The situation is diferent here in the USA and Canada, so some of this advice may not apply to the UK, but here it is just the same. 1. Don't limit yourself to the folk scene. Look for gigs in primary and secondary schools, public libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, housing projects, senior citizen centers, even prisions. Many of them have cultural programs which hire musicians of all kinds, and these gigs tend to pay decent money when compared to typical folk clubs. 2. Develop your own style and your own repertiore, and don't worry if it's either too trad or not trad enough. Listen to all kinds of music, Renaissance to reggae, boogie woogie to bluegrass, Calypso to cantorial, and see if there is anything you can incorporate into your own playing and singing. Maybe there won't be, but more likely you will be struck with something -- a phrase, a harmony, a rhythm -- that you can make your own. 3. Know your audience. If you get booked to open for the Wolfe Tones, don't start off with The Sash My Father Wore. 4. Join the musicians union. In North America it's the American Federation of Musicians, but I don't know what it is in the UK. Even if you don't play many gigs covered by union contracts, the union can help you with all sorts of issues, from finding a loaner instrument if yours gets lost or damaged in transit, to dealing with employers who are not paying you what they had agreed.
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