Working drummers, according to their home city music scene; often have opportunities to do work other than recording, tours, and large venue performances.  The supper club, night club, jazz club, hotel lounge, cocktail party, and generally “quieter” type engagements can be a very good paying market.  However, it requires an understanding of what the client wants, and actually “expects” for the musicians to do. 

For some clients…..say in an upscale dinner club…..it may be light music for listening and dancing.  Typically, this is providing an ambiance of elegance for the patrons who want to be able to talk at their table without having to shout over the music.  The “being able to talk at your table factor” is a very common requirement in venues, such as those described in the first paragraph of this blog.

I got a telephone call during the holidays.  Caller:  “Ken, I was hired to fill in at a supper club last night for a friend.  I accepted the gig, but the band leader complained all night long about me being too loud and too busy with tom fills.”

So I asked what drums and cymbals did you use?   His answer…”well, I took my new kit, which really sounds great!  It’s an 18” x 22” kick, 4 toms, deep snare, 14” Rock hi hats, 16” and 18” Rock Crashes, a really cool 20” China and a 22” Metal Ride…..but I played them with these little 5A sticks and sometimes brushes.  But no matter what the bandleader kept telling me to play softer.”

There are several aspects to the drummer’s dilemma here.  The supper club gig was not the appropriate venue to debut his truly cool kit, that was actually designed and set up for louder playing.  He should have talked to the band leader before the gig and got some “ground rules” for what the band leader needed for him to do.  Finally, if he was not really willing to make the adjustments needed to play the gig, he should have told his friend that he was not interested. 

It is hard to play soft volumes in a small venue, when your drums are set up to project a big full sound in a large venue environment.  It also takes a slightly different playing technique and some restraint from playing roundhouse tom fills.

These kinds of “quiet venue” engagements may not be the most enjoyable for a drummer to work, but for other professional musicians; they do provide an income stream to supplement income from other kinds of engagements. 

The best advice I can give any drummer getting into this market is to use smaller drums, smaller sticks, and lower volume cymbals.  That solves a lot of trouble from the “git-go”.  After all, small venues have small stages and small venues don’t require a lot of volume from the musicians.  It’s simply a different situation from the high energy dance gigs, or the large venue show gigs. 

Now on the revenue side of the situation, if you make the clients happy and if these happy clients produce profits that make the manager happy….. then you can perhaps land a regular week-night gig that you can count on for a long time. 

Now, I certainly realize know that some drummers are not interested in these kinds of gigs at all……some consider them lame…..or dull…..or whatever.  That’s cool.  I’ve been at that place too. 

However, there are some drummers who can benefit from another source of performance income.  For those drummers who can play the styles and volume levels desired by their clients, it is worth looking into. 

The rule of thumb to keep in mind for ALL performance situations is to be committed to playing what the person who hired you wants.  If you can’t or won’t do that, then stick with the performance situations where you can and will.

Until Next Time,

Cheers!

Ken Sanders

Tags: Small Venues