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Posted

We have someone on the Kent section who used to ask for musicians but ‘no one who has to use an iPad’ along with other demands where I couldn’t see where the ‘problem’ was.

Posted
10 hours ago, Wombat said:

We have someone on the Kent section who used to ask for musicians but ‘no one who has to use an iPad’ along with other demands where I couldn’t see where the ‘problem’ was.

 

Seen loads of bands where members have a pad on a stand next to their mic-stand.  It's an absolute turn off for me.

 

Would confidently say that if you need a comfort blanket like this, then you really shouldn't be gigging.  Brutal opinion, eh?  You learn your material, you rehearse and rehearse until the songs become muscle memory and then you go out and play live. 

 

The only prompt you should need is an A4 sheet of paper with your set list on it, beyond this, no safety net.

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Posted
1 minute ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

 

The only prompt you should need is an A4 sheet of paper with your set list on it, beyond this, no safety net.


This is what my uncle used to say.

Lovely bloke, terrible ringmaster. 

  • Haha 6
Posted
1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Seen loads of bands where members have a pad on a stand next to their mic-stand.  It's an absolute turn off for me.

 

Would confidently say that if you need a comfort blanket like this, then you really shouldn't be gigging.  Brutal opinion, eh?  You learn your material, you rehearse and rehearse until the songs become muscle memory and then you go out and play live. 

 

The only prompt you should need is an A4 sheet of paper with your set list on it, beyond this, no safety net.

Totally agree for gigging. I didn’t put it right but the thrust was they were not welcome at all ie not at rehearsals either. Personally I use one there so I can get the song in my head.

Posted
1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Seen loads of bands where members have a pad on a stand next to their mic-stand.  It's an absolute turn off for me.

 

Would confidently say that if you need a comfort blanket like this, then you really shouldn't be gigging.  Brutal opinion, eh?  You learn your material, you rehearse and rehearse until the songs become muscle memory and then you go out and play live. 

 

The only prompt you should need is an A4 sheet of paper with your set list on it, beyond this, no safety net.


I think it’s genre specific.

 

Sitting down classical or jazz gig… no problem. 
 

Everything else… nope! Ruins the performance.

Posted
1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Seen loads of bands where members have a pad on a stand next to their mic-stand.  It's an absolute turn off for me.

 

Would confidently say that if you need a comfort blanket like this, then you really shouldn't be gigging.  Brutal opinion, eh?  You learn your material, you rehearse and rehearse until the songs become muscle memory and then you go out and play live. 

 

The only prompt you should need is an A4 sheet of paper with your set list on it, beyond this, no safety net.

 

Nope. If all you play is simplistic stuff - three chord pop songs, etc - and have a fixed set of a couple of dozen of them that never varies, then a safety net is not necessary.

 

My function band has getting on for a couple of hundred numbers we can play if required. Some only see the light of day once or twice a year. Some hardly ever. It isn't possible to keep them all in a state of readiness, so we have charts. Most of the time, they aren't used, but if someone requests something we haven't played for a year or more, an aide memoire is needed.

 

The same applies to classical players and jazzers, as pointed out already.

  • Like 2
Posted

I see complaints about tablets for jazz gigs from time to time on forums, but the pros around these parts don't seem bothered by them, and glancing at them doesn't appear to affect their playing.

For our next planned gig I'll need my iPad for one piece as it's hard to remember and not played often, but could play from memory for the rest.
So much stuff that's unfamiliar, or boring (makes it hard to remember), gets called at jams that I couldn't get away without one. Plus,  my jazz skills are never going to be up to transposing on the fly for singers for anything but the most basic of changes.

  • Like 1
Posted
4 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Nope. If all you play is simplistic stuff - three chord pop songs, etc - and have a fixed set of a couple of dozen of them that never varies, then a safety net is not necessary.

 

My function band has getting on for a couple of hundred numbers we can play if required. Some only see the light of day once or twice a year. Some hardly ever. It isn't possible to keep them all in a state of readiness, so we have charts. Most of the time, they aren't used, but if someone requests something we haven't played for a year or more, an aide memoire is needed.

 

The same applies to classical players and jazzers, as pointed out already.

 

When I was doing the Eddie Roxy stuff, there was a degree of urgency in getting everything together reasonably quickly; obviously I knew Is Vic There? but for the rest of the material it was a case of tabbing off songs that were still evolving or had changed significantly from the original format.

 

At some point you just have to decide to leave the crib sheets at home.

Posted

I like his attitude. If a front person is exceptional (David Bowie perhaps) then the musicians have to realise that the band is not a democracy and their opinions are mostly irrelevant. 

 

Of course this particular front person may well be delusional - I've know a few who thought they were the best thing since sliced bread but in reality were unexceptional/totally awful.

Posted

Looking at the influences this guy seems to think it’s still the 1980s when record companies were still throwing money at bands. Not sure I would want to be involved in any hard slog crawl to getting anywhere with this guy. Probably best hitching your wagon to the next taylor swift if you’re planning on hanging around with a diva.

Posted

Rather odd that there is no mention of the salary that such a position justifies. One may 'call the shots' when one is signing large cheques. -_-

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

At some point you just have to decide to leave the crib sheets at home.

 

Tell that to the members of the LSO

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