirts.net/Lip-service-green-plaid-pleated-mini-skirt.jpg
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Bren
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Depends on whether you like (short, fat) hairy legs etc. Most of the sessions I see are mostly men. And they don't sit with their knees together in a ladylike fashion.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by minijackpot
Re: Should You Play In Public?
"It's okay to play if you suck..."
Not if you're a harmonica player it isn't. You really ought to be doing at least a little blowing too.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Steve Shaw
Re: Should You Play In Public?
In Florida, we even wear shorts in the winter. Eventually you become numb to to peoples' ugly legs.
Or, ya can quit staring at them all the time, ya pervert.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Actually I've seen a Scot in cowboy boots (and almost nothing else). She made up for it with her brill fiddle playing though.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by polkageist
Re: Should You Play In Public?
No. Unless one is utterly deluded or a masochist, a sense of self-respect and/or shame should keep one at home practising until there is something worthwhile to present.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by drone
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Twaddle drone! What is worthwhile? ... and worthwhile to whom? ... that's the useless negativity that keeps some potential musicians locked in their rooms fer life. Get a life! If yer having fun doing it ... do it ... there will always be supporters and detractors (even if you are the greatest) ... why worry about what someone else might think?
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Clear Drops
*
I cannot imagine an Irish culture w/out the occasional masochist.
Not to mention, one persons' delusion is another's style.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Everyone has to start somewhere, but one or two tunes during the evening for the beginner are as much as they should expect. They should spend the rest of the evening learning by listening.
# Posted on January 11th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Americans in kilts? It's just going back to their roots.
Don't we all wander round the house sometimes wearing only a dried creeper round our waist to stay in touch with the African roots we share with all humanity?
Isn't there a session somewhere where the players do that?
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Alex Wilding
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Yes, we favour the penis gourd in Aberdeen
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Bren
Re: Should You Play In Public?
When I was a music major at a university with awful stage fright, my professor kindly gave me some advice. She told me that as musicians, sharing music with others is the best gift we have to give.
I'm still not totally over the stage fright though, so maybe she was fulla hay.
And as far as kilt wearing on the north american continent, look up "highland clearances" on wiki, I'm thinking that I read that there were more gaelic speaking "cultural scottish" in Nova Scotia than in Scotland for quite some time...
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by steadkeeper
Re: Should You Play In Public?
If it makes your audience happy then on one level your playing is ok.
If it makes your musician peers happy, that's the best you can hope for.
A player with high standards will never be happy with their own playing;
that's how it should be.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Before I perform in public, I record myself playing at home and then listen to it. If I don't think my playing is good enough, I practice some more before performing in public.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Argh! ... but that doesn't mean you are not working to better yourself ... its just that you aren't beating yourself up in the process. Yep, of course, noone with any self respect is ever totally happy with their playing ... and most are striving to improve ... but getting out and playing in public is a way to improve your playing yes/no? I was once told: if you want to improve your playing, go busking. Certainly closetting yourself and telling yourself how bad you are isn't going to make you happy or any better either. Quite the reverse. I know
... been there, done that!
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I'm very enthusiastic about bad American Trad musicians sessioning in kilts. I love that image! Scots girls in cowboy boots and not much else on, is something to conjur with too. Irishmen in warpaint and feathers is disturbing though.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I'm not sure I'd want to session with the kilted bunch; though your bio would suggest that they are just up the road from me. Does sound as though it'd be worth looking in on, just for the spectacle value. They might be horrified to look at me though......
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I'm never playing in public again. Bad idea all 'round. :(
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Tee hee!
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Clear Drops
Skirts In Public?
Quigley . . . just up the road? who in San Francisco thinks a man in a skirt odd? Role playing is part of life in the city by the bay. This gives a whole new meaning to, "closetting yourself and telling yourself how bad you are . . . "
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Should You Play In Public?
True, the shock value of men in skirts isn't what it once was. It's the combination of the awful musicianship and the kilts. Where is this venue? Dosen't sound like it was at the Plough. Sean Heany wouldn't have put up with that goings on for very long. He would've chased them out with a broken pool cue.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I should add one of the main reasons to play is to play for others -- that's
what I think anyhow. While you may not be happy with the quality of
your playing you can still enjoy playing -- I do, otherwise I'd quit. Also
it's a buzz when you see your audience smile and tap their feet. When
that happens, it doesn't matter what you or anybody else thinks.
I played at my wife's Aunt's nursing home yesterday and (being mostly
deaf) the gang at morning tea really seemed to like it.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Hup
Re: Should You Play In Public?
By all means, go and serenade the folks at the nursing homes. They love it. Most of the time, your mistakes don't count.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
if you don't you'll never learn
and if you do . . .
'Courage is the thing. All goes if courage goes.'
Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish writer and playwright, author of Peter Pan (1904)
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by lisaniska
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Thanks for that, lisaniska. In your wanderings around the life and works of James M. Barrie, have you ever detoured a little bit in to the life story of Carl Frohman, the man who produced the first theatrical version of Perer Pan?
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
PETER PAN way too much coffee.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Should You Play In Public?
People who play in public before they're ready to, generally become better players faster than those who stay in their bedrooms practicing.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by fidkid
Re: Should You Play In Public?
That's true, fid. And nothing wrong with it, as long as the audience knows what to expect.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Bob himself
Re: Should You Play In Public?
That probably describes me well, fidkid. And I organize my local session. But I don't own a kilt.
My blues playing friends did OK backing O'Keefe's Slide last thursday but didn't know what the hell to do with Morrison's! LMAO
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Fishmonger
Re: Should I just Play "Up in my Room"?
I just tried "House of the Rising Sun" into "Morrison's"
Works for me. You have to do "House" in a key that works (Em?). & someone can leadoff the 1st part of the jig for the tempo change. Then again, I have not tried this in public. I seriously doubt any audience would be expecting that.
;)
Fishmonger, that's great they can back your slide!
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Now if those guys witnessed by Farr were wearing those lip-service-green-plaid-mini-skirt kilts WITH high heel shoes like in the link from Ben ... with scanty bodices and false nails and eyelashes ... well ... then they would have to be bluudy good (or grossly rotten!!!) .
... and oh gosh, here we go, every play in public a flipping paid performance Bob himself. Nothing wrong with doing a spot at a local fete, an old people's home, joining a blackboard concert at a folk festival, playing at the markets, going for a busk, doing a turn at an office do, attending a session with yer mates, sitting in a park somewhere in the shade and playing ... almost anything really. If you're enjoying playing the music the audience that happens across you will be enjoying it for what it is too. Its a lovely open thing to do. Why not?
There is nothing nicer than being happened upon and for people to stop for a chat, tell you about their own musical experiences, being asked not to stop because the audience is enjoying the music. Music can be enjoyed and enjoyable at all levels (by audience and players). IMHO!!!!
Hey Random_notes, when I first went busking and I was brave but crap and didn't have many tunes, I used to play the Crystal Gayle tune "Here I go once again with my suitcase in my hand, chasing my dreams down river road" into The Butterfly then The Boys of Ballisodare. Oh well!!! I enjoyed it ... it said what busking was about for me then. I've still got two tattered busking lists (right here beside the computer!!!) ... 22 sets 77 tunes ... most of them I haven't played for over a decade.
Totally agree Fidkid! having done both in my time
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Sorry, link from Bren!! Durgh!
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Should You Play kilts In Public?
role play / adventure fantasy?
getting to sound a bit like Startrek, and we know why there are no banjos on Startrek.
or was is Start - Wreck?
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by geoffwright
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Hey ya know, Spock had a great session with the space hippies in the Star Trek episode "The Way to Eden".
Yes, along with ITM and fishing, I also LOVE Star Trek.
And yes at my session you actually are likely to hear "House of the Rising Sun", then maybe "Morrison's" then "Piece of my Heart" (Janice Joplin's version), followed by "I'll Tell Me Ma" (our autoharp player pulls that one out), then a few more blues songs I can never remember the names of, then O'Keefe's Slide and at some point a mandatory gospel song... usually Amazing Grace or Hallelujah.
It's a mix mash of a little bit of everything. But we have a great time.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Fishmonger
Re: Should You Play In Public?
The guys at a session I used to play at in Colorado played "Painted Black" with "Man of the House." It was good for a laugh.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I image the really short answer to this question is: only for money.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Playing for money concentrates the mind wonderfully.
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Should You Play In Public?
... but then lazyhound you're already pro. No way are you playing in public before you are ready
...
# Posted on January 12th 2009 by Clear Drops
NERD ALERT: Set phasers to “kill”.
On the Star Trek: Voyager series premiere (1995), a being known as the Caretaker, a noncorporeal extradimensional lifeform who can manifest in solid humanoid form, takes the shape of an old grizzled man with a banjo. Don't recall if was a 5 or 4 string.
I am such a pathetic loser.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by fidkid
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Wasn't that the entity responsible for the ship ending up in the Gamma Quadrant? Better watch out for old men with banjos. Not playing articulations like flutes and pipes clearly causes rifts in the space-time continuum... oh wait, wrong thread.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Should You Play In Public?
The world is filled with self-styled artists who overestimate their own talent... witness YouTube, filled with the gifted and the utterly mediocre. I'm not saying, as alleged in earlier posts, that one does not play in public, but it would be a kindness to both oneself and to the punters that everyone be happy with enough of your playing so as not to be wasting everybody's time. Having followed that advice, when I felt I played with the degree of proficiency, and was personally ready to perform, there was no major shower of rotten produce. To the contrary, there were compliments and gigs in the offing. In my opinion - which was either misinterpreted (or, as the case may be in a free exchange of ideas - not shared ) it was well worth the patience and time taken "woodshedding". Whatever your inclination - fair play to yeh.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by drone
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I don't remember the Caretaker from Star Trek: Voyager carrying a banjo but my memory could be faulty because it is thirteen(?) years old.
Although I have watched most of the episodes of all of the Star Trek series, fortunately I am not a Trekkie--probably because I have my music to keep me busy and out of trouble when I am not at work at my day job.
I guess that I have either been luckier than I deserve to be or that I am a better musician than I think I am because no one has ever thrown anything (such as rotten tomatoes) at me when I was performing.
I don't think I would look good in a kilt and my wife agrees with me. Besides, I will always be plain, homely, and unhandsome no matter what I wear.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Clear Drops, I've been paid on a number of occasions for playing the cello, but not yet for the fiddle. The second sentence of your post certainly applies (as it should for anybody!), as does my post immediately before yours
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Incidentally, does posting on YouTube or Sound Lantern count as "playing in public" for the purposes of this discussion? I'm inclined to think it can, but not necessarily on all occasions. For instance, a video or audio of you playing on stage in front of an audience probably would, but perhaps not if you were just recording yourself (video or audio) in the privacy of your own home.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Sorry Drone, that was me, and it came out a bit stronger than I intended
... maybe I missunderstood ... but there are many many many people who love Irish Trad and who play it amateur but in public because it is part of who they are inside that shouldn't be denied, and they might be heard at the kind of venues the big wigs would never deem to go, busking the streets, or for organisations who couldn't offer the kind of money required to book some super dooper pro band, or even run across them on the internet. Good on them for being open with who they are. They might be playing in your local park, heaven forbid, or at the local school fete, bushfire brigade lamington drive, or whatever! Maybe there's a different level of appreciation .... but it is appreciation none-the-less ... except if you judge them against a too high a bar. That is your problem, not theirs!
"in public" is NOT "big paying gig with audience who has travelled long distances, booked early and forked out more than a day's wages to go listen to ya" ... Farr said it was "a truly awful session" ... why twist things and raise the bar?
Why does everything HAVE to be a paid performance?
I don't have time for this (got woodshedding to do) ... soooooooooo ... I'm outta here again. Don't know why I bothered ...
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Should You Play Banjo while LARPing?
episode 1 ~ commentary by Tom Paris
You can hear the 5-string at the opening (1st 30 seconds)
The caretaker 'guest star' is Basil Langton.
Much later the banjo appears @;
7:20" & 9:30"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGtg5xVTh0E
Voyager - Caretaker Review (1/2)
Now I'm going out for a session.
Cheers
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Thank you for the information about the Caretaker on "Star Trek: Voyager", Random_notes.
Have you ever been unfortunate enough to meet any Trekkies? I have and it isn't a pleasant memory.
# Posted on January 13th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
I'm sorry, I got incensed yesterday ... I'm still incensed! ... there is a valid reason for it ... I've had over 1,675 days (for over four and a half years of the last nearly six, since I've been here) of what you might call "woodshedding" ... just to put the issue into my perspective, and my own experiences strongly agree with fidkid's:
"People who play in public before they're ready to, generally become better players faster than those who stay in their bedrooms practicing."
In fact I would say closetting yourself long term can be extremely detrimental to your playing ... talking from experience and in my own most humble opinion
... don't go telling me to woodshed till you've got something worthwhile to present ... I've regurgitated it and chewed it several times over the last day or two and its still twaddle!
Sharing and being public about who you are is a miles happier and rewarding option ... you can still put in the hard yards and it isn't a cop out ... I've done things that way too in the past, you see, so I can easily make the comparisons.
As to:
"The world is filled with self-styled artists who overestimate their own talent... witness YouTube, filled with the gifted and the utterly mediocre. I'm not saying, as alleged in earlier posts, that one does not play in public, but it would be a kindness to both oneself and to the punters that everyone be happy with enough of your playing so as not to be wasting everybody's time. "
The internet presents a number of options for "social networking" ... do you really think the creators of these sites want to put up bars that you have to reach before you can contribute to their social networking sites? The answer to that is: "No!" ... they want you to represent yourself. It isn't performing ... its a bit of fun ... sharing ... and its linking likeminded people without consideration of physical distance. Yikes! Of course sharing yourself via the internet is not performing (unless as lazyhound says, it is a recording of a performance) ... its an opportunity to listen and be heard ... how else are you going to social network with like minded people around the world? It isn't supposed to be deadly serious stuff. If you find it a waste of time ... no sweat ... don't bother ...
Sometimes threads here are silly and petty and I'd be well advised to take my own advice and leave them well alone ... I was going to ... then I didn't ... I let it get to me ... sheeze! I'm sorry for that.
I really enjoyed the review of Voyager - Caretaker thanks Random_notes ... I've never met any Trekkies, it seems fortunately, fauxcelt.
# Posted on January 14th 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Should You Play In Public?
There is an option between woodshedding and gig performance... it's called open mic. Sorts most of the above issues.
# Posted on January 14th 2009 by suesinger
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Hopefully the audience will be busy doing serious drinking on open mic night!
# Posted on January 14th 2009 by zippydw
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Clear Drops, I am glad to read that you have never met any Trekkies.
I first was exposed to Trekkies when I made the mistake of attending a local Star Trek convention. I seemed to be one of the few rational, sane people at the convention.
Two of the less insane people at this Star Trek convention were the two women who were trying to run the convention almost single-handledly by themselves without much help. They were very grateful when I offered to help them. I enjoyed the convention much more after I started helping to run the convention.
Zippy, if the audience is doing some serious, heavy drinking on open mic night and they don't like the performances, then, for the sake of the performers (to protect them), I hope there is some heavy-duty chicken wire in front of the stage between the performers and the audience.
# Posted on January 15th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: Should You Play In Public?
Zippy - not if they're serious listeners.
Though of course in reality you get both the drinkers (chatting non-stop to their mates) and the listeners (gulp!), in varying proportions. Getting all of one or the other is hard, for different reasons.
# Posted on January 15th 2009 by suesinger