I had my first paid gig last night (st. pats). It was just myself on flute and a harpist/bodhran-ist playing acoustically. We were really well received and I was happy with my overall performance. It wasn’t a high pressure gig, which was perfect for me. I was really impressed with how my Healy flute resonated in the room.
I had a couple of trip-ups, but I’ve mastered the skill of recovering from such things and managed to keep playing. I don’t think anyone really noticed!
Usually if your playing for a group of punters little mistakes aren’t noticed too much. The big rule is to keep playing. If you stop mid-tune because you made a little blip everyone will know. Congrats on your first gig and good luck in your future ones!!
I had some interesting experiences gigging for St. Pats. . .
The first gig was last friday, a newish coffeehouse north of town. We played for 2.5 hours, decent crowd, encore. The proprietor stiffed us and offered us the contents of the tip jar, a whopping $10, for the evening.
Needless to say, we weren’t happy.
Monday was a keg-in-the-Guinness-tent party at an Irish pub. It was, and I feel weird admitting this, a blast. We had an appreciative crowd, free refreshments, and a decent groove going on the tunes.
Tomorrow is a contra dance, which is always a good time even if something of a marathon.
technically, we had not agreed to an amount, but there are extenuating circumstances.
We had played a gig there several months ago, and been paid $150. At that point he promised to up the pay at any future gigs, and, stupidly, we took him at his word.
I don’t think he was trying to deliberately screw us over, but he was quite unprofessional about it.
