At 12:15 PM -0800 12/31/06, Carl Dershem wrote:
There are oodles of fantastic musicians within 150 miles of here, of all sorts and genres, and in almost 40 years of playing, I've only met probably 15-20 percent of them. But strangely enough, in any one geographic area (defined within California as 'within easy driving range') there's always the same few dozen who get all of the work, mostly because they're more reliable.
That's inevitable, because it means that they're the ones who are in with the contractors, and since the contractors have their own reputations to protect, reliability ranks right up there along with the ability to do the job. Part of being a musician. Makes it hard to break in in any new place, but once you're in makes it very comfortable. And this is exactly why the East Coast and West Coast styles developed as they did back in the '50s and '60s. The same guys played together all the time in clubs and sessions and evolved together. Touring bands were a whole different world. Remember the "Trombones Incorporated" album? A beautiful demonstration of the differences between the two coasts.
I do much the same thing (on a MUCH smaller scale!) recruiting community musicians and students for community music gigs, many of them volunteer. When I have someone who's both capable and reliable, I stick with them as long as they're available. (And when I say students, I don't just mean college students. I've used excellent 8th graders when they're studying with a good teacher and can cut the parts.) Of course it's a hassle when they move away and I have to troll for someone new to put on my depth chart, but that's ALSO part of the business of being a musician, and it's when and how new players can break into the system.
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
