Are professional musicians or public players here???

TinwhistleJulian · Post by **TinwhistleJulian** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:04 pm

hey,just wanted to know if there are other professional players or public players at chiff and fipple.
And when you are one of that,how long are you professional/public player?
I´m professional since a few month now,semi professional since 4 years nearly ,and decided to become professional now cause i will finish school next year ,and then go on with musical work (inclusive instrumental teacher for guitars ,woodwinds and writer(instrumentals/songs/stories and plays ) ).
actually i train to get my skills to excellent ,so i got a professional woodwinds mentor and a fiddle/mandolin mentor.
i hope ,when i finish school ,that i can do what i always dreamed from since 2003 : to go ona tournament with a band again ,last time was 2003 with tragical end.
if you have icq or msn messenger,i would like to have contact with you ,sharing experiences and giving tips.

chas · Post by **chas** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 7:41 pm

There are quite a few professional musicians on these boards, though I don't know if any frequent the pub. A lot of us have done some public playing. I haven't done any concerts in 20 +/- years. I did quite a bit for awhile, though, all on Appalachian dulcimer.

I like doing physics for a living and music as a hobby much more than I would like doing the converse.

If you can make a go as a professional musician, you've got my admiration.

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 3:28 am

You want professional musicians? Just ask Wjndbag what he was doing last Friday night.

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:08 am

too bad tal ain't here no more..

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 4:24 am

Hey Swissdood, you paid the taxes on your earnings from that Scottish gig yet?

amar · Post by **amar** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:19 am

no, that was black money. teehee.

jbarter · Post by **jbarter** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:42 am

amar wrote:no, that was black money. teehee.

You were paid in Guinness?

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 8:25 am

Not pro but I frequently play in public with bands on a few different instruments. I'd love to go pro when I finish school (guess that's what's expected of me since I'm a music major :roll: ), but I don't know if that'll ever happen. I'd obviously have to put a lot more effort into it then, but it doesn't feel like it's as easy as that. The money I earn from music now is more like some nice extra cash to spend than anything close to make a decent living. Still, my major band draws in more cash than most other bands I know with people in my age and with compairable experience so I'm content with that for now. Guess it's mainly because we play the sort of pub friendly folk rock that we do, and not a lot of other bands do that around here.

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:16 am

Yes.

Ok, seriously now... I know that there are both here.

Personally, I am an amateur. I have been lucky enough to be able to make part of my living at times from playing music, and have been close enough to the 'Professional Music' industry to know that I want absolutely no part of it... which is a good thing, because it's not exactly knocking on my door.

GaryKelly · Post by **GaryKelly** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:19 am

Being a 'pro' in ITM I imagine is a lot different from this scenario:

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

I don't think I'll be giving up my day job!

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 11:35 am

If you are asking whether any of us make our entire living playing music, then there might not be a lot. If you are asking if we have played gigs for years and years, formal concerts, composed, arranged, played in multiple ensembles, done some teaching, etc., have music degrees etc, then I am pro.

Remember the bumpersticker that an acquaintance of mine, Dix Bruce, created (which made him a fair bit of money, btw), "Real Musicians Have Day Jobs!" Because when you get tired of scraping by and don't sign a megazillion dollar contract with Sony, sometimes a regular job to go to that actually pays on a regular basis, is mighty attractive. Even when I was playing two and three weddings per weekend, it still never amounted to much money but a lot of struggle to be there. My ex-sister in law tours Canada and Europe every summer (she plays with the Kathy Kallick Band), is on several CDs and still comes home to her R.N. job at a local hospital. Her ex tours with the David Grisman Band but still comes home to his career as a recording engineer for, you guessed it, other musicians.

In fact, I propose we derail this thread and start a poor musicians joke thread. Here's my golden oldie:

What do you call a musician who breaks up with his girlfriend?

Homeless.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:45 pm

The Weekenders wrote: I propose we derail this thread and start a poor musicians joke thread.

In high school I played keyboard/piano and sang for a rock group. One afternoon I was transporting the band and our drummer's drum set in the back of the truck. The guitarist rode in front with me, while the bassist and drummer rode in the back. Suddenly a deer ran out in front of us. I had no choice but to swerve to miss it and we ended up driving into a lake. As the truck sank along with our gear, each of the members surfaced one by one, except for the drummer....."Where's tommy?!!" I asked. The bassist gets an embarrassed look on his face and says, "oops, I forgot to put the tailgate down."

Okay, so its not a poor musicians joke, but I like it.

How 'bout this....
How do you get a musician off your front doorstep?
Pay him for the pizza.

missy · Post by **missy** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:48 pm

What does a musician say when they are standing on your front stoop?

Pizza Delivery!

I agree with the others - it depends on your definition of "pro". If you mean have I been paid for doing something musically related, then, yes, I'm a pro. If it means being paid for EVERYTHING you do musically related, then, no, I'm not a pro. If it means not having a "day" job other than music, then I am definately NOT a pro - I need things like health insurance!

A lot of the "pros" I know personnally (those that do NOT have a job that isn't related to music) have either one of two scenerios:
They are "older" and retired from a "career", so can afford to now devote their time to music
Or they have a spouse that is employed and can take care of those things like insurance.

If they are totally "employed" by music - they usually aren't strictly playing music, but are running a recording studio, or crafting instruments, or working at a music store or something.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:50 pm

Yeah, baby! Nice one, Ty.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:56 pm

In the mid 60s, as a schoolboy, I went to see the Rolling Stones. Second on the bill were the Searchers, a band I also liked a lot. They had three no.1 hits in the UK, a 2, 3 and a 4 as well as numerous other top 50 chartings. They had an American no.3 hit and three other records that almost made the top 10. That's a lot of records sold. IMO, they were the second best Mersybeat band after the Beatles.

Ten years later, just before I left for England to do a doctorate, I saw them playing free to students at Melbourne University. (They would have been paid but not a great deal.) What I saw was unnerving to someone still thinking of a professional music career—I was semi-pro at the time and had had periods of being fully pro. They had added a bluesy guitar player as a concession to then-current fashion—on new material they sounded OK but no different to any second rate club band. They already seemed to be morphing into a night club act, only ten years after being right at the top. They introduced their old hits with self-effacing humour: some of you might be old enough to remember this one which was bit of a hit. I got the impression they really didn't expect their hits to be remembered.

I had nightmarish visions of schlepping heavy amps and other equipment up several flights of stairs into seedy dives in my forties and fifties to play to drunk and bored audiences, smaller than that present at my first paying gig when I was in my mid teens. Worse, this was what lay in store even if I was successful. I know an American no. 1 can set you up for life if you have the right contract, publishing rights and so on, but being a has-been this soon after being a star simply didn't appeal.

In areas like jazz, Irish, blues and so on, making a good living is a constant hustle, even for the stars. (You'd be surprised at stories I could tell about musicians known to just about everybody on this board.) The business side is very hard work. I often wish I'd done more than I have musically in public, but I never regret putting academic interests first as a career.