Fortunately, I've rarely had to rely on singing for an income, so most of my contributions were as a passably competent amateur, but the more important sets I did were usually well-received - 15-30 mins sets supporting the main act, some local festival spots, voice workshops, etc. Don's post reminded me of a couple of gigs that between them had rather mixed results. The first was an unimportant affair, which happened shortly after I first started singing in public, but which brought home to me the usefulness, when the need arose, of having a very loud voice! A pub near to where I then lived had a resident band that played pretty much the same set from week to week. Consequently the audience, who were really just the pub's regular clientele, used to talk all the way through it. During their interval, they'd let others from the floor have a go. IIRC, they introduced me, but of course, noone was listening, so as I stood up, I was thinking: "This is not good, absolutely noone is taking a blind bit of notice of me!". I think I had intended to do a quiet number, but at any rate I launched into something loud, probably General Taylor. What I definitely remember is noticing that by the end of the first line, every person in the room seemed to be facing me, even those seated with their backs to me who had to twist themselves round in their seats to do so, and paying full attention. The other was when I and my ex-wife first hitched up together. She already had a couple of gigs booked, which naturally we rearranged as a joint effort. One was a local club, in which one teenage girl, who herself was a local performer thereat, talked all the way through both our sets with an evident admirer or boyfriend of hers. Every one else seemed to want to listen to us, but effectively she ruined what would otherwise have been a very pleasant evening. If it had simply been my own gig, I'd've acted as above, and if that failed, I'd've told her in no uncertain terms to stay and be quiet or go outside and talk, but it being my other half's, I didn't feel I had the right. I remember thinking it rather strange firstly that one couple could be so insensitive to the wishes of seemingly everyone else in a tolerably crowded room, and secondly that noone else in the room seemed inclined to interfere to tell them to be quiet.
|