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September 16, 2022

Sing For Your Dinner

Photographer: Steve Goodfellow

For many career musicians there is a clear love for music, enough to pursue it as our primary life focus, but it isn’t often brilliant vulnerability and mastery in our writing that pays the bills. So, we adapt, we take opportunities as they come, even if they aren’t really the reason we got in the game.

We sing for our dinner…often, by singing for their dinner. We stand in restaurant corners for a bit of a regular paycheque as patrons go about socializing over their meals. Maybe a few tables clap, maybe someone even requests a specific song, and if we’re really lucky then maybe someone will ask to hear an original composition. Sometimes it’s great, however there are many times where it can be hard to keep that passion alive during the more mundane moments of music making.

Not at all to be gloomy and defeatist, but it can often feel like society is so used to live music that they barely even notice it’s happening anymore. So many musicians have learned the feeling of singing their hearts out to a room without so much as a head tilt their way. Or taking the time to craft a big amazing EPK and call out email to then get no response, or somehow almost worse, a single dismissive sentence in return. Or pitching blindly to Spotify editors and playlist curators without any faces or names to greet in hopes for a bit of interest in what is casually our life’s work.

All of this to say, things can be pretty discouraging at times for the passionate artist, especially
after years in the business.

How does one stay sane in that kind of climate?

Well, after over a decade in the game, here are a few little things to consider as we continue to navigate the music industry of 2022 and beyond.

First, while the digital world may be important, we’re human first. The value of real human connection and interaction is far greater than that playlist curator thinking they’ll give a song a shot for 7 days as one of the 165 songs on their playlist of the week. Someone right there, making eye contact, nodding their head to the music, that’s what it’s all about. Even at a big crowded restaurant of people, find the people (even if it’s just that table of 2) that are actually focused on the music. That’s our audience, we play for them…others will then also likely start to notice that magic and pay a bit more attention. There is so much reward in the sharing of music moments with others, no matter the size of the crowd. It’s easy to forget this amidst all the needed digital outlets of today, but tapping into it will bring so much more joy and meaning into sharing our art.

Second, music is one of the greatest connectors of people. It doesn’t matter if we’re busking in the street, playing at a pub, landing an awesome concert, or getting called up to perform at a fancy gala or fundraiser dinner, music is an opportunity to meet people. We could on one night roughing it in a bar and the next be all dressed up playing a wedding gig, but with both of these come moments to meet hundreds or thousands of people we might otherwise not get the chance or reason to come in contact with. To add to this beautiful reality, we may even get the opportunity to work with important life-changing initiatives and community programs all because we’re able to contribute our songs and skills. Our music shouldn’t stop at us. Go out and introduce yourself to people who you are brought into contact with through music moments.

Lastly, we can channel our musical creativity into developing music culture, especially in our local communities. If we live somewhere without places or people organizing focused concerts or outlets to share music, we can create more opportunities. It might take some thinking, it might take some partnering, but it’ll build a better community to grow with and to inspire others around us to join in. Really, read the room the way we do in performing, but instead of tweaking our song selections to get people going we’re tweaking our methods of sharing music.

So when things feel a little too out of our control, perhaps some of these ideas may help us dig a little deeper and create the magic we’re waiting for.

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