Re: keyboardist: tips on going from amateur to "pro"


isaacyho@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I ask this in all seriousness: I'm wondering about some tips on going
> from amateur keyboardist to pro. I'm 29, have a solid amatuer
> classical background ( can read music and have solid chops ), and have
> been studying jazz to the point where most teachers classify me as an
> adv-intermediate jazz player ( can tell a coherent "improvised" story
> over most standards after spending a couple of nights with them ).
> My question is: how do I start getting paid for playing? Though I
> most want to play jazz, I'm also interested in all kinds of music, and
> so first and foremost right now am concerned with just getting gigs,
> regardless of genre. I've got pro gear and am starting to play out,
> but the pay seems so minimal---I played in this Smiths cover band at a
> fairly major local show with 300 people and we got paid a total of $150
> for the night!

Hi,

What kind of equipment do you have for doing professional gigs? Is
your master controller basically a digital piano with an expander
module with additional sounds MIDIed up to the piano, or do you use a
Synth workstation like a Korg Triton or Yamaha Motiff that probably has
great sequencing capabilities? How important is the demand of having
pre-sequenced keyboard parts to most of the "pro" bands in your area,
or are they content with everything being played "live" from a digitial
piano/external sound module set-up?

One time I did this audition some time back. It seems that the group
in question was not happy with the fact that I did not come to their
place with a fancy workstation, and they did not seem to like the fact
that I play everything "live". They were obviously into the new
technology, and at the moment, I am not into sequencing or programming.


So, what kind of keyboard player are you? Are you basically a
two-fisted improviser, or are you into programming, sequencing, and
etc?

.

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