Cape Cod Acoustics
  • Home
  • Your Lessons
  • Performance services offered
  • About Gene
  • Contact
  • Guitars, Ukes & Accessories
  • Acoustic Guitar Blog
  • Tips for guitarists
  • Guitar Gallery
  • More...

Perception and reality

2/15/2012

3 Comments

 
   About twenty years ago or so I happened to catch a movie called “The Gig.” It’s a small movie, kind of a comedy with serious elements, never destined for greatness or wide recognition and in fact there isn’t even a plot synopsis on Wikipedia. But the film is worth seeking out if you’re a musician. It will stay with you in some very important ways.

It tells the story of a group of friends from New York who have a little Dixieland band. They get together to play just for fun every week and only the star of the movie, Wayne Rogers, plays a professional musician who teaches private trumpet lessons to uninterested youngsters and others. The others have “day jobs” and they all love playing together and take pride in being pretty darn good at their music. Then one day they receive an offer to fill in for two weeks for a band who has a gig at a fading, old resort up in the Catskills. They jump at the chance but just before they leave their bass player has a heart attack and they are forced to hire a real pro, played by Cleavon Little.

I won’t go too far into the plot beyond that except to say that the realities of a real gig are in immediate conflict with what they thought the experience would be. They are ready to pack it in, but Cleavon Little’s character (who up to that point had been distant and somewhat disdainful of the rest of the group) angrily explains that this is his job, and they’d better buck up and play what the owner demands. He needs the job. Things progress from there, with a bit of romance and some funny interactions with the elderly guests at the resort.

But at one point, one of the band members confronts Cleavon Little. I really want to be a player, he says. Why won’t you help me (and us) learn? You have experience with some of the greats of jazz!

Cleavon Little pauses and then says very deliberately – “Just wanting it is not enough.”

The clarinet player is hurt and angry. But eventually he understands.

And there is one of the great, hard lessons that all professional musicians confront, sooner or later. Passion, desire, understanding and commitment are essentials but in the cold, hard light of day, you either have the chops or you don’t. How a player reacts to that reality determines his fate as a professional musician. If he can’t handle that reality he can become bitter and in some extreme cases may stop playing altogether. I’ve known such musicians over the years and it is a sad thing to witness. Some keep playing but become nasty and cynical, blaming everyone around them – players, spouses, and especially the audience – for not giving them the accolades and success they think they deserve. I know just such a musician right here on the Cape, a hugely talented player but definitely “a big fish in a small pond.” He is a joy to hear play (when he deems it’s worth the effort) but a thoroughly unpleasant person. At one point in exasperation after we had done a gig together and he had dissed every song we played, I asked him: is there any music that you really like? In the only time he every spoke to me with complete candor, he said…. No.

How very, very sad. I wanted to suggest he go dig ditches for a living instead, but I bit my tongue. Needless to say, that was the last time I ever played with him.

However, most musicians go beyond the fact that they will never be famous because, on the most basic level, they just don’t have “it.” They take a step back and look at their lives and their ability and decide, I’m going to be the best I can be at what I do. This can be an epiphany, a huge lifting of pressure born of unrealistic expectations. And it feels wonderful! It usually leads to a new level of commitment to the craft of making music. The best part is that anyone hearing them can sense it. It is a realization of just why someone began playing music in the first place. It also involves learning to be non-judgmental about what constitutes “good” music, whether created yourself or by others. The absolute best players I’ve known throughout my life embrace that outlook. Sure, they have personal preferences in different styles of music but they have learned to not bounce their abilities off those of others and make value judgments.

If you get a chance to check out “The Gig” you won’t be sorry. Whether it is your hope to be a professional player or a life-long enthusiast, I guarantee it will give you plenty to think about.

Peace & good music (and it’s pretty much ALL good music!),

Gene

3 Comments
msbrizard link
2/21/2012 09:47:46 pm

Really appreciate this blog. It seems sometimes there can be a real dichotomy in some realities of gigging. Personally I appreciate the intimacies and mindset that can bring good songwriting, and playing and often this can be carried over to a good gig. It seems like the ambition thing can really kill this mindset and it is so unfortunate. In a small way I have been trying to encourage the idea of good musicianship through writing about guitar tuners and such. If interested please check out www.theguitartunershop.com. Thanks so much-

Reply
Gene link
2/21/2012 10:56:44 pm

Thanks so much for your comments, I agree & they are appreciated. I think the whole "American Idol" "The Voice" etc. has contributed to the perceptions people have about what it means to be a professional musician, in both good and bad ways. Another aspect that can really skew the reaction an inexperienced performer must deal with is the fracturing of popular music. No matter how good a person is at playing a particular type of popular music, if the majority of the audience is not interested in that type of music the reaction will be disinterest at best - this can be really disheartening to someone starting out.
By the way - great web site! Please drop me a line at my above email address, I would be interested in exchanging links!
thanks again,
Gene

Reply
mary
2/22/2012 12:24:17 am

Will certainly do so later- the honor is mine! Thanks again!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Gene Bourque

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed