Is there a gig out there for me?

Variety is the spice of life.

There are all kinds of gigs out there in the International Hotel circuit. I'll start by explaining the most common genres of music that are requested by hotels, clubs and restaurants.

• Pop music
• Jazz
• Classical

I have heard of some exceptions to this such as:

• Italian singing/guitarist
• Strolling accordion player
• Strolling guitars (walking around singing and playing with a guitar)
• South American music and dance
• Polynesian music and dance
• Indian ethnic music and dance
• Arabic ethnic music and dance

I haven't heard of any venues that want bands or musicians that specialise in other types of music such as reggae, metal, or country (just to name a few). I'm sure they must be out there but I don't think that they are that common in the scene that I am most familiar with.

Hotels and their needs...

Obviously different hotels require different types of musicians depending on the bars that they have and the image that they are trying to portray to the public.
Some large hotels require many different musicians to fulfil all of their entertainment requirements. They may need a classical guitarist for the lobby, a jazz duo for their Jazz or Cocktail lounge, and a full-on 7 piece Top 40 band for their nightclub.
Other smaller hotels may only need one of the above or a duo that can play a wide variety of songs and styles.

So many delectable dishes...

What I am saying is that the array of gigs out there is dizzying. Here is a breakdown of the most common types of gigs that I know of ranging from the smallest size group up to the largest playing any kind of music from the first bullet point list.

• Solo piano/guitar/harp (no vocals required)
• Solo piano/ guitar (with vocals)
• DJ
• Duo (piano and a vocalist/guitarist and a vocalist)
• Classical duo (any combination but usually piano and violin or a vocalist)
• Trio (unrestricted but should contain either a pianist or a guitarist)
• Quartet (either classical or a four piece band)
• Five to Ten piece bands

Although it may appear to be fairly strict there are gigs that kind of 'crossover' genres. For example the gig that I am playing at now is in a Jazz lounge bar, however we have since discovered that the crowd here prefers music from a wide variety of genres, from classic Beatles numbers, to musical hits, and The Eagles. I would say less than 10% of the requests we receive are for jazz, and yet, we were told that this was a 'jazz gig'.

So which gigs can I do?

This of course is largely dependent upon which instrument(s) you play and whether or not you can sing. You may find that you can do all of these gigs or maybe just one or two.
Here are a couple of important points to note about 'crossing over' into different genres:

• All of the classical type contracts are off-limits to musicians that don't have classical training. 
• Jazz gigs can be done by non-jazz musicians but its largely dependent upon your all-round musical knowledge and confidence in your ability to be able to 'pull off' jazz standards to an acceptable level, and having enough of a Jazz repertoire to do a gig.

Summing up:

In my next article I will be discussing the positive correlation between musical versatility and constant employment!

Stay_the_course!