Tag Archives: music

Cover Arrangements: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

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If you are a musician who is hired for weddings and other events you are probably asked to cover popular songs. Many of these are so ubiquitous that charts for them are readily available in “Real Books” and “Best of the Decade” collections.

But your customers have a wide range of musical tastes. While you may charge extra for obtaining the sheet music for their request, sometimes it is either not readily available or you need it arranged for a particular combination of instruments (e.g., string quartet, violin and guitar, etc).

If your usual method of arranging a pop song is to play the mp3 or YouTube video over and over while you attempt to transcribe what’s being played, here are a couple of helpful hints:

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Friday Faves 8/31/12

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Some items that drew my attention this week:

If you are a bicycle commuter you may have wished for a way to charge your mobile devices on the go like your hydrocarbon-burning peers – now you can, with the Ecoxgear Ecoxpower Pedal Powered Headlight + GPS/Mobile Device Charger:

 

Besides being an awesome musician with his band The Army of Broken Toys, Walter Sickert is a perhaps even more amazing artist. Check out this time-lapse video demonstrating some of the things he does to create one of his art pieces:

 

My friends Michael J. Epstein and Sophia Cacciola’s Kickstarter project has (as of today) 12 days to make another $5,700 to their minimum goal. You should donate at least a dollar  even if you don’t care for horror movies for no other reason than they are making sure to personally thank every single donor at any level, plus communicate constantly about how it’s going and what they are learning about Kickstarter in the process:

 

Somewhere in the Boston subway system this weekend look for me busking with geek guitarist extraordinaire Matthew Lister. We’ll be covering tunes like this:

Produce Your Own Music Show (part 1)

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Aside from weddings, people who do not work in an entertainment business rarely think about booking live musicians. But arranging to have a small house or gallery concert can be easier and more affordable than you may think, as well as more enjoyable.

All you need for space is a living room or dining room whose furniture can be arranged to have room for 1-3 people and their instruments at one end/side, and for your audience to sit in folding chairs/ on pillows, etc. Alternatively, you may find an art gallery, store, or other space that will rent its use to you for a reasonable fee – for instance, Outpost 186 in Cambridge is available for $75 an evening.

Next choose your performer(s). A solo acoustic singer/songwriter/performance artist will be easiest to fit into a residential space, but I’ve performed with 4-5 piece bands at house parties. The questions to ask a band who will perform in your residence include:

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Be Memorable When You Can’t Be There

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Life happens – you’re due at a gig, but your car/van dies, your flight gets canceled, or as just happened to my friends’ band, the border agents won’t allow you into Canada!

Last-minute disasters suck for everyone involved, but especially if it’s an out of town gig so you are missing a chance to connect with new fans.

What can you do to salvage some good will from this situation? Look for creative ways to reach out to the audience you are missing, e.g.:

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