ORIGINAL: Joe Bravo
Some of you guys aren't too hip on the paychecks for full timers out there. I do know people who aren't at the top of the charts that are still making real good money from tours and selling CD's at their shows. Of course they're very good at what they do. They just aren't mass marketed. Here in St. Louis, you have jazz cats like the Kennedy brothers who have toured with lots of top acts, but jazz just don't sell out big shows, so they make most of their money teaching or playing more steady home gigs. Like my old friend Russ who's been the house organist/pianist for the Fox Theater for many years. It's a good steady gig. A lot of us used to go down to Branson and play (ugh) country music during the winter months. Then you have some bigger acts. Erin Bode is getting into bigger and bigger things all the time although I'm sure most of the general public doesn't know who she is. But she's is making a decent living singing jazz. Jeff Tweedy and the rest of the gang from Uncle Tupelo/Wilco make much bigger money than you may think. Jeff's from my home town and I can assure you he's a fairly wealthy guy who worked hard and saved his money. You can bet he still sets up and tears down his own equipment and tries to do as much of his own booking as possible. Cutting corners is a must in this biz.
The big difference is what's gonna lay ahead for these people. Tweedy is in a fad called alternative rock. That fad ain't gonna last forever and when it's done--he's done. Erin sings mostly jazz standards. She'll probably never get rich doing that, but she's very good at it and there will always be a place for her and others like her singing standards. The Kennedy's are both top-notch musicians. They can always make a living playing backup for other jazz kings, or teaching, or playing sessions because they both read really well and can play any style of music. Guys like that can always hussle a buck. I've yet to hear a great alternative rock musician. Nobody is gonna hire Tweedy to play guitar at a studio session behind Tony Bennett, or to teach at a conservatory. He got lucky though and made some big money quick. He'll have to save it though cause it ain't gonna last, and he knows it.
I think that what you have to ask yourself is, are you playing some kind of fad music, hip-hop, alternative rock, speed metal, yodeling lesbians; or are you truly a great musician who can play anything, read well, write well, sing great etc. If you're the latter there's always gonna be room for you in this business. If the former, you'll have to get lucky.
I don't think any certain genera has as much to do with musicianship as your stating. In my mind(apparently my opinion), there are only a few real reasons of playing music in the first place.
1. You want to be a ROCK STAR....this to me is the silliest, although this is almost where it starts, playing air guitar, daydreaming about the money, the girls, and being on stage in front of thousands of people, glued to your every move. Who wouldn't want that, right?
2. it's a hobby, you just picked up a guitar or whatever for fun, and that's what it still is, just fun
3. You use music as an expression, for a statement, or try to develop a way of communicating and letting those demons out.....This is where I have to disagree that Alternative/hip-hop/yodeling lesbians, etc...are not great musicians. Alternatives is such a vague category. Don't be fooled by thinking that just because a player isn't Frank Gambling/Yawnie Malmsteen'ing(sp) all over the place, that they're not educated or fluent in their craft. Some people, believe it or not, play to create and not to copy what has been done over and over, and this gets classified as Alternative or whatever. Having said that, at the same time blues/jazz/rock players do the same, it's when we start thinking that my type of music is more educated and more complex that we lose that openness that music is really all about. For example, I really can't stand country music, but I listen to it every so often, and can respect a lot of it, whether I like it or not, I would never consider them any less of musicians.
Look at Josh Freeze, he's a session whore, yet played in A Perfect Circle. And there are so many more. I guess my question is, What exactly do you consider a great musician?
I guess you could say I play alternative music, if that's how you want to label it, I'm just trying to write music that fits my situation, mood, or tells my story or point of view, not trying to follow any given formula. I am very educated in music/ theory etc... but when it comes down to writing music 90% of that goes out the door, and that's when I really start connecting personally with my music and the rules are no more.
to say that Alternative/hip-hop/speed metal/yodeling lesbians/ambient/or what have you, musicians can't play anything, read well, write well, sing well, etc........here we go....ignorance. How could you possibly know that. That's so judgmental. Maybe you feel everyone should burst into flying arpeggios and two handed tapping every other measure, I'm not sure. Apparently we have completely opposite views on musicianship. Yes, I believe education is always at the forefront to understanding, and is and always will be the key to being a great musician, but at some point in time when you have to sit back and remember that it's music. Books, theories, techniques, formulas, specific scales, and learning from the great musicians before us is a must, but who wrote their books, a lot of them wrote their own. Music should really be an extension of your personality, and that's probably why there are so many types out there nowadays. No I can't relate to all of it, but I can learn from it, whether I understand it or not.
I agree that Unfortunately chances are if your in it for the money, and your writing music that is different or new, that chances are a lot less likely, but if your just going after the gold, doesn't that just make it another job. It should be a passion.
I find that the musicians with the least knowledge are the ones that forget, or never got that it's not about show-boating, music is an art of expression. Maybe this idea is lost, and all we'll ever hear anymore are commercially produced bands.