Here are some words of advice for musicians, and once you understand this, then you can probably move on with a different perspective.
There is always someone who is better at something than you, and you are always replaceable….
Now I am not trying to crush anyone’s dreams. What I mean by this statement is simply to say that there is something that is almost more than the practice room that helps musicians to get constant work. Many musicians think that they are only judged by their musical ability, basically the same exact things that their teachers judged them on. However, most often your teachers aren’t judging you on your character…perspective employers are. More times that not you will be hired the first time because of your skill, you will be re-hired (or not fired) multiple times afterwards for who you are as a person.
To take a real honest assessment of yourself ask yourself the following questions?
Are you someone who is musically competent?
In other words you have the first three of the T’s in order (time, technique and taste)?
Do you work well with others? Or more importantly do people like working with you?
Are you the sort of person that can get along easily with others and get things done, or do you find that you are constantly in full-on arguments with everyone around you.
Are you able to take critique without either blowing up or shutting down.
Can you accept feedback and quickly incorporate it or do you get indignant and either yell at the person giving it or just totally close down.
Are you doing the job you are hired to do?
This is more crucial than you can imagine. Many times excellent musicians can work themselves straight out of a gig by doing what they want to as opposed to what the gig calls for. What I mean by this is that if you are hired for a certain gig, know what is required of you and the etiquette of it.
A couple of examples would be
Getting a gig as a church organist and showing up on Sunday morning dressed in ripped jeans and a T-shirt that says “Atheism for the rest of us”
Getting a gig for a cocktail party and playing super loud and very free jazz
Getting hired as an accompanist and playing louder and without disregard for the soloist.
In all of these situations you will probably not be hired back. The funny part is that it doesn’t matter if you are a incredible organ player, or a phenomenal free jazz artist, or an insanely talented pianist, because you are not doing the job that you were hired for.
So when you get hired for a gig make sure to recognize what they are actually hiring you for, and be observant as to what everyone else is doing, and take your cues from there.
Lets look at the hiring process from two perspectives, first from the musician trying to get a job, and secondly from the agent/leader/whoever is trying to put a band or group together.
Questions they are asking themselves
Musician – Am I good enough? Does my tone match the band? Is my technique clean enough? Should I solo over these chords instead? Am I better or worse than the other guys in the band?
Agent/Leader/Whoever
Can they play? Does this person blend with the band? Do they seem like type that is going to be on time and at the gigs? Do they seem like they will get along with everyone? Do they understand our sound and what we do?
Now obviously these questions can change dramatically depending on whose doing the hiring. However, if you notice there is a definite distinction between what the main focus is for each side.
In Summary
I feel as if I should add something to the quote at the top of post.
There is always someone who is better at something than you and you are always replaceable….so don’t make your future employers look for them.
The fact is that most people do not like change, and most employers are…yes that’s right, people so therefore they don’t want change either. They want to hire someone they like who can do the job, and keep them around. If you are competent and easy to work with word will get around and you will be constantly in demand. If you are a brilliant musician, but a total jerk, you will get a lot of calls for first time gigs but probably not too many follow-ups, and word will get around about that too.
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