Background music gigs, w or w/o music?

[barbara-brundage]

> Its no different to taping up copies and have all the pages on view in one go is it?

No, indeed, but there are plenty of folks in the music industry who don’t like that, either. Of course the exact law varies from country to country. In the US I believe you are allowed to make one copy for “study purposes” but beyond that it is technically a violation.

[barbara-brundage]

It’s the same logic that makes it illegal to copy a CD or DVD that you bought and own.

[adam-b-harris]

Georgina,

Its a complex subject but I’m sure that it would be covered under “fair usage” in Australia. If it ever got to court I would imagine most magistrates would be furious about having their time wasted on something like this. Doubt that Phillipa would get locked up with Chopper Reed.

regards adam

[barbara-brundage]

No, I don’t think for most people that there would be any real trouble even in the US, Adam, although I for sure wouldn’t show up for something like one of performance exams or an audition with an ipad (or a copy on paper, either), but I thought it was right to mention it.

(For anyone who has any of my arrangements: pdf away, as long as it’s for your own use and not for all your friends, too.)

[adam-b-harris]

Yes Barbara good point re exams auditions etc, best not to do it.

[catherine-rogers]

Barbara, when you’re playing from the i-Pad, is it easy to choose which piece to play next or is the order of page appearance dictated by the device?

[barbara-brundage]

Well, it varies a bit from app to app, but with forScore you can either tap to see your whole library and then scroll to the piece you want, or you can make a set list of the tunes for a gig.

In a set list tunes automatically appear in whatever order you chose–turn the last page of piece one and piece two will pop up–but you can also tap a tune in the set list menu to jump to any tune, and there’s a navigation button at the bottom of the screen that you can slide to go to any page in a longer piece, or to any tune in a set list.

The one thing forScore lacks this way that I would like to have is a Bride Button–for those times when the wedding planner has told you it will be ten minutes more, and you look up 30 seconds later and suddenly there they are. I’d like to be able to have a button that would float over the screen throughout the set list pieces that I could tap and immediately go to a particular piece. Another app, UnrealBook, is supposed to be able to do this, but I never could figure out how.

[catherine-rogers]

I’d like a “bride button” that would make them start the wedding when they’re supposed to instead of late!

[Mel Sandberg]

I also only play from memory. I memorise everything I learn first, and then practise the fluency and speed in from memory afterwards.

[patricia-jaeger]

Mel, I also only perform from memory. As you say, looking at the fingers on the strings as you travel the geography of the harp throughout the piece gives that extra advantage: we have eliminated that step of translation of the black notes on the page into harp string geography. Now we play directly from the brain without having that extra translation step. I find it frees the player to add more expression. For background music gigs, all I need on the music stand is one sheet with names of pieces(shortened) with reminders of the keys , arranged in the order I planned for that particular job; all printed in a large font of type( 18 or 20) and then my music stand can be off to the side for occasional checking, instead of between me and listeners. Musicians need early training in memory games to make music memorizing easier, I’ve found.

[Mel Sandberg]

Patricia, I like your reply.

[Sylvia Clark]

I play from memory, and I also organize my list (whatever music I’m playing

[Julietta Anne Rabens]

I keep all my music in one binder for background gigs, and sometimes include a fakebook. I try to add new pieces while playing. I’ve played enough in the background that plenty is memorized, but when playing for hours, it’s easy for me to forget what pieces I play. It helps to see the titles and then once I get going, it’s basically memorized. I also like the idea of fake books because people sometimes request pieces. I try to see how long I can go before repeating pieces. I don’t care for gigs that are too much longer than a couple of hours. Four hour gigs are rather grueling.

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