Lesson I am Learning

[kay-lister]

Hmmmmm, this makes me a bit sad. I can assure everyone that I have gotten my jobs on ability alone and not because I am blonde, female, or the color of my skin. I

If someone were to choose or not choose a musician for any of those reasons, then in MY mind, they are NOT someone that I would want to be hired by anyway.

Kay

[onita-sanders]

Thank you for your input. I agree. But as you know everything is subjective. This is not something someone hiring you would say or even a booking agent would tell you. You can be told anything. “Oh, I am so sorry, the customer has decided to go in a different direction” or some other excuse. No one in their right mind would actually come out and say something that rude for fear of some kind of retribution. After all it is their money, their celebration and their guests and venue.

In my case this was actually told to me by a booking agent with whom I had a great relations with. His response to this out of town client from the British Isle who was looking to book a harpist in the Detroit market after he said that he wanted a blonde, blue eyed, pretty girl, was “We can not descriminate like that. We can only find you the best harpist available.

The other matter that I address was my own research in comparing in different markets through out the USA, who was being booked, for how much, and the number of bookings compared to those of color or even gender. it was jaw dropping.

I know we have to do the best with our own set of circumstances. But it certainly was an eye opener. My original forum entry was just as George Carlin said was to vet by “Brain Droppings” and try and make sense of the things I could not control so as to have a better understanding as to how to rise above it.

[Sylvia]

As I suggested before, try marketing yourself locally. What I do is email a blurb with my info and website on it to local venues and wedding coordinators. It doesn’t cost anything, and it lets them know what kinds of music I play and how it sounds (they can listen to the music samples), and what I look like…which is not blonde and pretty.

[onita-sanders]

Thank you again for reminding me.

[Author]

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