You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Ways to Prepare for a Gig - #96

Episode Date: May 5, 2018

In this episode, Peter and Adam list 7 ways to effectively practice for an upcoming gig. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Adam Menace and I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear at Podcast. Today we're going to give you seven ways to prepare for a gig. Oh man, I don't want to prepare for a gig. Can I just wing it every time? Yes, you can. And then that'll be your last gig. No, I think this is good.

This is important. You know, we're always talking about one of the ways to not be nervous and to get gigs is to be prepared for them. So I think it's good that we're actually talking about how to prepare for them. You see how we do it on the You'll Hear podcast? We dig deep. First, we just tell you prepare. That was a couple of weeks ago.

Then you're smart because you stuck around with us every day. Now we're going to give you seven ways to prepare. That's right. All right, why you kick it off, Adam? So our number one way to prepare is to research, aka listen. Right. Number one. Thus leading to you'll hear it.

That's right. No, so this is really the most important thing to prepare for a gig. You've got to know what's going to be on the gig, right? Sometimes you don't need to do much research. if someone sends you a big fat email full of all the charts and tunes and MP3s or whatever. Well, you still got to listen to them once you receive them.

But you know, you can also just do some research about who you're playing with it. Do a quick Google search, do a YouTube search, do a iTunes search, Spotify search. Do research on who the other musicians are if you don't know them. I noticed you mentioned Spotify, YouTube, what was the other one?

iTunes. You didn't mention a card catalog search. No, no, no. They don't need to do that at the library. I'm not 80 years old. That's the thing. No, but it is a good idea to know who you're playing with and to figure out, you know, what they play like.

And then research as much as you can what tunes you're going to play. Sometimes you might not know because maybe the band leader is not, you know, forthcoming with that information. But if you can get your hands on as much of the information that's going to be on the gig as possible beforehand, all the better, you know, research recordings of the people that are on there and really try to know. know the music before you even step foot in the rehearsal room. Yeah, and in this day and age, we really have no excuse for not being prepared.

So even if somebody sends you, as you refer to it, the big fat email, was that a pH kind of email? Yeah, a PDF-H fat. Right. So even if they send that, and so say they have like a studio recording from one of their albums of one of the tunes and the music, and you kind of look at it and say, oh, I'm ready with this. What I like to do on that, and I've actually done this very really,

recently is then go to YouTube and see if there's any live performances, recent ones. Totally. So then you know how that particular artist or that band does things. I mean, it doesn't get any better than seeing them two nights ago, even if it's somebody's crappy Instagram, you know, video of the gig, but then you can see how it's actually going now. Yeah, and, you know, if you're on like a local scene and maybe you've got a gig with a local player, go to their gigs before the gig. If they have other gigs before, you know, you can go see them live.

Do as much of that as you possibly can because you want to be living this before you're actually up there, you know, making it happen. Right. But I think the key to this number one. is the listen, whether it's live, whether it's on recording. And don't use as a crutch or as an excuse not to listen is that you have the music. You always want to have that supplementary listening, if possible. Sometimes it's new music that's never been, you know, recorded or performed before,

and then you're going to be creating it with them. Yeah. Number two of our seven ways to prepare for a gig is to make a plan or practice schedule. I really like this because sometimes, you know, depending on how much music there's going to be on the gig or how familiar you are with the gig or the artist, it can be a little bit of, you know, a little bit overwhelming. And a lot of times the kind of paralysis

that can come upon us for any, you know, difficult project is just that time when you're sort of like, oh, I don't know which tune. I'm going to listen. I don't know which one to start with. So if you're kind of paralyzed as to what to do, you know, put a little pencil to paper and come up with that plan and say,

okay, the gig is in one week. And there's, you know, 14. tunes. Well, that math would work out nice. So you know maybe, you know, two tunes per day. You're going to be listening to all of them and cycling through, but your practice schedule is really going to be about learning. And you might want to front load it with a couple of days of just listening. And then you can ascertain what the difficult songs are. So you want to have that at the beginning of your practice routine in case, you know, you need some extra days on those. And then, you know, I think that really is the best way to get into a difficult project of any kind. It's just to have a plan.

Yeah, that's right. And also this could work if you have multiple new gigs coming up. You know, maybe you're playing a few different gigs with a few different groups in the next few weeks. Yeah. You've got to map out that schedule if you want to get all that in. And I mean, a lot of times, you know, there's a lot of great players out there. We all know that. And that's a beautiful thing about this music. There's so many people passionate about it and so many people that are dedicated and have really put in the time and have the talent. what starts to separate ones that get a lot of gigs and can continue to get gigs are those that are just organized with this.

And if they've got a bunch of gigs, you know, sometimes you're like, man, how are they able to prepare for all those? It's because they come up with that plan first and they prioritize the more difficult ones. And then, you know, for me, a lot of times, like, just because it's been so long since I've been in a position where I had extra time to work on music for a gig. So what I'll prioritize is things that I would love to practice, but I know I can get by on the gig without practicing them. So I'll listen to them and I'll maybe do a quick run through,

but I know I can kind of push those back and I'll spend much more time on the difficult ones because I want my kind of average level of playing to be pretty high. I don't want to be like nine tunes I'm nailing in one I'm kind of falling off on. Every, I'll read just to reiterate, every really great professional, like someone who's working all the time is usually the person I know who prepares the most. You know, our friend Mark Kolenberg comes to mind,

great drummer with Robert Gloucester. I've been on the road with him quite a bit, and he is always working on something that's coming up. Right. You know, he's working, he'll refresh on the tunes that we're on the road with, but he already knows those. He's working on the next thing. It's pretty amazing to watch, and that's why, you know,

players like that always work. So that takes us to number three, because I've done this myself, and this is if you don't have charts for a gig, and you maybe don't have time to memorize everything. Maybe there is 14 tunes, and maybe they're very complex. a good practice to get into is to make charts or at least make road maps so that you're not having to think so much about the form. There's no guessing, you know, you hit big landmarks in the tunes. Yeah.

And, you know, like you said, you're not up there on the 10th tune and you forget because you have so many to learn and you embarrass yourself on a crucial section. You know, you really want to have some kind of idea of the form, of any hits, of any endings, of any intros, even a set. list can be helpful on things like that. So don't be scared to like keep a notebook to make roadmaps. You know, if you really want to get into it, you can actually make charts of notated music. Yeah, I mean, I've, I've gone through and rewritten some music that some, I mean, some really good artists have sent me, but I just, you know, some complicated music that I felt the way it was written. I just couldn't, I didn't have time to memorize it. And I just couldn't read it the way they had it written. So I'll just, I'll take it upon myself to rewrite it, because I

want to be comfortable on the gig so I'm not having to stare at the page like I can kind of glance at it and I know that that's going to save me time and energy on the gig so I'll take the time in advance to do that I've done that you know as as pianist sometimes it's really crucial what voicings were playing under a melody so if I get a chart or a recording that doesn't specifically let me know what the melody is and I feel like I might clash with something I'll make sure that I write out exactly with a voicing or at least the top note of what I want to get on certain parts I've definitely gone that specific nice Okay, so number four is going to be practice along with these recordings that you've been listening to from number one. Now that you've got your charts together, you've got some reference recordings.

You know, sometimes we'll forget this. We'll practice the music, you know, looking at the music or maybe we've got to memorize and we're playing it. We're feeling good about it. But then it's good to, you know, practicing with the recording is almost like you're rehearsing with the artist in a way. And sometimes, especially if it's a gig that there is no rehearsal or there's just a quick sound check maybe. You're not, that's going to be your only chance. So you play along with the recording. Of course, it's not like being there live and that's spontaneous,

but it's sort of the next best thing. And it's really a way, sometimes when we're playing alone on our instrument, no matter what instrument we play, you get so much into just your own part and you forget that you have to fit in with an ensemble. Now, obviously, a solo guitar gig this wouldn't apply to because you are doing everything. But otherwise, you know, playing with the recording is going to be a great part of your practice routine and preparation for that gig. Yeah, and like you said before, man, if you can find a recent live recording somehow, that's the best way to go, because that's what is happening, you know, the closest to where you're going to be on it.

Yeah, and I mean, you know, for me, when I send out music for my own gigs, I try to be really careful about sending like an updated chart the way that the tune we play currently. But sometimes you don't have that or you forget or like, you know, because the music changes over the time. And we get away from the chart and some of my stuff doesn't even have music. So I'll always try to send them a more recent recording. I'm very impressed by some of these younger players that I've hired to play with me that they take it upon themselves. I'm sending them stuff like, oh, I've already checked out the music. That's the best way to prepare, actually, is to be ahead of the game already. Then you don't have to, you know, if the particular artist or whatever sends you the music late or whatever, then you can't fall back on, well, they didn't send it to me to the day before.

So this is as good as I could do it. Well, shame on you. Yeah, I mean, just imagine how, you know, to our listeners, out there, how you would feel if you hired someone for a gig, and they came to your rehearsal knowing all your stuff, you know, because they had done the research. It's a great feeling. So if you can do that to someone else, you're going to make a big impression. Right, right. Now, if you hire Ron Carter to play on your recording, don't expect him to go check out your little crap, you know?

Make sure you get him the music. If he did, though, wouldn't you be so honored? That would be awesome. That's why he's the best. Exactly. That takes us to number five. And this is to really focus in on some of the technical aspects that may be necessary for this gig. So, you know, for me, sometimes I'll get called, and I know that there's going to be some kind of like stride piano element or some reading or something. So I'll add some of that to my practice routine in the weeks leading up, knowing that I'm going to have to execute that.

You know, maybe you play saxophone and you know there's going to be some altissimo that's required from some of the charts. Spell that. Altissimo. I wouldn't even dare. I think it's... Talk about technical. What is that?

Spanish. And then maybe you play trumpet and you're getting hired for a lead gig. where you're going to have to like incorporate some you have to physically get your chops ready for it that's right so make sure that you are really honing on those specific technical things that you know are going to be on these gigs right so that's number six I'm going to have you take this one too because I actually don't understand what this is so this is going to be a good learning a learning point for me well number six I mean it kind of goes along with what we were talking about with playing along with recordings it's practiced the performance and this is really just kind of a walk through in your mind of maybe what the gig is going to be like. I do this on some bigger gigs with new people that I've had, you know, where I like actually think about the venue. I mean, I know you've, you said you've pictured your before you played at the village vanguard. You'd play it there in your mind several times. Kind of a visualization.

Kind of a visualization. I mean, if you're feeling nervous about playing with new people or maybe it's someone that you really admire, this can be very helpful for kind of putting you in the situation mentally and emotionally before you get in there. And then once you're there, you've kind of I've already done it. I like it. I like it. And this takes us to number seven, our piece de hazyzons of this little list. And this one is kind of a joke, but it's kind of serious, too.

And that is don't take the gig if you can't prepare for it. Please. So that is, you know, all these things, there's varying amounts that we've given you, of all these things, there's varying amounts that you're going to have time to do. So you have to, you know, really look at your schedule and see if you're going to have time to prepare. Now, do you have to be 100% prepared every time? No, I don't know that I've ever been 100% because you get on the gig and then there's always this like, ooh, I wish I'd gone over this a little more or whatever. That's fine.

Or they call it completely different material. Oh, exactly, yeah. I mean, you can prepare what you can prepare for. But I mean, you know when you get called for a gig. I mean, look, sometimes we just need the money and you got to do it. Right. But then you got to just, you know, stay up late, get up early. You know, I mean, the worst thing is like, oh, I don't have time to prepare for that gig.

So, you know, but you got time to watch net. for three hours. That's not a great excuse. But really, if you just don't feel like there's time for you to adequately prepare, sometimes it's better to just skip the gig, you know, depending on what your long-term goals are, and especially if you really want to work with that artist. Now, I would encourage you first to get your hustle on and see if you can't prepare within whatever amount of time it is. But if you decide you can't, it's probably better to skip it.

Yeah, I mean, bottom line is preparation is a huge part of playing this music, and it always has been. And, you know, as much as your time as you put into practicing your instrument, don't leave this part of it out. It's a very important part. Yeah, I mean, preparation of word includes pre-peer. That is to pair in advance pre. I mean, if you keep listening, for sure, you'll hear it. Thanks for for listening to this episode of the You'll Hear It podcast. You can go to you'll hearit.com to get more information, submit a question, or just say hello. You can do that. Absolutely. All right. And if you like what you heard, please leave a review. and a rating below.

Thanks.