Gigging

Way back in my college days(Peabody Conservatory, the latter 70's), one of my music professors, one Moshe Morris Cotel, was quoted as saying that Music and Judaism were the pillars of his life. I always liked that remark, the resoluteness behind it, the teleological certainty. Having one's life grounded in one's Faith and one's Art, and knowing that they'll both take you, someday, to a 'higher place'.

Not being a religious person myself(I almost added 'let's hope' to that last sentence), at least in the denominational sense, I don't have that leg to stand on. Well actually I do have some beliefs along that line, but they're what might be considered a bit eclectic--what Catholic Theologian Peter Kreeft described as " a trip to the Salad Bar"(well not me personally, but his writing spoke to me in particular at that moment). 'Nother time, 'nother blog..

For the purposes of this blog, I could say that the pillars of my musical life are gigging, teaching and writing/recording. Over time, I've become most partial to the writing/recording side of things, but have enjoyed and do enjoy teaching and gigging and like to keep my hand in all three pursuits.

But wherever we end up as musicians, gigging is the one we all do at one time, the one Universal. Most everybody at least starts off wanting to be a player, and in those youthful dreams the audience is often a teeming throng of fans.

For me, the first 'gigs' I ever did were age 12 and 13. My first paying gigs happened when I was 14(see the blog titled Beginnings). I'm now 57, turning 58 in August. That's a lot of gigs, the biggest concentration of which are all the ones you do in your youth, to get the experience--some Saturdays I'd play 3 in the day! At this juncture, I'm doing one or two just about every month, which averages out to 15-16 dates a year, but in those days it was usually over 100.

One thing that slows down this process is that at some point, unfortunately, you usually have to go out and get some kind of dayjob just to make ends meet. I was 32 at this point, but obviously still young enough to put in a full week at the dayjob and proceed unimpeded into the weekend's gigs. Worked Monday through Friday(and half-Saturdays, way back when I was a Bank Teller--'86-91)and still played every Friday and Saturday nights, plus a fair amount of Thursdays and Sundays. Didn't even blink.

Actually it wasn't until I hit 50, in 2004, that I started to get just a little bit crabbier about my schedule- or should I say schedules? The gigs themselves were still enjoyable, but afforded me less weekend coolit time(something I never missed before), particularly a Saturday out-of-town gig which- even if early- takes your whole day. So I started cutting back, but still tried(and do try)to at least keep my hand in there.

There are folks my age or thereabouts, who've been playing gigs since they were 12 or 13, and unlike me, are still playing most every Friday and Saturday night in addition to working their daygig. I think that's great. And there are a few who cut back for awhile and are now making a comeback. Again, I think that's great. For them.

For me, gigging is the one ball, musically speaking, out of the three I juggle, toward which I have the most ambivalence. I unequivocally love writing/recording, ardently enjoy teaching, but gigging is a love/hate thing.

Playing a gig just last night got me thinking along these lines, because I was experiencing both the things I love and those I hate about the whole process of gigging. I decided to break it down a bit:

The Things I Love about Gigging

playing itself is fun
playing with other like-minded(or at least compatible)musicians
jocularity and camaraderie with musicians on gig
same with some folks in the crowd
communicating one's music to an appreciative soul or two, or at least feeling like you did
food if applicable
remuneration
possibility of meeting women(or at least one good one)

The Things I Hate about Gigging

unappreciative audiences
parking/loading hassles
feeling of being "on display"
being expected to "perform" or at least "be in the house" when you go hear somebody
time expenditure/travel
local scene can become a hotbed of egos, in-groups, and stoopid intrigues
hearing your name added in to said stoopid intrigues
not meeting women

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So I concluded from all this that so long as your reasons for doing something include a basic love for the doing of it(and your ass is getting paid for it!), you're probably on a good track. Well okay, it helps to get fed too- but now we're getting into the optional stuff. I basically love to play--well, improvised music anyway, or that with the possibility of my getting to improvise, and as long as that's going on, I can hopefully weather some of those other ancillary issues.

Like parking. And not meeting women. Well, maybe I just haven't met her yet...