Cancellations – A Muso’s Worst Enemy

July was a bad month for cancellations.  Between disagreements, misunderstandings, holidays and general disaster I lost out on about £400 worth of work for the month.  The missed teaching and function band dates I can live with, but there were two big disappointments for me.

The first one was a concert with a professional symphony orchestra.  I was booked through my diary service (MAS) to do a rehearsal and ‘proms-in-the-park’ style concert with Wesward Symphony Orchestra, based down in Torquay.  I was really excited about this gig, so I didn’t mind too much when I had to cut short a holiday in Corfu to get back for the rehearsal.  After a late finish at a gig the night before (squeezing in as much work as possible to make up for cutting the holiday short) I got up early on the Sunday morning to meet up with a couple of string players and share the drive down to Torquay.  The rehearsal went really well – it was fantastic to meet the brass section and make some new contacts, and since I was playing everything from 4th tumpet/2nd cornet to bumping on 1st, my playing was given good exposure and I seem to have made a good impression.

So, after a successful rehearsal (and ALOT of travelling) I was really excited about the concert the following week.  So, as you can imagine, I was so disappointed to hear only a couple of days before the concert that it had been cancelled as the promoters had not secured enough money to put on the event (Cockington Proms).  The orchestral contact who booked me through MAS has been very apologetic, saying that she’s doing her best to at least get us some of the fee due (for the rehearsal we did) and that she was highly impressed with my playing and professionalism and would definitely book me again (compliments I was very glad to receive!).  So, some good will hopefully come from the trip in terms of a part fee and maybe some work in the future, but I’ve heard anything on either front so far…

The second missed gig was a misunderstanding which resulted in me having to make a tricky decision.  I had been booked through a friend to do a rehearsal with Colombian percussionist Roberto Pla, who was doing some work in London.  I’ve never played any serious Latin-style music so the first rehearsal (and fundamentally audition) was always going to be difficult (and not helped by the fact I’d had a big T.Mandrake gig the night before and was hung over – not cool).  Despite being put well outside my comfort zone I really got into the music and Roberto is a very helpful and patient person to work with, and so we make a good enough impression to be booked for his London gig on 5^th August (‘we’ being my friends Nicki [sax], Kasha [trombone] and myself).  At the next rehearsal with Roberto, all was going really well until he mentioned the gig on 6^th August.  I nearly had a heart attack on the spot – 6^th August was my best friend’s wedding – OH NO!  What to do?  Give up the opportunity of an amazing gig or go to my friend’s wedding?  At the end of the day there really was no contest; she had been my best friend since we were 13 and there was no way I could miss her wedding (even when I heard how amazing the rest of the trumpet line-up was).  I was desperate that Roberto didn’t think I’d been unreliable and let him down but he completely understood my decision, and I’ve been in touch with him since, so I hope to get a call next time he needs an extra trumpet player in London.

My friend’s wedding was lovely – I did a reading in the ceremony and was a witness to their marriage, and I’m very happy for the new Mr & Mrs C!

I later heard from Nicki that the gig with Roberto went really well from a playing perspective, but it was an outdoors gig at the Docklands Festival and it rained (naturally) so only the hardcore fans braved the weather to hear them play.  Such is life!

Birthday Blog ~ featuring My First Twitter Gig!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post but today is my birthday and I’m officially taking a day off from all things work-related so I actually have time to write one!

It’s been a busy month, which is always a good sign, and a good mix of work on.  I played another Verdi Requiem with the Canterbury Choral Society – this was the gig that was tied to the one in Snape Maltings so it also meant I finally got paid for both gigs.  Then of course there’s the usual function band gigs for the summer season weddings.  I particularly enjoyed a gig I did on 18^th July with new function band RubberSoul (they’re new to me, not to each other; they’ve been playing together for about 10 years).  Not only were the guys and gal in the band really friendly and welcoming to me as a dep, they’re an excellent band (very well organised which made a nice change!) and the sets we played were full of energy.  And the best bit about all of this is that this was my first Twitter gig!  I got chatting to Tony from RubberSoul months ago on Twitter about various horn arrangements we were each doing for our function bands, and when they needed a dep he got in touch via Twitter and voila, a new working relationship was formed!  So, he took a bit of a punt in booking me without ever having met me, without hearing me play and without any recommendation, but the gig was a roaring success (despite me falling over on the steps up to the marquee for the first set!) and thus the miracle of Twitter as an effective networking tool becomes a reality.  We even managed to convince the band’s drummer of the benefits of Twitter (and iPhones) in the dressing room that night between sets, and he has recently got an iPhone and joined Twitter – so gradually the word is spreading!

And other work has been going well.  July brought with it more graduation ceremonies than you could shake a stick at (never really understood that phrase, but what the hey, let’s roll with it).  I spent a week and two days in Lancashire playing fanfares (four trumpets and organ) to open and close ceremonies at UCLAN and Edge Hill Universities and to accompany the processionals and recessionals.  We had an unfortunate incident in the first Edge Hill ceremony where one of our trumpet players collapsed and was taken to hospital; she’s ok and feeling much better now, and if you want to see her being carried out of the ceremony check out the first 5 mins of this video!  Please excuse the very unfortunate placing of a microphone directly infront of us, the sound on the video is distorted as a result.

I’m still waiting to hear about the extra teaching I’m trying to secure from September – I’ve played assemblies at two schools and have a meeting about a third, so fingers crossed for getting some more ‘bread-and-butter’ work as I like to think of it.  If I could up my teaching to one full day a week that would be enough for me.  It’s a tricky thing trying to balance the ratio of teaching to other work; teaching is great as it provides a regular income, but take on too much teaching and you have to turn down gigs.  You can see the dilemma I’m sure.

And thus far the birthday celebrations are going well – they started on Friday night with a T.Mandrake gig at The Troubadour followed by trips to Mango Lounge and Bungalow 8 (where Quentin Tarantino was partying following the London premier of his latest film Inglourious Basterds), and have continued through the weekend to tonight when I’m going to Ladies’ Night at Windsor Racecourse with some friends – lucky me (I hope!)

The Month o’ May – Part 2

So, as I said, May was a very busy month.  The second half of the month was especially busy – I worked 18 days in a row at one point – that’s a first for me!  I’ve no aversion to hard work and, although shattered by the end of it, the variety of gigs that I got up to really kept things interesting.  Here’s a few highlights…

The first few days were pretty standard with the usual teaching etc. but I was invited back to the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) to play in a composers’ workshop which was nice as I got to see and play with some of my old RAM peers.  That week I also went to the launch of The Island Experiment’s debut album featuring their open mic night’s most successful performers, on which my friend Niko (http://www.myspace.com/radioniko) was featured.  I’ve recorded and played live with Niko so was pleased to support him and see his mini-set at The Island in Kensal Green.

That weekend (Saturday 16^th May) was my first of two trips to the Isle of Man that month with function band Co Stars.  We were playing at a wedding each time and though the gigs are pretty standard, their location does mean it takes up your whole weekend.  The second IOM gig required an early Sunday morning flight back to Luton so that we could then drive straight up to Manchester for another gig that evening – evidently the wedding season is in full flow.

The week commencing Monday 18^th May was a really fun one.  I’d been booked by RAM to play at the ceremony to mark the Installation of the new Archbishop at Westminster Cathedral.  I once worked at Westminster Cathedral, in the Friends office, so it was great to go back and see former colleagues.  The gig was amazing – playing fanfares and processional/recessional marches in a brass ensemble with organ.  It was broadcast live on the BBC, on the Diocese’s internet channel, on EWTN (the Roman Catholic TV network) and on Premier Radio.  So, the fees for the broadcasting rights in addition to the fee for the rehearsals and gigs made it the single best paid gig I’ve had to date (more of those gigs please!).  During my breaks in the ceremony I was Tweeting updates and replied to a Tweet from @CatholicHerald after they made a comment on the fanfares.  I’ve since been featured in an article in their newspaper entitled “’Tweeting’ to trumpeters at the installation.” And then for something completely different, after playing fanfares in Westminster Cathedral, I went and played a gig with originals rock band T.Mandrake at 229 (http://www.myspace.com/tmandrake).

As the only female in the brass ensemble I guess I was guaranteed some air time

The following week saw another rehearsal with T.Mandrake on the bank holiday Monday (no rest for the wicked), a rehearsal with a new horn section, a filming/recording session at Metropolis and another filming session at the Circus Tavern the day after – what a contrast in venue from one day to the next!  I’ll write a separate blog about the day at Metropolis as it was such an experience, but the Circus Tavern gig was interesting.  Our horn section was invited along to perform one song with a function band who were filming their promo video.  They already have a horn section (featuring Jack Birchwood on trumpet who’s been touring with Lilly Allen so it was great to meet and play with him), but wanted to really beef up the first number on the video and also use it as an audition for us with the hope that they’re happy to book us for gigs if their main horn section is unavailable (which seems likely if they’re off touring with pop stars!).

I ended May and my crazy 18-day stint with a cracking weekend; Friday night out with the girls, a trip to Worcester on the Saturday to see my friends Ruth and Steve, and a trip to the new snowdome at Hemel Hempstead on Sunday afternoon.  Ruth is a singer with an amazing voice who I’ve worked with since our days at Exeter University (http://www.ruthhamilton.com) and her husband Steve opens the batting for Worcestershire CCC.  I knew Steve from the Exeter days too – he played sax in the Jazz Orchestra where Ruth and I also met.  Despite Worcester being beaten by Northants in the end of the Twenty20 match, Steve played really well and scored 62 not out.  We followed the match up with a night out with Ruth, Steve and some of the other Worcestershire cricketers and their WAGs, including cricketing legend Graeme Hick, who had opened the new member’s pavilion named after him at New Road that day.  Just to make the evening even more surreal were joined at dinner by Jason Bonham, drummer for the Led Zeppelin Reunion and son of John Bonham!  A great end to a crazy month.