It all starts when some company (lets say, Company A) – that suffers delusions of immense grandeur decides to host an event. It could be a conference – or a brunch – or – if we’re being adventurous with our imagination: a little wine and dine sort of thing.
In the process of all of this, Company A reaches the unanimous decision that their ‘event’ must really be something special – something that sticks out and sets it apart from all the other little wine and dine sorts of things their clientele might go to. They begin to brainstorm about what they could do to really hype up their party. Something to make it as elite as they see themselves to be. What could give it that touch of classy ZING!
Here is where many things go awry.
Here is where some genius fogey cunt (most likely the CEO)- whose only ever heard half of Dave Brubeck’s "Take Five” – most likely in some C grade two bit Porn flick – decides to have a jazz band at the event. Later this will be communicated back to me or some other poor sod I play with as:- “The CEO loves jazz! Infact, when he popped out of his mum’s womb, he was humming Girl From Ipanema!”
Here is also where I will have to grudgingly admit – that my world goes round. These are the gigs that put fuel in my car and junk food in my stomach. They also happen to the gigs that pay for the electricity – as well as all the other good that I don’t get upto.
I need these gigs like doctors need the terminally ill.
Now, when most people of the aforementioned variety ask for a jazz band – they’re really asking for a saxophonist; if not that – then they’ll settle for a vocalist (female, mind you.) – and at the very bottom of the rung, is probably a pianist. They don’t really see the trios and quartets made up of people who’re going back and forth to rehearsals, working on tunes – etc. We’re more like music boxes that keep can tossing out tunes, really. “How hard could it be to play that guitar young man, why all you have to do is pick it up and
At this point I'd like to abandon the Corporate side of this story and come back home.What I’d rather focus on – and really what this whole post about is the problem of musicians who under-quote for the same events (events that have declared us as f***** even before we played our first note)– or accept quotes lower than they should. Now this is something that is a little more complicated and definitely very relevant.
Musicians could do it for a number of reasons. Perhaps they’re getting something other than money from the gig– usually it’s exposure that might lead to other gigs; at other times the cause can be a lot less noble – and they could simply just been be feeling financially cornered and aren’t in a position to say no to a gig. I’ve been in both the aforementioned situations before – and I think almost every one I’ve ever played with has been too.
The most complex and really quite convoluted reason though – is out of low-self esteem; a self-efficacy kind of thing. A situation where a band sells itself short – or feels that it shouldn’t charge over a certain amount because it simply doesn’t (in some larger sense) ‘deserve’ it. I know this feeling well, because I’ve had a long tryst with it myself. From what I can tell, it usually comes from traveling and meeting musicians abroad who are far richer than you are – in the talent/skill/ability department – but far poorer in the sense that they are constantly bordering on destitution.
The clash and contrast raises a feeling for some musicians that almost borders on embarrassment – and the very lack of competition that makes it possible for them to make a living out of music in Delhi – makes them choke when they are asked to state a price for a gig.
Right from the get-go it’s important to clarify that a lack of competition shouldn’t end in complacency. There isn’t ever an excuse to stop rehearsing – or stop churning out new material – and as long as a band is making a genuine effort to push itself – a lack of competition in it’s strictest sense – shouldn’t have such a debilitating effect.
Also – every band or bandleader needs to sit down and do some basic mathematics. Especially bands that have members that are living alone and supporting themselves and/or others (like yours truly).
Sit down and look at your bills! The price of fuel has almost doubled. 6 months ago, it cost about 12oo to fill you car up – today it borders on 2400; Hold it alongside with where your rehearsal and frequent gig spaces are – and the distances between those spaces and your homes; charges for electricity have spiked up too; forget how much it costs to go get a cup of coffee.
The amp that I bought at the start of the year for 8k now costs 14k. You could get an an instrument cable for less than 300 when I picked up the bass and today you’d be a lot closer to spending a thousand on something as stupid as that – than further away from it. Do you rent rehearsal spaces? What about that? Everything costs more – except the performance fee of the band!
No one is saying charge exorbitantly at every opportunity that presents itself – Don’t go about exploiting people but make a fair assessment! Don’t run yourself and your band into the ground! Don’t Get exploited!
Having said that, it’s really just a question of perspective and I think this is really important.
The fact of the matter is – meeting that extremely talented musician* in the United States – or in Europe – or wherever it is - shouldn’t cripple you. Quite on the contrary – it should push you – but what it absolutely must Not do – is make you forget where you are and where you were while you were learning (read: teaching yourself how to play).
*Mind you, I’m not talking about the greats of the jazz era who grew out of poverty and were born and brought up in the jazz Diaspora – but that guy who played jazz through high school – and then went to NEC/Berklee/New School whatever.
Our situation here in Delhi is unique in the sense of the obstacles that we’ve had to encounter while learning to play; while it was unsupportive parents for some – it was a demoralizing and apathetic society for the rest of us.
Pre-youtube musicians read on: A lack of instruction; barely any teachers; no school programmes; a non availability of instruments ; almost No venues; No press coverage; a lack of formalized and systematic education for any stream other than classical music (I was taught modes before I was taught the fucking major scale!) ; it was uphill more than it wasn’t’!
But that’s done and you’re still here ! We’re still here and we’re still playing – and we made it through. Now there is no lack of resources – some would ever say there’s a flood. There are music stores and schools everywhere. Some of my best friends are great teachers who work for/or have started schools that use jazz as a medium of instruction; For the first time, there are a dozen venues for a band to push itself forward and a startup has a million ways to launch itself.
It’s Such a Gorgeous time to be playing music – and we deserve to be here and to make the most of it.
No two ways about it.
