first night nerves... Swing d'ouf

[losthobos]

testing both new duo and new link system...dropbox....
anyways heres new project...passerby sent me this clip...one minute of first night nerves...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/je6wftrmn2lv8qx/naze.mp4?dl=0
lets see if either are worth pursuing..

 

[debra]

Next time better spend more time in contact with your audience, and also looking at each other. If you did that for all the time you were looking down at your instrument it would make for a much more enjoyable gig, even if you might occasionally be one button off (which I doubt). A performance is only a performance if you have a lot of contact with your audience, and if the audience can also see that the two of you are in contact with each other too.

 

[jozz]

I like it, and he is quite the guitarist

I partially agree with Paul, but I know for a fact it doesn't make much of a difference given this setting where people are really just enjoying the day and you are just filling the background of their conversation.

 

[JerryPH]

Though I agree that having the musician engage the audience is important, in this case, not so much, as there is little visible audience in the form of a group of people seated facing the musicians. It just looks like a nice gathering of people all doing their own thing and enjoying the music.

From the perspective of the video, if the video was the final "product", lots more engagement with the camera and interplay between accordionist and guitarist would make it a better video... but was that the goal?

Well done!

 

[maugein96]

Well Terry,

You've certainly stepped it up a few notches there. Working with another instrument often brings out new possibilities,
and "comping" is something that doesn't come easy for most of us. I would say you're on the right track, and I've seen pro players on various instruments who never look anywhere but down at what they're doing. If you can manage all the eye contact, winks, and smiles, that may well be a bonus, but just being able to play along with that guitarist would have been enough for me to handle, especially if that was the first night. Think I'd need to have been actually sitting on a swing if that had been my first shot at it.

Nice guitarwork too on that "petite bouche".

Well done (again).

 

[losthobos]

Thank you....this little gig was an outside do at a 1940s festival...low key affair with people milling round a cafe/showground...suited me fine...
I do not like to give PERFORMANCES and turn down gigs if I think there will be a facing/ listening audience....my playing ability is not high enough to warrant this and my choice of songs not high brow enough either...
I'm happier providing nothing more than ambiance and seem to have this fairly nailed...as to engaging an audience I tend to wait for requests and then I'll go sit at their table and play at least the head before wandering off back to base...or may just wander the whole circuit playing a smaltzy waltz while whoever I'm working with slips of for a pee....cheesy grins, twirling bow ties and nods and winks are beyond me...my head seems to shake so much I think it has developed some kind of tourettes anyway....thankfully elderly audiences feel sorry for me and tend to want to mother rather than idolise my playing...
Good luck and hats off to those brave enough to play where the audience may actually be listening and judging..
And Yes Rob is a mighty fine guitarist and I'm grateful he has so much to teach me re voicings for comping and dynamics
The video wasn't meant to be a "finished product"...a punter who took my number for a future booking sent it me a few days later as a surprise ...we were happy that three people took our numbers at this first afternoon out and better still after an hour and a half we had sixty quid in the hat....
After you're comments I'll see if i can work on my confidence and become more engaging....could be a struggle though <EMOJI seq="1f609">?</EMOJI>

 

[jozz]

After youre comments Ill see if i can work on my confidence and become more engaging....could be a struggle though <EMOJI seq=1f609>?</EMOJI>

let them comment, simply focus on your playing first - with or without looking - give people a good time with your music while you build up experience with these gigs

the rest will come in time and with confidence

my 2 cents

 

[JerryPH]

Want to improve your engagement skills? Practice looking in to the eyes of random strangers at the store, on the bus, or anywhere public. Don't stare or be creepy but to to lt to them until they drop their eyes before you do.

Of course none of that helps if the played mudic is not very well practiced before hand. Music first, engagement second.

 

[maugein96]

For some reason most of us who play the accordion have loads of hang ups about what we look like, or whether we should wear a hat etc.

From what I've read on the forum, some members take accordion performances very seriously, and will berate players who don't do things "correctly". That covers everything from bellows movement to not playing as per the score etc. I've heard some Scottish players being severely criticised for not playing in strict tempo or putting in embellishments with not a dancer in sight. I would imagine that classical performances would attract similar comments, but I haven't been to any.

One of the things I've noticed with pro players is most of them end up wincing and grimacing, as well as the old trick of screwing their eyes tightly shut to get that extra something out of whatever they're doing.

If you watch Galliano playing he often looks like a puppet with a few broken strings trying not to drop his accordion on the floor. There is an almost total lack of inhibition there, and I believe those who can overcome any inhibitions are off to a head start, as all they need to worry about is playing the music.

From a personal point of view, if a player chooses to hold the instrument above their head occasionally, or employ the services of a domesticated albino Bornean Orangutan to help with the left hand, then I couldn't care less, just as long as the music was OK, and the Orangutan never ran off with the hat containing the money I'd thrown in!

 

[maugein96]

Want to improve your engagement skills? Practice looking in to the eyes of random strangers at the store, on the bus, or anywhere public. Dont stare or be creepy but to to lt to them until they drop their eyes before you do.

Of course none of that helps if the played mudic is not very well practiced before hand. Music first, engagement second.

Good advice Jerry, but perhaps best not practised on a bus in Glasgow, where anybody conscious of being stared at will be likely to strike you over the head with a bottle.

Glasgow has three national drinks. They all conveniently come in glass bottles which double up as street weapons.
They range from Irn Bru, a non-alcoholic soda type drink used to combat hangovers, then Buckfast, a fortified tonic wine used to create hangovers, and finally vodka, which needs no introduction. Whisky is the prerogative of the rich and if anybody hits you over the head with a whisky bottle, then try and get their name and address as they might be worth suing!

 

[JerryPH]

Lol... OK, let's add " know where to look at people" to the lisr, adding your sound advice to the list.

 

[losthobos]

Sound advice....thanks....especially as I'm so myopic I can't see the audience anyways....<EMOJI seq="1f609">?</EMOJI>

 

[losthobos]

Aside from the "they always clap when we stop playing..." line I often use the "I'm sorry to say I don't see so well but my partner tells me you're a lovely looking audience....is I ok if I touch you?" one ......

 

[maugein96]

The French player, Jo Courtin, who regularly accompanied Edith Piaf, had a famous punchline when the audience applauded as he walked onto the stage:- "Vouz avez raison d'applaudir devant!" (You are right to applaud before I play).

 

[maugein96]

Lol... OK, lets add know where to look at people to the lisr, adding your sound advice to the list.

Hi Jerry,

They used to say Glasgow was a friendly place, but that was in the days when they wore the old fashioned cloth caps, and it was etiquette for them to politely remove their caps before they headbutted you in the face.

I worked on the buses there for a while before I got a safer job working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier!

 

[Thomas N]

Just listened to this. It was really nice. I actually thought you used some stock footage when you cut away to the gentleman smoking a pipe with all of the beautiful grass and fog. The music fit the occasion and I would have stayed and had three or four beers enjoying the music and scenery. Excellent job and thank you for sharing!

 

[debra]

Want to improve your engagement skills? Practice looking in to the eyes of random strangers at the store, on the bus, or anywhere public. Dont stare or be creepy but to to lt to them until they drop their eyes before you do.

Of course none of that helps if the played mudic is not very well practiced before hand. Music first, engagement second.

Good advice, also by others.

I have two different quintets, playing at different but both quite good level. When we have a performance, you see 5 old buggers dressed in black (thats used by many musicians now), and no matter how well we play the biggest challenge to make the audience really happy is to try to do things that are different from just 5 old buggers playing music. Even the most serious concert with classical music is entertainment so we try to put some of that into the performance.