You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - How to Get and Keep a Gig - #5

Episode Date: February 4, 2018

Both Adam and Peter have gotten AND kept countless gigs over the years. That's why they're the experts on this subject, so why don't you take heed as they break it down, ah-ight? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I'm Peter Martin. And I'm Adam Anus. Welcome to the You'll Hear It podcast. Hey, I'm Peter Martin. And I'm Adam Manus. Today we're talking about how to get a gig and keep a gig. Very important. They're both important, I guess.

Yeah. If you get a gig, you want to keep the gig, right? Ideally. So the first thing I think about actually has nothing to do with music, and that is personality. And that's basically being somebody that others want to work with. I guess we could look at a gig, like a solo piano gig, and you might say, well, you don't need to get along with anyone with your personality,

but you still have to get along with the audience in some respects. But a lot of times we're talking about getting a gig and keeping a gig. It's interacting with other people, usually on the bandstand. And so I think the same things that really are simple and work in life in terms of having the kind of personality that people want to be around, somebody that's listening, somebody that's contributing, somebody that's part of the conversation. You can't be too inward thinking just to your own things.

So I mean, develop your personality. If you've got a good personality, just be confident and let all that out on the gig and then other people are going to want to work with you. If you've got a crappy personality, maybe try to change some things in your personality. Just like when you're working on your music and practicing, you know, you're trying to improve certain elements of your playing. I think it's the same thing with your personality because it's got such a big part of making music together. Yeah, I agree.

And I think some people get this idea that, oh, an artist is a tortured, sort of, soul, a jazz musician, it's this dark figure that, whatever. But you know what, in reality, this is still a business, and you still have to be professional, and that is a huge part of it. So I'm glad you brought that up. Another part of that kind of, like, section two of that is to listen. And that goes musically or otherwise, you know, personally. When you're on the gig, and if you're just in your own little world on the bandstand,

doing your own thing, if it's not your gig, you're not going to have that gig very long. You've got to play to what the band's concept is, whoever's or whomever is leading that group, you have to play to how they're hearing the music, and that takes listening, lots of listening. Even if it's your own band, you still have to listen to the other members of that group, of that ensemble to get the most you can out of the music,

or else you might as well just stay at home and play to records. Exactly. I mean, you might be able to get a gig without listening, but you're definitely not going to be able to keep a gig without listening to what's happening around you. The next thing is in order to get a gig and to keep a gig is be a team player. Now, being a team player when you're playing with others encompasses several different things, but the main thing to keep in mind is you're part of something bigger than you.

And people always want to work with and listen to and employ somebody who understands that their contribution can possibly make the whole thing better. The whole band, the whole sound, whatever it is, the ensemble. And so that means you need to be a team player. So that means when it's time for you to solo, you're thinking about what is best for the overall song, what is best for the overall set instead of just what is best for you. Not being a team player is probably better suited to like solo piano situations, which is, you know, possible. But in terms of really always trying to think of what your role is, is this my time to step up in solo? Is this my time to be more supportive? Maybe I'm going to pull back on my solo because somebody else has played a lot.

All those are part of being a team player. And mainly just being supportive of those. As pianists, it's so important to us. But at every instrument, you have to be supportive and a team player. That's right. And sometimes being a team player involves what we're going to talk about in our next point, which is to contribute with creativity. Now, this is sort of the flip side of you're in your own head

and you're just doing your own thing. Everybody's doing their own thing. We don't want that. But you also don't want to just play exactly how you think. they want you to play because the chances are that you've been hired for this gig because they want your input on things. So you have to contribute to the music and contribute to the sound of the group with your own experiences, with your own way of playing. And if you're not doing that, then you're not really contributing anything other than anyone else could do. So be yourself, be confident in your abilities and why you got the gig in the first place.

If you are constantly adding to the music with creative ideas, you'll keep a gig for a gig for a gig for. you'll keep a gig for almost as long as you want it. That's right. Now, this is so important, because remember, we're talking about as jazz musicians, as creative musicians, as improvising musicians, how to get a gig and keep a gig. This podcast is not how to get a gig and keep a gig as a symphony musician. No. Because in that situation, many of these apply, but...

As written. Yes, yeah, but you've got to keep it as written. If you start to get creative with the melody lines or with the chord structures, you're going to get fired from that gig. So this is really about matching up, you know, your performance. personality, you're playing your professionalism with what the job is as a jazz musician. And that would bring us to our final point here, which is be prepared. And this is something that covers every area of music and employment and being professional,

all that stuff. Come to the gig, knowing the tunes inside and out, try to have as much things memorized as possible. I mean, that's a great way to get a gig and stay on a gig, is to really know the music, you know, find out what's going on, and be prepared even for the things that you don't know are going to happen. So that means knowing a lot of tunes. Sometimes we get on gigs and, you know, someone will call it, say, oh, let's do this tune. And you don't want to be saying, oh, you didn't send me that one. You know, you hopefully would either know it or be able to hear it quick enough or have some experience.

So being prepared is not just about learning all the tunes that are required for the gig. Not at least if you want to get a gig and keep a gig. It's about anticipating what the band leader or what the band's kind of thing is and, learning all their tunes maybe. Yeah, absolutely. How many times we heard this? A great young musician gets a gig with one of their heroes. They learn almost everything that heroes ever done, and they get on the gig, and they impress the person that is leading the gig, and then they get that gig for a while.

I want to tell a story, though, about you, Peter, and your level of preparedness. What impressed me when I first saw your studio was your huge filing cabinet of sheet music and tabs of pretty much everyone you've ever played with, and they're charred. And that to me was a big eye-opening moment of like, oh, that's how Peter gets and keeps these gigs. It's because he's got the charts on, even if it's just a one-off gig, he'll keep the chart and have it on file and ready to go. If he gets called again, he comes prepared. And that's impressive. Well, you know, and I mean, the thing is, you know, we're always talking about how you can develop as a better player, as a better improviser, how you can develop your ears.

And all those things are super important. But in terms of getting a gig and keeping a gig, you're going to be. competing against a number of other very well qualified, great players with great ears that have learned a bunch of solos and know a bunch of tunes. So one way that you can differentiate yourself once you kind of get in that top A player kind of category is with these kind of professional type of things of really being prepared. And that's one of them is just knowing the person's music and not, and making it easy on them as a band leader that you show, oh no, I've already got the music.

I've already prepared for that. Don't wait to have your handheld through every different situation. and you'll be the kind of player that people want to call and want to keep you, you know, keep you on the gig. My dad always used to say growing up, if you can make someone else's life easier on the job, you'll always work. That's right.

That's true. That's it for today's episode of the You'll Hear a Podcast. For more information or to hear more of these podcasts, go to openstudio network.com slash podcast.