Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:
On Wednesday, 26 July 2017 15:38:06 UTC+3, ~misfit~ wrote:
Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:
maanantai 24. heinäkuuta 2017 15.49.33 UTC+3 ~misfit~ kirjoitti:
Once upon a time on usenet Iain Churches wrote:

Were you involved with the admin of the band you were with?
Musicians are notoriously bad in business matters, and anyone who
can add up the gig fees on a table napkin and deduct the agent and
taxman, and divide the result by the number of band and crew, is
usually welcome in any band:-)

Actually the keyboard player / synths / trumpet / 2nd rythm
guitarist / sometime lead-vocalist (all one person) was also the
electronics whizz *and* admin. He was a very clever bloke, not your
typical 'muso' at all. Even after I joined and took over the mixing
duties he was the guy who ran all the wiring and set up the amps -
it's something he just didn't want to let go of.

He was also chief solderer and was always fixing the guitarists
effects pedals etc.

Every band needs at least one "dynamo" to keep things going. Being in
a band is not just about turning up on time (and sober) for the
gig:-))


He's the one guy who never gave in to any of the temptations that were
abundant in that environment.

The big band in which I play, although not a pro band, is run like
one. It is registered as a company. We have a chairman and a
committee. We handle sales and PR ourselves, but have an agent
through whom invoices are generated and tax and social costs are
paid. No one in the band, with the exception of the
conductor/leader who is a professional musician, gets paid. Most
players are sufficiently well-healed, to regard the opportunity to
play in a well-run band to capacity audiences as reward enough.

It sounds like a lot of fun.

When a band exceeds say seven players, things get more complicated.
You can't just shout out "Georgia" or "a blues in F", and esxpect a
coherent performance. Once you get sections in a band, such a
trumpets, trombones and saxophones they play in four or five part
harmony and need written parts from which to play. So arrangements
need to be written or bought. It is a full-time job for one player
to copy, number and insert parts for new titles into 20 folders. Our
band has about 1 000 titles, with more being added all the time.

We produce projects with a theme, and so our concerts are very
different to the usual hotchpotch of Ellington/Basie/Kenton/Glenn
Miller that most big bands offer.

Our concerts are usually sold out, so that we have no shortage of
professional soloists wanting to perform with us.

The autumn project for this year is a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.
2017 is the centenary of her birth). We shall also be recording some
titles for our next CD. We have been able to obtain copies of many of
her original arrangements used in the 40s, 50s and 60s. Members of
the band have also been busy writing. We shall have a string section
with us too, The Soul Strings, (16 students in their final year at
music college, who are looking for stage and recording experience.
It's going to be a lot of fun.

That sounds great! I'm happy for you.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)