Just back the weekly coffeehouse gig, where old buddy Coop (flute) and I held down the tunes. Music was nice--in fact, we played the 'nads off the tunes tonight--to a mostly oblivious crowd.
In any town without much in the way of other "youth" hangouts, the coffeehouses are bound to get taken over by posturing high-school students, particularly the ones who don't have band practice or parties or dates or church. And that means there's a good deal of odd clothing choices, self-conscious posturing, and more-or-less unconsciousness of anything outside the self-absorbed bubble.
Was getting ready to rant about it on the way back from the gig, but then reminded myself that I've been playing for posturing high-school students since at least 1974--Jesus, thirty-five years!--and so, at the very least, I oughta be used to it. "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," right? So ranting about posturing high-school students like it's gonna matter, when it never has before, is a fool's errand at best.
Besides--as occurred to me on the ride home--I don't really have any room to bitch about posturing high-school students...because, in 1974 on the coffeehouse stages, I was one.
Sobering--but at least it deflates the hubris.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Quick hit: posturing high school students
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4 comments:
then again, for some of us, it was just what we needed to hear.
I dunno. I played a similar gig at the same venue last night, and I felt it was more-or-less us invading their turf: I'm neither a Christian, a self-absorbed teen, nor a midnight coffee drinker.
So it comes across differently to me: a low pressure gig where we can try out new material and get paid in Orange Crush or cheesecake. As much as I am fine playing with myself at home, practice in front of actual people is an efficient way to judge progress. If the audience is largely indifferent/oblivious that is part of the game I'm trying to beat.
Of course, T. made origami out of her cut of the pay from the last gig we did there together. If I were going to rant about something, that is where I'd start.
Thanks for your comment. See below:
"As much as I am fine playing with myself at home, practice in front of actual people is an efficient way to judge progress."
Yes and no. My experience over a lot of years is that playing in front of people is not actually the same phenomenon, nor does it work the same skills, as practicing at home. In fact, I think practice at home is a hell of a lot *more* productive of technical progress. Over the past 35 years, my observation and experience suggests that an oblivious response from an audience is *not* usually due to a flaw in the performance--but rather to a disconnect between the venue, the audience's expectations or areas of familiarity, and the music's intentions or style-characteristics.
That was, I guess, more or less my point.
Thanks again.
"My experience over a lot of years is that playing in front of people is not actually the same phenomenon, nor does it work the same skills, as practicing at home. In fact, I think practice at home is a hell of a lot *more* productive of technical progress."
Oh, indubitably, in terms of technical progress it has always been a horrible idea for me to try and "improve" a riff in front of an audience. But there is a skill set involved in working an audience; I find the piano bar players (especially Ronnie Wilson, who I think might be a badass) to be interesting artists in that respect.
"an oblivious response from an audience is *not* usually due to a flaw in the performance--but rather to a disconnect between the venue, the audience's expectations or areas of familiarity, and the music's intentions or style-characteristics."
This is something I am not sure about, but reading your thoughts over the last couple of months on performing in pubs and bars has me thinking about it: on some level, great performance art is the creation of a space and the transformation of an audience...
the creation of a Situation?
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