Quote:

<...>Do you not see the difference between standing in front of an 19 piece band in a tux singing A Foggy Day In London Town in a nice theater with tiered seating that has professional lighting with follow spot, and playing Freebird in a bar full of bikers?

If you don't see the difference, then I shouldn't be discussing this with you.<...>



I've played in dives, I've played in singles bars, I've played in Yacht Clubs, I've played in 5 star hotels, I've played on cruise ships, I've played in show clubs, I've played in huge venues like Cobo Hall warming up for headliners, I've even played in China. In some respects there are no difference between the gigs. The band is on stage, the audience is out there, and the band tries to capture the audience. I played a Biker Bar and had just as good of a time as I do in the Yacht Club.

We don't do Free Bird but we do Sweet Home Alabama and I enjoy that as much as I enjoy anything else I play.

I've had as much fun playing in a little intimate bar as I did warming up for headliners. It's like the difference between eating steak and pizza. Both are fun.

So while there is a difference in audiences, and a difference in the way you present yourself and the tunes you select, in the end it's all the same, musician(s) and an audience coming together to have some fun. I'm sure those rappers are having as much fun a I am, even though I have no desire to be a rapper.

And whether you are doing Bieber or Mozart covers, yes, you are doing covers, and if you are doing them well, you should feel good about yourself. You don't have to be in a bar to play cover music, you can do it in a concert hall too.

Back on topic. Can you make a living playing music? Yes but like Beethoven and Shostakovitch, there will be compromises you have to make. But you can say the same thing about any profession or even any job. Can you make a living hanging wallpaper? I knew a guy who did, and while he loved most of it, he hated papering bathrooms. Can you make a living being a Gigolo? Yes but some of your dates would be the kind you would rather not take to dinner. Can you make a living being an engineer? Yes but the company you work for is going to want you to engineer a few things that are both beneath your talents and boring.

The key is, you can make a living doing anything that there is a demand for. But to do so, 99% of us will have to make some compromises along the way.

Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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