Whether someone uses charts or not makes no difference to the music...listen to a concert pianist who uses the music, it is still just as passionate as that played by another without the music.

What I think is detrimental and "clogs" emotion and interaction are those who play and TOTALLY focus on either the keys or strings of the instrument, even when they do not use charts.

I play with barely a glance at the keyboard, most of the time I am looking at the audience, with quick "refreshing" looks at a chart, more for pointers to the next set of 8 or so bars...

Dennis

[This message has been edited by miden (edited 11-07-2010).]

"Yes, BUT they would only have done about 25 songs, maybe, in that two hour set, all totally rehearsed and rehearsed for about 3 months prior to that set of shows...."


Dennis

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Yes, that did occur to me too. I'm not sure if Tony Bennett changes up his set list from nigh to night or not.

I just thought it's interesting to note that he is well into 80's, still sings great and remembers all the lyrics.

[This message has been edited by montunoman (edited 11-07-2010).]

Think of it this way:.......

If I asked you to sing "Happy Birthday" for me right now you would have NO Problem
doing that at all correct?....

Ok,.....Why?.....because, you have sung it so many times in your life that you know it by heart!! Same goes for learning songs/lyrics by memory....

Also you must try to learn to be able to play a song and know the chords just by listening to it on the radio....... this is a skill that is a must in my book as if you were jammin with your friends off the cuff.....to be able to sit down after you hear it and pretty much figure it out after listening a few times without charts of any kind. Then add the pressure of being in front of a paying audience and you'll be surprised how this will force you to play without the charts better & better each time. Another gratification of playing by memory is that you will have so much more FREEDOM to branch out, ad lib, and play songs "YOUR WAY" making the arrangement YOURS!!



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 11-07-2010).]

Actually Donny this one I totally disagree with.
Maybe thats the only way you can ad-lib and play a song differently and "make it your own", another wanky expression, (not saying YOU are wanky Donny, just the term), but a chart reader can do the exact same thing, perhaps even better

Dennis

The most successful thing, to me, at least, is to look at the lyrics as a story. Understand the story, and then the recall process makes sense, will be prompted by the changes and moves the performance into an area of interpretation, rather than just rote memory.

Works for me!


R.

I guess I am lucky, I have everything in my memory, songs, chord progressions, arrangement, where my registrations for that song, etc. I think it may be a side effect of playing by ear, at least to me.

A twist to that, in the older days, late 70s, most instruments (Organs) did not have transpose functions, so, in top of accompanying a singer I never hear (The early days of Ixtapa, only 2 hotels), every week we had entertainers/shows coming to the hotel, well, many times the flights did not bring the band instruments, so, you can guess who had to fill in, yes, my Hammond X66 and me, had to do, with songs that I did not hear before ever or if I knew them, in some funky key...but that gives you experience, it made me sweat like crazy, and thankfully "winged".




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mdorantes

Interesting comments...

I've done almost six thousand gigs over the last 15 years...not bragging as there's guys around here who have done more, I'm sure...

I've used a music pad pro for 100% of my gigs, for about 4-5 years. Before that I used traditional sheet music...

No one has ever...not once...even commented on me using music while performing. Other musicians have commented on how they'd like to get on of the MPP's but never anything negative...

I've also consistently received feedback from clients throughout the years that my performances are among the most "personal" they've ever seen.

So...

I say if it helps you worry about one less thing AND you're not compromising your audience interaction, then use them...

Not using any sheet music doesn't necessarily mean you're connecting with your audience just as using the aids doesn't mean you're not.


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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 11-09-2010).]

Manuel my buddy! Really enjoyed reading about your Ixtapa resort days. Challenging yet rewarding, and fun times too. I can relate.

Mdorantes, your experience takes me back to my high school days. I was hired at a club where the owner would host acts like BJ Thomas, The McCoys, Jerry Lee Lewis and the like. He'd put them up on Wednesday nights, which was 1/2 way from their Saturday night Chicago gig and the one the following Friday in Atlanta. Most were small groups, traveling in a box truck for the equipment and a Cadillac or van for the players.

The visiting group would show up late in the afternoon, about the time I got out of school. By that time, the house band, Little Enis and the Table Toppers was mostly drunk. So were members of the visiting act.

It was up to me to piece something together from the house band and the visitors to play two sets. We usually had the feature vocalist and anyone else who could find the bandstand.

Often, the players didn't remember the key a song was recorded in. My advantage was, I knew who the group was, so I could figure out what the material was likely to be.

Then, it was "shoot from the hip" all the way. I called the changes. Sometimes, I was on B-3, kicking bass. Sometimes on bass and sometimes on guitar, trying to play materials, call changes and cover solos.


Best training and "shoot from the hip" good times I've ever had.

The good news is, it's easy to please drunks!


R.

When playing kds, just from my memory (any key signature)
When playing acoustic guitars and singing, I always need my books with lyrics.