If you are a MM nearing or at retirement age, you may be considering performing music full time. If so, making your spouse a member of your production team might be a good fit and a lot of fun for both of you. The following article from IIana deBare gives great information. -MH

MIND YOUR BUSINESS

Enterprising Spouse hoping to help manage a Musician's Career
By Ilana DeBare
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 sfgate.com

Q: My husband is an accomplished classical and jazz pianist and composer. I plan to be his business manager. I have been told that in this line of business, it is recommended to have not only a business manager but a booking agent and an attorney. Is this correct?
-- Married to the Musician

A: An established, very successful musician will probably need an attorney for things like negotiating record deals and may have a talent agency in charge of booking concerts. But it sounds as if your husband is just starting his musical career. Many musicians in his shoes end up being their own manager, so I hope he appreciates the help you're offering him.

As manager, you'll need to develop promotional materials for him -- a demo CD that shows the breadth of his repertoire, a current 8-by-10-inch photo, a resume, song list, business cards and a description of his style and skill. You also need to figure out his niche -- of the hundreds of pianists out there, what does he offer that is unique and compelling?

"He could have a historical period he specializes in, or some verbal commentary or a manner about him," said Peter Rudolfi, a longtime booking agent with San Francisco's Artists in Music.

"The fact that he's a composer is a plus for him. He can pick an unusual sector of the repertoire and arrange it for piano -- say, mariachi music for piano -- and then he'd have a 'hook.' "

If your husband plans to play the wedding/party circuit, you'll submit his promotional materials to booking agents like Rudolfi. Their role is like taxicab dispatchers -- providing musicians to the companies, brides-to-be and event planners who are looking for entertainment. If he prefers to go the route of classical concerts or jazz clubs, you'll end up approaching different sources.

Don't be shy about approaching multiple booking agents: Top musicians may establish an exclusive relationship with one talent agency, but most musicians need as much booking help as possible to survive.

At this early point, you probably won't have much need for a lawyer. But there's one resource that's too good to overlook. California Lawyers for the Arts will provide artists, writers and performers with a half-hour legal consultation for just $30, or $20 if you become a member. That would be a good place to air any initial questions about things like contracts.

www.calawyersforthearts.org/musicbusiness2005.html
By Ilana DeBare
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
www.sfgate.com



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Rehearsing Tips
By Marlin Bressi

Performing in front of an audience is always the most enjoyable aspect of being a musician. Hearing applause after a song is perhaps the sweetest sound I can recall hearing. Likewise, hearing silence after a song is like hearing a girlfriend say she is leaving you for your best friend. It's something you take very personally, and when you drive home at the end of the night, it haunts your thoughts like a nightmare. Even worse is reading a bad review about a live performance.

The only realistic way to avoid negative criticism, other than to give up performing, is to devote alot of time to practice. Every band practices, but some bands do it more effectively than others. Fink's Constant holds a weekly practice every Wednesday evening from 7:00 pm to about 9:30 pm. For a band that performs regularly, this is plenty of time to iron out any wrinkles in our live performances. I know a lot of bands who hold rehearsals more than once per week and still manage to sound unpolished. You can bet that it's because they are not making the most out of their rehearsal time. All too often, the majority of practice time is wasted drinking beer, telling jokes, and setting up or tearing down equipment. Many bands approach practice without the discipline needed to improve, and as a result, they never achieve the kind of harmonic cohesion that will further their musical careers.

The key to a fruitful rehearsal is to have an agenda for each meeting and to stick with it. Goals must be set, and progress must be monitored. A routine should be established that allows the band to maximize its playing time and to minimize the amount of goofing off and horseplay. Below you will find an outline of a typical Fink's Constant practice, a routine that we have adhered to for years and has worked well for us.

7:00 pm: Band meets at Chad's house for weekly rehearsal. Most of the equipment is stored in the band's van, which is driven by Don. When Don backs the van into the driveway, the other members assist in loading in. A lot of time is lost by an undisciplined load-in. It is recommended that each member is assigned specific tasks so that everyone knows what to do at load-in time. We have practiced this the same way a grade school class practices a fire drill. One member will take in the microphones, mic stands, and cables and start setting them up. Another member will take the monitors and the speakers, and another member will take the instruments. To save time and become efficient, the same members should be responsible for setting up the same part of the sound system. because the drummer usually takes the longest to set up, we store his equipment in the back of the van so that it is unloaded first. By planning out the load-in, you will easily cut your set-up time in half. It's just like watching a pit crew at a stock car race; one man is responsible for putting gas in the car, another man is responsible for jacking up the car, and another man is responsible for changing tires. Imagine the confusion if a race car pulls into a pits, and the pit crew stands around asking each other what needs to be done.

7:30 pm: By this time, all the equipment should be in place in Chad's basement and ready to go. The mics are set up the same way as they would appear at one of our live shows. Zak, the guitar player is on the left side. Mike, the singer, is in the center. The horn section stands to his right. Andy, the drummer, is in the back, and I am somewhere behind the singer and guitar player. We prefer this arrangement because it allows us to know where one another is at all times. This way, if we are playing live and one of us has a problem, there is no confusion if we need to communicate to each other.

We usually start the night off by hitting the songs that we may have made mistakes in during a previous show. In the time between the previous gig and practice, Mike will usually come up with a list of songs that need to be worked on. If it's only one particular part of the song, we work on the problem areas and avoid wasting time on the parts of the song that we have perfected. This part of rehearsal usually takes about thirty minutes, and provides us with a good warm-up for the new material that we will practice later in the evening.

8:00 pm: We spend the next thirty minutes going over some of the songs we haven't performed live in a while. It's important to hit the older and/or forgotten material to keep it fresh in everyone's minds. Unlike many bands, Fink's Constant does not use a set list for shows. The songs are called by Mike, and his song selection changes depending on the mood of the crowd, or the energy left in the band. If we resort to a set list, it becomes very easy to forget the older material, and when that happens, alot of time is wasted by having everyone re-learn a song we shouldn;t have forgotten in the first place.

8:30 pm: This is when we hit the new songs that haven't been performed in front of an audience. The songs that are closest to being played out are worked on first, and the final few songs of the night are often experimental. We might change the song's form, add or remove parts of songs, or re-write sections that don't sound right. If there's extra time remaining, we might go back and revisit some of the songs that we hit earlier.

9:00 pm: The final part of rehearsal revolves around our "band meeting". All of us go up to Chad's living room and discuss any important band-related business. Usually, Mike starts off the meeting by giving us the dates of new gigs, or informing us of any time changes for upcoming shows. Chad then delves into the band's finances, informing us about bills we have to pay or any purchases we have to make. I then keep the band up to date on any matters concerning publicity or promotion, which is my role in the band. Each month I am given a budget to spend with the purpose of promotion. This encompasses anything from radio airplay to print advertising, to posting in internet chatrooms and music forums.

Things usually wrap up around 9:30, the van is loaded up for the next show, and we all go on our merry way. This is the routine we've stuck with for years, and it always works for us. We take rehearsals very seriously, and place a great deal of emphasis on organization and routine. Might not sound like fun, but the harder we work at practice, the more fun we'll have when it really matters: Showtime.

Published on: April 15, 2005
Website: http://www.finksconstant.com
Email: zendog64@yahoo.com
Aol IM: marlinbressi



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WRITING SONGS YOU DON'T WANT TO WRITE
© 2001 Cindy Lee Haddock

LEARNING TO LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM
Songwriting should be fun, but we find it is often more chore than enjoyment, especially when we aren't in the mood or are forced to write in a style we don't enjoy because that is the assignment in front of us at the moment. The real trick here is to somehow turn this minus into a plus and make this an enjoyable exercise, and it will go by that much quicker. By breaking a noxious job into smaller, more palatable doses, adding a bit of fun to make it more palatable, doing your best and keeping your nose to the grindstone, the time will just fly by, and you'll be done before you know it. Best of all, you will now have gained some very important experience in unfamiliar territory training that can only help your writing in the long run.

WRITING ENVIRONMENT
Just like in the Dr. Seuss story perhaps you would like writing this obnoxious piece a little better if you start out in comfy surroundings. If possible, use your favorite instrument to start, a setting that has inspired you in the past, a few special pictures or objects to make you feel relaxed. I often take a cruise around a favorite part of town, come home, take a bath, sit down with a favorite stuffed animal for company on a favorite sofa with a favorite pen and notebook in hand, and then get out the closest recording I have to what needs to be done just to tell myself see, it's not that far off from what you like. Once I find at least some common ground to start from, that first leap is a lot easier for me. I listen to that work, and then listen to works that are steps closer to what the finished product should sound like. It's then just another short step to picking up that favorite instrument and trying to jam along with those recordings. The creative juices are already flowing by this time, and I deliberately try to come up with harmony solos and other parts that aren't written on the recording improvising in that same vein. Funny, it already seems more enjoyable.

You can even dress for the occasion. Wear comfortable clothes or dress for the occasion maybe wearing a cowboy hat will make it easier to write that Country tune. My husband and I, as a joke, wrote a rap tune and won two awards for it Ed ran around with an alarm clock on a ribbon around his neck making gestures while I cycled through various drum loops I'd written to get us into the mood. If nothing else, it can make you laugh, and laughing while you do this will make it happen just that much faster, and make the job easily bearable.

GOOD DOGGIE!
Be a little silly reward yourself at this point. Once you have already come up with a few simple jams, lyrics or melodies, give yourself a break and a treat. This works with other animals learning a new trick it will work for you, too. Play a favorite tune for a few minutes, make a quick phone call to a friend, or have a tiny special snack. I keep a bowl of a favorite snack around and take a few bites after each song and part I've come up with. Silly, but you brain likes this, and it does give you something to look forward to after each step. Try to avoid things that have chemical stimulation as a part of them, though don't have a caffeineated drink or something alcoholic whatever you are feeling will only be intensified by this, and you want to learn to like it, not hate it more. Food is best, and only take a little eating an entire box of doughnuts will probably make you sick, and your brain will associate the illness with this situation and make you want to avoid it in the future not what we want to do, here. Think mini candy bars (or a small slice of a candy bar) or doughnut holes or a small cookie or a chunk of favorite cheese you can finish the whole song without getting a tummy ache this way, and won't have to stress about putting on a few pounds for your efforts. I sometimes even do a mini-workout as a break a few jumping jacks or stretches whatever is fun for you emphasis on the fun.

WRITE THE SONG, NOW
Okay, so now you are more in the mood, you are giggling a little at how silly this all is, and you've rewarded yourself for going along with this nonsense so far. It's now time to take another small step and just throw yourself into the character needed here and "just do it!" Free association is often the best thing to do, here just jam out whatever comes to mind with the recorder humming along. Feel free to be really ridiculous, now be as extreme as you want and even do a lyric on how much you don't like this genre and why. I've done really well with parody metal, parody rap and parody country tunes I did this way (the really hilarious part was that I was told that each was a good example of each genre, apart from being parody tunes, so something rubbed off). You can always go back and change things later, and work them into more salable material, but you need to get some initial things on paper, first.

If you can't seem to come up with anything original, yet, feel free to even use an old tune and do a different, silly lyric, take an favorite riff and work it into that genre or rewrite a classic into the new style. There is a great band out there called Dread Zeppelin that does reggae versions of Led Zeppelin material, for example. For places that want a few cover tunes, I've come up with a Celtic-sounding redo of Elton John's "I Need You to Turn To" and a Christian metal version of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." If nothing else, this can be another small step to getting you into the mood for creating music in this new classification, and can also add to your resume if you supplement your songwriting with performance and need some more varied styles and cover numbers to help you get more work. As a performer, there is never such a thing as knowing too much.

After you have at least some silliness on tape, it is only a short step more from here to taking your rough idea, applying the songwriting rules you've learned to make your intro effective and reaching the chorus in time, a few quick lyric touch ups and you have a good rough draft started. At this point, you might bring in some fellow musicians who are better versed in this style to point out areas that need reworking they may notice some things that will help you refine your composition into something that is pitchable. At this point, some writers will actually turn the piece over to some studio experts and let them finish the arrangements and add some proper genre vocals to complete the effect. You have, at least, at this junction, done the copyrightable part of the tune, and can leave the details to expert producers if this is not your forte. At least now, though, you've accomplished what you started out to do and have a song in a new genre under your belt.

THE LOW BUDGET VERSION
If you are like me, though, and just can't afford the studio expert route, there are a few easy ways to finish out your production and keep it true to form. I love toys like my Yamaha QY10 and the sequencing programs on my computer there are so many different arrangement loops available in just about every genre imaginable. Most are easily customized, too, so you don't have to run into any problems with contests or websites that don't allow sampling of existing work. Once you have the basic loop, just have fun with changing bass lines, percussion instruments on drum tracks (just make sure they are true to the style) and the actual notes played. A few passes and saves later, and the new piece is now indistinguishable from the original and is now your own. This also will keep your piece from sounding "dated," since most of those loops are based on old popular material, and you want to sound fresh, not something from last year that's no longer in vogue.

FRESH EYES
Make sure you do your research and listen to a lot of what's hot in that genre, too, if you can, and try to extrapolate to what the next "big thing" might be your "fresh eyes" looking at this genre from the outside may be the new direction it may go in, since people in this field may not attempt the directions you are willing to try. The electrification of the blues helped create the genres of hard rock and heavy metal. The combination of traditional African, classical, Celtic and old standards helped create country, bluegrass and pop. Whatever your life and musical experiences are, you will bring that to the table and paint whatever you create with your personal stamp based on those experiences. Free yourself to try new things, and you may just create the next new genre on your own, or at least be at the forefront of a very salable new mousetrap. You won't know unless you are willing to open yourself up to new art forms, and be willing to incorporate them into your treasure box of knowledge. Hey, I never thought I'd have a use for Physics class until I learned that waveform modification is what you use to create new sound files for your sequencer. So look at that new style with your personally tinted lenses you may find that you not only like the new info, but it may make you a more salable commodity as a writer in the long run.

Have fun, and keep writing!

© 2001 Cindy Lee Haddock

Cindy Lee Haddock
PO Box 144971
Austin, TX 78714 US
URL: http://theunicorngarden.com

Email: TheUnicornGarden@aol.com




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