I am curious as to how many of you gig yourself out. I better clarify to keep this G rated Do you play your pipes for personal enjoyment alone or do you play at parties, weddings etc. to supplement the income as well?
In additon, I was thinking the other day… as a piper becomes more comfortable and talented/experienced does the probability that he/she will accept/persue gigs become more likely? Is it a natural progression to lean towards gigs with increased talent or is it a predetermined state of mind knowing that should you become good enough, that is something that you would do?
Doing gigs seems to go with the territory for most pipers. If you go to the trouble of learning them, you want to show off a bit eventually. Usually,(as in my case) well before you should. Sometimes it can be great fun. It can also put some fair change in your pocket. If you do well and gain a reputation as a good entertainer, people will start seeking you out. This will also encourage you to keep improving your skills.
There can come a point where the hassle of playing out can tarnish the fun of the music. I would not care if I never did a wedding again. I like funerals and parties. I know some pipers who’ve gotten to the point where they just play for there own enjoyment and stop doing gigs altogether. More power to them, but I still need the jobs.
ST. Patrick’s Day is a month off. Get ready. Get playing.
I don’t think you become ‘more talented’, more proficient, maybe. But that doesn’t automatically lead to doing more gigs. It’s not a natural progression to all, I know very fine musicians who don’t play out much.
Personally I only play out in informal settings on the spur of the moment or when I get cornered into doing a Willie week concert/lunchtime or the odd local benefit/charity concert.
I expect another year before I play out with UPs, but I have made some nice money playing GHBs for years. I don’t like to do it a lot and I limit myself to just my immediate area. Weddings are a real pain, unless someone is organizing it who knows what they’re doing.
Of course, the (GHB) band I play with has tons of gigs, especially in Spring-Summer, and that’s fun. We play at competitions & Highland Games and that’s sometimes enjoyable (I hate staying all day through that final massed bands that no one hangs around for except the bands who want their travel money).
To your question … I find preparing for competition or performance pushes me to practice. At the moment, I maintain a pretty rigorous practice schedule with my UPs and I think my motivation there is not so much desire to perform soon, but I feel like I want to catch up to my GHB proficiency as soon as possible. I also enjoy this instrument quite a lot.
I have spent over 20 years playing gigs all over the USA, and though it was a gas, I feel that those days are behind me. I have only played the Uilleann Pipes at one gig which was last year with Mike Wallace and Sean Conway (The Irish Brigade) at Kieran’s Irish Pub in Minneapolis. It was nice to remember old times, but that was it.
I played in a trad band for 3 years. That was mostly guitar but towards the end, as my confidence (if not my ability) grew, I started introducing the pipes.
These days I pick up the odd contract (guitar and/or pipes). I don’t actively solicit work but I don’t turn it down if it’s offered. My main goal in taking contracts is to fund the addiction. I’m currently saving for the tenor reg. Then it’ll be the bass reg…
My original thought with respect to gigging was to “have the hobby pay for itself.” And I do enjoy playing gigs, however, my personal feeling is that getting together to play with others is what this music is really about. That is, I give sessions a higher personal value than doing gigs.
Mind you, playing for ceilis can be a nice balance between the two. I mean it is dance music after all.
Yep, seen that all too often. Seems to be a phenomenon amongst (beginner) Uilleann pipers. I used to do the gig thing regularly with a band and looking back on it I know I did it before I should have, but it was fun. Trouble is, it really hindered my development. I got to a certain level and platteaued out. Only now that I have stopped doing gigs have I got the time and motivation to work on my solo technique a lot more.
Cheers,
djones wrote:
I find preparing for competition or performance pushes me to practice
That would be quite true, I imagine, in that the pressure to play well would certainly make one practice more which in the end would improve your playing.
Uilliam wrote:
Has CJ become a Tax Inspector?
Now that is low…
So it would seem that there are, as with anything in life, definitely pros and cons that comes with doing gigs.
The pros: increased confidence assuming the experience was received well, increased preperation which would improve proficiency, a new level of enjoyment away from the everyday playing to ones pet/walls, a rejuvenated excitement that is fed by the “audience” and their expressed interest.
The cons: playing gigs prematurely in a band setting can lead to a loss of focus towards solo technique and continued improvement, bad experience due to negative feedback from audience can lead to a loss of interest perhaps in the instrument, consistent gigs can perhaps lead to loss of “personal enjoyment” practicing and therefore an increased emotional separation from the instrument.
Does anyone have any gig horror stories?? You know… playing a wedding, the bride is walking down the isle, in the middle of the procession the reed gives up on life which is followed by a hiddeous sqwauk and a dreadful silence as everyone turns to stare at you… share with us your pain … consider it a form of therapy. >
No real horror stories to report except that during gigs, it happened a number of times where the message was sent around that the format of a set had changed slightly, say, playing a tune twice rather than our usual three times, and everyone was given the message except, of course, the piper!! What happens, I’m left looking the idiot when I’m still merrily playing the tune while the others have changed. On stage in front of hundreds of people, that’s not funny.
nearly all my income comes from playing music often involving the pipes.
It is always difficult playing pipes just a bit. It takes me a while to warm up and get fired up. all too often the Piping part of the gigs are too short.
Some wedding gigs want loads of pipes. I like those gigs
I once did a wedding gig where the drones crapped out on me and then the stock came flying out of the bag x 100,000,000
it was fortunatly at the drinks reception where it went fairly un noticed (I hope)
What gets me about that happening is going from a full bag under high pressure, to instantly deflated whereby my bag arm, bearing great pressure towards my ribcage, nearly knocks me off the chair as well, then the sudden thought…‘What the hell???..’ and then the realisation that one’s entire drone and stock assembly has missiled out onto the floor below.
I think that after many years of work on the instrument, why not make some extra pocket cash, or use one’s skill to fund some new equipment? I play probably ten or so paid private party gigs a year, with two or three generally around St. Patrick’s Day, usually a wedding or two along with a fiddler friend of mine. I invest pretty much everything I make back into the addiction, buying microphones, upgrading/maintaining instrument, or travelling to workshops.
The rest of the year, its mostly playing for free dinners and beer, which I find incredibly rewarding. There just isn’t anything quite like sitting down to a free plate of fish and chips and a Guinness after hosting a session.
I should just have a T shirt made up that says “Will play for fish”.
Do you play your pipes for personal enjoyment alone or do you play at parties, weddings etc. to supplement the income as well?
