A second thought;

Gary, You seem to always do the right thing, good thinking. The places you are leaving are showing their appreciation, they enjoyed you and your music -- not luck but talent. And you are not leaving the music scene just cutting back, another piece of good thinking. (Wisdom)

What comes to mind is what a good friend once said, “Quit them before they quit you”.

Two great wisdom’s; Know when to stop playing out and know when to stop driving.

John C.

"I started singing because the singer didn't show up and I wanted to keep getting paid.
I was pretty bad. Over the next 20 or 30 years I got a lot better, but I suppose I'll never consider myself a great singer."

That's great to hear Don and is quite inspiring.

Just wondering what you gus think: assuming someone can sing is tune, is there much that can be done to improve the voice - voice lessons, exercises and such. Or is singing a natural talent?

If I'm booked on a gig where I don't sing, but play the piano, such as a jazz gig, etc. then I enjoy comments on the piano playing.

However, if I am booked on a gig that requires me to sing, as well as play, then the comments are always all about the singing.

I think this is a matter of audience perception.

Actually, I think -- no, I KNOW -- that all of music performance is a matter of audience perception.

An older and wiser man once told me to never pay attention to what the critics are saying or writing.

"No pubilicity is bad publicity"

It is just publicity.


--Mac

A good vocal coach or teacher can always help you on the way to improvement, no matter your present level of accomplishment!

If you are serious about it, at ANY age, by all means go for it!

Because you don't know what it is that you don't know...


--Mac

I'm primarily a singer...

I get a lot of compliments on my vocals, but I do hear consistent praise on my kb ability as well.

Usually I do a few instrumentals every set to add to the variety.



------------------
Bill in Dayton

Voice lessons, and a good vocal coach, are paramount to improving vocal quality. I've always been fortunate in that I've had a good voice and could sing in tune, but to stand out from the crowd you need those lessons.

I picked up a magazine in Nashville, TN several years ago that had a feature story pertaining to what many, great singers did to improve the vocals. The vast majority took voice lessons and had vocal coaches. Additionally, the best singers also took lessons on diction. The list included Elvis, Sinatra, Strisan, and a host of others. When you sing clear, crisp words, and pronounce them properly, it really adds a lot to your vocal quality. (Hmmm. Guess that's why drunks don't sing well at Karaoke bars. )

I took vocal lessons from a very gifted and talented jazz singer at the local community college. It was an 8-week course 2 nights a week, that culminated with a performance in front of the entire college faculty, music instructors and a couple hundred guests. The audience was given the task of providing a portion of the final grade. Though I have been performing in front of audiences since I was a teenager, I can attest first hand that this was quite intimidating. Between the written exam and the performance I managed to pull off an "A".

John, good points about the retirement process. Fortunately, all of the jobs I've cut out are those that require lots of drive time. This not only reduces the chances of being involved in a serious or fatal accident, but it also cuts a huge chunk out of the operating expense by eliminating a couple $2 tolls each way, and not burning copious amounts of gasoline.

Cheers,

Gary

I'm a bit like DonM in that I never sang until one night when our guitarist/lead singer didn't show up for a gig and it was like, "Hey, can you sing?", "er, no", "okay, here's the words". LOL! That was many years ago and I've sang ever since.

I'm also a bit like Hellboy in that my wife and I are a duo. We're both pretty decent singers, certainly no Karen and Richard, and I consider myself a good keyboard player and our audiences have never complained. We don't use midis or mp3's, just style playing and I think that as long as people recognise the song and you do a competent job of it, they really don't care much if it's not exactly like the record. To counter that, I think that younger audiences are less tolerant of 'loose' covers since they've been brought up on having ready access to the original recordings via ipod's and such.

montunoman: The voice is like any other instrument, practicing always improves it. Here's a link to a BBC website that has some handy hints, etc. on singing. Hope you find it useful.

Oops, forgot the link. A senior moment.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sing/learning/

Hi Bill

I think you hit the nail on the head. The variety of using, in your case, instrumentals I think is very important and yet overlooked by most. It will make the vocal songs shine better and instrumentals are a pleasant change.

In my case, I don't sing. I have heard all kinds of stuff that you have to sing to make it. Not in my case. I get all kinds of compliments doing instrumental whether solo, or with a singer or band.

Interesting thing that has happened with me, one of the duos that I work with that is primarily ballroom dance work, the singer is as good as any I've heard, and yet I'm getting referals to play gigs without him with people saying I do better alone and I am usually paid what the two of us get together. Go figure. A major surprize for me after all the talk of needing to sing.

Like one of my clients told me, "do what you do well." In my case then, there is no point to try to learn to sing. I really don't have it.

Like lots of others, I would prefer to just play, and did that for years, until about 1968, when the instrumental R&R songs started to fade (think the Ventures, Booker T, etc.)

Then, someone had to sing. I was the "baby" of the group and got the "nomination".

Now, because of my daytime gig, I do lots of voice-overs and jingles, including some national ones.

I've gotten awards as the best male jazz vocalist in the area from the union and from a regional arts publication over the years.

I was always ambivalent about doing vocals and really resented taking the focus off my musicianship. Now, as a result of injuries
to my left arm and hand, I'm relying more on vocals and an arranger; something I have always been on the "fence" on.

Funny how things work out.


Russ