We play for the over 55 market a lot. It's a big, dependable market here in South Florida and has been so since I started playing pro.

A lot of changes have come down through the years, the music has migrated as we play the same market and the years pass (when we started it was pre-rock Big Band Jazz).

Also technology has changed. We now compete with people who buy karaoke tracks and sing along to them. If we went out with minimalist backing tracks, we would not be able to compete.

I do my own tracks, sometimes with the help of BiaB and sometimes from scratch. I could save a lot of work and buy karaoke tracks like many of my competitors, but by making my own using MIDI and synths I can (1) change the key to whatever works best for our vocals (2) extend the arrangement so a 2 minute song can last 4 minutes if it's a dance number (3) leave a place for me to improvise a sax, wind synth, guitar or flute solo (4) by making my own tracks I know the chords, substitutions and everything else about them.

More details about how I do it are here: http://www.nortonmusic.com/backing_tracks.html - Feel free to use what you like and ignore what you don't.

Cocktail piano is for all practical purposes dead around here. There are a couple who play sonic wallpaper in restaurants but that's about it. The minimalist folks go out with a flat-top guitar and start with Jimmy Buffet type songs. Of course your area might have different tastes.

Check out your competition before you make any final decisions. You have to aim to be better than the rest.


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

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