Well, Shenanigans embarks on it’s inaugural whirlwind tour tonight with a debut at the Baptist Adult Home in Glenville NY.
OK, it’s not Carnegie Hall, but it IS a paying gig, so I’m officially a professional musician!
Tomorrow, this tour ends at the Beukendaal Masonic Hall in Scotia, NY. Again, a paying gig (pretty well paying too, for a 40 minute set).
Then, we’ll just let the rave reviews roll in and brace ourselves for more bookings than we can possibly handle.
Seriously, this should be a lot of fun.. I’m playing multiple whistles (not simultaneously) and mandolin. The rest of the band includes a guitar/vocalist, bodhran and a box/octave mando/banjitar player.
Have fun! I’ve started doing pretty much
the same thing with an established band.
Playing with good musicians for an
appreciative audience is the best feeling!
We were supposed to play at a retirement
home tomorrow afternoon, but there was
a flu outbreak, so that was canceled.
Are you using amplification? I’ve had a few
hiccups trying to mic the whistles. I’d like
to hear how you setup…
The gig last night was a great deal of fun. We had about 60-70 people in the audience and they really seemed to enjoy our playing, and even the rotten Irish jokes.
If any of you have the chance, I’d recommend playing for folks in old age homes. Even if you don’t think you’re very good, the residents will appreciate the heck out of it. Lets face it, life in these homes gets to be very routine sometimes and any diversion at all is really welcomed. It’s a good thing to do for them, and if you have any stage fright it’s a great, non-threatening way to get your feet wet in performing in public.
I agree with Paul, and I work(ed) for many years in nursing homes here in England. The residents are so pleased to have somebody who is prepared to do something with them that they will love it, no matter what it is! I used to take a whistle to work every Sunday, and on a quiet Sunday afternoon we would have little singsongs. I can assure you that this is the only place I would play on my own, like that, except busking at Sidmouth, but they just enjoyed it so much. I was sometimes too busy, of course, but always on a Sunday would be asked if I had “my little flute” with me, and if we were going to sing. And their singing was AWFUL! We would all end up laughing, at my wrong notes and their “variations”, but they appreciated it so much.
If you have a Home near you, ask if they would like a little entertainment! I did hymns of their choice (it was Sunday) and folk songs, the ones my grandmother taught me, so they were the right “era”. I would say, “You know Oh No John No, don’t you?” Big sea of blank faces, so I would give them a run-through of the tune - “Oh, yes, we know that!” Just don’t give them too much jazz! We had a saxophonist once who jazzed them up, and they kept asking very loudly for “Sister’s little flute” - most embarrassing! But if you want to get into playing in public, with very little stress, it is great, and you will enjoy it as much as the residents do!
ditto the above. i’ve just come home from playing at a nursing home about 20 miles away. it was a great 2 hour show. lots of fun… lots of laughing… lots of very happy eyes. they were a great audience. i’ve been playing pubs for so long, i forgot what it was like to do a “non-pub” show. i had a blast. played some guitar, sang, played whistle, played flute, told some really bad jokes… picked on bag-pipers and accordians a lot! all in all, all were had by a great time. i hope to play there often.
Good for the Ladies! They’re very generous and giving lasses.
We had our second gig the night following the first. This time was a local Masonic Hall. Opening act was a local Irish dance school.
Everything went well. We got some really useful feedback from some of the audience regarding sound balance, pacing of the act etc which we can use in the future.
I’ve heard that music is one of the last things to go when you start losing your memory. I played for my father-in-law at a rest home in the Alzheimer’s ward of a rest home. After 15 or 20 minutes even the most detatched patients were tapping feet and clapping.
One elderly woman said to me after a set of jigs, “Good Hurlin’.”
Congratulations Paul:
Thanks for sharing what you did. I, too, played a couple of gigs at senior communities on St. Paddy’s Day. Like you said, very satisfying.
Whistles Played ?? --------
That’s right , we want to know. I think we can guess that they might be Busmans, but what kind ? Colorful delrin jobs. Bright tiger-maple ones with carrying power ? Or a tastefully elegant blackwood for mellowness ?
Tunes Played ? --------
I like the sound of the instrumentation of your quartet: lots of strings versatility. Do you remember any of the ITM selections of your program you might like to share with us ?
( we did The Foggy Dew, Maid behind the Bar, Red Haired Boy, Ballydesmond polkas/ Maggie in the Woods, Lord Inchiquin, among others. The inevitable request for Danny Boy was answered with my short solo on an A Water Weasel )
For C and D whistles, I played my own, in Cooktown Ironwood and “Mexican Mystery Wood” respectively. The Mexican wood was from a piece I picked up at a Yucatan resort last spring: they were repairing a footbridge with this heavy, hard wood which worked up into a great whistle.
Other whistles:
A-- Blue anodized Overton
G-- Water Weasel PVC
Bb-- Rosewood Thin Weasel
Low D-- Sweetheart Resonance
We actually did Danny boy, our vocalist singing two verses.
Off the top of my head, I recall I’ll Tell Me Ma, The Irish Rover, Jug of Punch, Mingulay Boat Song, Skye Boat Song, The Old Orange Flute, Southwind, Planxty Irwin, Wild Rover, Wild Mountain Thyme, and a fair number of others. It was great fun and we got some very useful audience feedback (as well as some from our PA system )
Glad it was fun.
)