One man show... piano / keyboard, non-vocal... any thoughts?

[BrianT]

Hey guys. Have been tossing around something in my mind, not sure if it's viable or practical. Thought maybe I'd just toss the idea out and see what you guys might think.

Was in a trio for the past 2 years. Short version of the story, drummer / leader died a couple of weeks ago. No more trio. The other guy hasn't wanted to continue. So, it's just me trying to figure out what comes next.

One thing that's possible is "background" for restaurants, parties, that kind of thing. Very doable. But I have one other idea.

Anybody remember Victor Borge? I was a fan. I loved his show. He usually played a few actual tunes. He fooled around in comical fashion. He told jokes. He sometimes had other people that would play minor roles. And he put on a "show".

I'll never be a Victor Borge. But I have wondered whether I might be able to put something like that together (?) and make it work for, say, a 1 hour show. I'm really not a singer, though I potentially could do a number or two. But I'm pretty good at being on a stage. Did a tiny bit of acting and MC'ing years back. Clowning around wouldn't be that hard to do. But most of that was 40+ years ago and I'm not so sure we live in the same world anymore.

I tend towards jazz standards if just sitting down to play but can throw in some fun or more recent stuff as well. And I'm pretty good at throwing out things maybe not unexpectedly... like last week just jammin' with my nephew... playin' "Ain't Misbehavin'" and somehow ending up playing "Rubber Duckie". LOL! (I've got more.)

Another direction I could easily go, I played church music for half a century and have a lot of offertories in my brain from stuff I've done over the years. Could easily do an hour or more of that kind of thing with a few stories to go with, some perhaps amusing. Different genre, for sure, but easily under hand. (I don't think this and the more secular show would actually mix, but might be a different show.)

Seriously, what do you think? Silly idea? Or maybe something there worth exploring? Any examples come to mind of people you've seen that you could share? Dunno, maybe there just aren't many people doing things like that. I know there are not around here. Around here, there are dozens who do "classic rock", "county", "Elvis", stuff like that, and a dime a dozen. I don't have much interest going down that road. But I do know that the jazz trio was doing pretty well competing with all of that.

Anyway, glad for thoughts if you wanna share, good or bad. Have nothing invested yet so nothing lost if I finally decide it's a stupid idea. LOL!

 

[happyrat1]

Learn how to play Flight of the Bumblebee while standing on your head

 

[Rayblewit]

It's a personal decision. You need to sort yourself out. ONLY YOU! (The Platters lol!!)
It depends on your victims. Er! I mean audience.
What age group? What intelligence level?
If you had a regular gig or time slot, you could run a different theme each session.
Week 1 . . Jazz tunes
Week 2 .. comedy show
Week 3 ... country
That sort of thing.
OR
Find another Drummer and guitarist and/or vocalist etc .. form a new band.

 

[happyrat1]

Seriously though. Do you have the stones for standup comedy?

Starting with Steve Martin and Gary Muledeer all the way up to modern comics (who shall remain nameless) the trick is to make people laugh while entertaining them with some simple music.

I've seen a lot of British and Australian acts where either a single guy or a duo write little nonsense songs and perform them on a crappy little Casio while wearing a banana hat or somesuch nonsense.

BUT !~. Here's the big BUT!!!

Do other people think you are a funny guy?

There was a. scene once on Newsradio where Phil Hartman wheeled an upright piano around the station and sang terrible little ditties about Watergate. It was a fun gag but standup comedy is bloody hard.

Critics are everywhere.

What sort of material do you aim at? Long hair music theory? Politics? Bodily functions?

Can you write and perfect that sort of routine in a reasonable time frame?

 

[Biggles]

 

[happyrat1]

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=guitarist+comic

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=musical+standup+comedy

 

[happyrat1]

One other thing. Are you willing to hoof it all over the country? Play every toilet and drive in in Tuscaloosa and beyond?

I can see the same musical artist perform over and over and it won't get stale, but comedy EATS MATERIAL. You'll constantly be booked in every state of the union living in hotel rooms and you'd better not travel with any keyboard more expensive than that crappy Casio you can toss in a luggage compartment.

Victor Borge was a genius and a master of the genre but the days of the 3 channel universe are long gone.

Comedians like Adam Sandler and Dan Akroyd do a movie very 5 years or so now, because people get tired of the same old shtick waved under their noses for too long.

Comedy, like visitors, like fish, begins to stink after 3 days.

 

[happyrat1]

 

[BrianT]

Hey guys, just wanted to thank you for the thoughts. Helps keep me honest.

Nope, don't wanna do a lot of traveling anymore, getting too old for that. Might be time to settle back into a more "background" kind of thing for the time being. Probably not that difficult to do. Maybe I'll expand from there if the opportunity arises.

And who knows, seems like everybody and their cousin is wanting to get together and jam. Something could potentially come of a jam session. (?) Have had a couple of people approach me about doing some recording, dunno. (I'm not expecting much with that, either, but it's nice to have had offers.)

 

[happyrat1]

Who handled the bookings for your old trio? Networking is crucial if you are looking to make a living at this. Put some feelers out there for another combo if you really want to work in your comfort zone.

Jazz/rock/worship/dance it's all the same to a pro. It's whatever you can stand to play for 3 hours a night.

If you are half as good as we have been led to believe then talk to your agent/manager/whomever was handling you and tell him you're looking for gigs.

Studio work is good if you can get it. But it's not what you know, it's who you know.

 

[BrianT]

Who handled the bookings for your old trio? Networking is crucial if you are looking to make a living at this. Put some feelers out there for another combo if you really want to work in your comfort zone.

Jazz/rock/worship/dance it's all the same to a pro. It's whatever you can stand to play for 3 hours a night.

If you are half as good as we have been led to believe then talk to your agent/manager/whomever was handling you and tell him you're looking for gigs.

Studio work is good if you can get it. But it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Didn't really have an "agent", the guy that died was both drummer and the main dude doing the "agency" stuff. He was very good at both and it was a good ride. Have never had a manager/agent otherwise but have been contemplating whether that might be a possibility.

(And it's soon after his death, maybe too soon. Probably like dating a week after a spouse dies. It may be that some things will happen in their own time if I'll just be patient.)

I might be showing my age but "Jazz/rock/worship/dance it's all the same to a pro"... well, I'm out. Not all the same to me. A lot of that, while I could be playing (worship in particular), I'd rather quit playing altogether than go back to that. Just don't wanna do it. Some of it pays pretty decently, too. I'd rather say, "Welcome to Walmart" or "Would you like fries with that?" than be stuck playing what most people call worship music these days. Hate every minute of it, can't even stand to be in the room for more than a few minutes. (I know, total heresy to those who love it.)

Have a new friend I'm getting together with later in the week that had a studio in Nashville for a while. Just getting together to "jam", we'll see where it goes. The idea of studio work has changed a whole lot over the past decade or so, it's not what it was in the 50's or 60's with everybody and their cousin having their own studio in their basement and incredible tools available for very little $. And nobody's cuttin' vinyl much anymore... even CD's are dying.

Dunno. I don't like to toot my own horn. Sometimes I find people that make me feel like I'm nothing'. And then other times, I'll connect with somebody who really is somebody and they'll tell me I'm really good and should be out there playing. I know I'm not everybody's cup o' tea. Have to think I might be somebody's, though... (?)

Anyway, thanks for the insights and thoughts. The discussion helps me to realize, I ain't the next Victor Borge. LOL!!

 

[DungBeatle]

I know how you feel about Church Music. My wife, our daughter and I used to do it quite regularly. Made a little bit of money, but it would never match my expenditures. We quit altogether when our daughter entered college.
~Bob

 

[SilverfoxUK]

Hey guys. Have been tossing around something in my mind, not sure if it's viable or practical. Thought maybe I'd just toss the idea out and see what you guys might think.

Was in a trio for the past 2 years. Short version of the story, drummer / leader died a couple of weeks ago. No more trio. The other guy hasn't wanted to continue. So, it's just me trying to figure out what comes next.

One thing that's possible is "background" for restaurants, parties, that kind of thing. Very doable. But I have one other idea.

Anybody remember Victor Borge? I was a fan. I loved his show. He usually played a few actual tunes. He fooled around in comical fashion. He told jokes. He sometimes had other people that would play minor roles. And he put on a "show".

I'll never be a Victor Borge. But I have wondered whether I might be able to put something like that together (?) and make it work for, say, a 1 hour show. I'm really not a singer, though I potentially could do a number or two. But I'm pretty good at being on a stage. Did a tiny bit of acting and MC'ing years back. Clowning around wouldn't be that hard to do. But most of that was 40+ years ago and I'm not so sure we live in the same world anymore.

I tend towards jazz standards if just sitting down to play but can throw in some fun or more recent stuff as well. And I'm pretty good at throwing out things maybe not unexpectedly... like last week just jammin' with my nephew... playin' "Ain't Misbehavin'" and somehow ending up playing "Rubber Duckie". LOL! (I've got more.)

Another direction I could easily go, I played church music for half a century and have a lot of offertories in my brain from stuff I've done over the years. Could easily do an hour or more of that kind of thing with a few stories to go with, some perhaps amusing. Different genre, for sure, but easily under hand. (I don't think this and the more secular show would actually mix, but might be a different show.)

Seriously, what do you think? Silly idea? Or maybe something there worth exploring? Any examples come to mind of people you've seen that you could share? Dunno, maybe there just aren't many people doing things like that. I know there are not around here. Around here, there are dozens who do "classic rock", "county", "Elvis", stuff like that, and a dime a dozen. I don't have much interest going down that road. But I do know that the jazz trio was doing pretty well competing with all of that.

Anyway, glad for thoughts if you wanna share, good or bad. Have nothing invested yet so nothing lost if I finally decide it's a stupid idea. LOL!

 

[SilverfoxUK]

Something you haven't mentioned, are you doing this to earn money or do you enjoy playing in front of audiences and get your buzz that way.

 

[BrianT]

Something you haven't mentioned, are you doing this to earn money or do you enjoy playing in front of audiences and get your buzz that way.

Some of both. I do get a "buzz" from live play, won't lie about that. But I've done enough freebies over the years that I don't really want to work entirely for free anymore. Gear is expensive. Gas is expensive. Setting up to play a gig probably has anywhere between $4k and $8k sitting there (of mine, more if others are playing with me) and if it goes, "fzzz - pop", ain't nobody gonna step in and replace it. My financial expectations aren't high but they are higher than zero. That means not many freebies anymore. I may do the occasional one, but that's on me. (Maybe think of that like a plumber who charges for his work but occasionally will give away something if he's inclined to want to for some reason. That.)

 

[andyonthepiano]

I'm not sure that I can offer you any 'yes, it'd be a great idea' or 'no, it's a terrible idea' type of advice, but wanted to mention an English comedian called Bill Bailey who does exactly that. You may get some inspiration.

My favourite Bill Bailey joke.

'I wrote a song once for Adel'....pause...
'It was called 'Yes, I Know You've Dumped Me But I'm Not going to Keep Going On About It'....pause....
'She didn't like it'.

 

[happyrat1]

If you wanna be the STAR performer, then you gotta micromanage all the details yourself.

If you're happier playing in a combo you can share the load a bit with your bandmates.

You truly are facing a major decision in your life.

Maybe you'd be happiest if you started looking at the classifieds, contact the union and start looking for collaborators.

Are you really good enough at keys and backing devices to carry an entire show yourself? Or are you way more comfortable playing old standards with full live accompaniiment?

Sure like you said, people don't have to get an invitation to Abbey Rd Studios these days to produce a professional album.

One route, is to write all the songs and arrangements yourself and sell the songs on itunes or spotify, but that's a long, slow road while you build up a portfolio and unless you have a hook like a good viral video on TikTok you'd be lucky to earn coffee money.

You're at the crossroads Brian. The direction you choose is your destiny.

 

[happyrat1]

Here's a simple way to get started on the interweebs.

Start a musical podcast. Learn and master video production and build your fanbase with pheromones and glitter. Lots of Glitter.

Look at Elton John. He dresses like Bozo the clown but it got him a knighthood.

Unless you put yourself out there on the line you'll never know what might have been.;

 

[happyrat1]

Or you could always go the Weird Al route and play an accordion

 

[happyrat1]

Or check with the Tiki Lounge at the local Holiday Inn.