When you’ve performed live bluegrass for over 40 years, as I have, you’ve seen a lot of different performing situations. Sometimes, as at a big festival or concert, you have a big crowd who are all there to listen to you. But sometimes you have a small crowd to play for, and sometimes you have very few people present, or at least, few who are listening. But if they are listening attentively and responding, that makes a big difference.
What all this means is that you have to adjust your performance according to the situation. You may have a big set list made up of your group’s very best numbers, all arranged so that you’ve got the best variety and entertainment in the show. That’s what you need to play if you’re in front of a big listening audience, but what if you’re not? In our experience, “What if you’re not” falls into two categories:
1. Sometimes, especially playing at parties or in bars, there may be lots of people there (making plenty of noise, too) but few or none of them are listening to you. In a case like that, you can exhaust yourself trying to play and sing your best show numbers (or even just trying to be heard), so a change is in order. Relax and play easy stuff, and concentrate on hearing each other on stage and getting the picking and singing right. This is also a great chance to practice your newer material, if you can hear each other— but if you can’t, just relax and pick. Don’t wear yourselves out trying to do more. Nobody’s listening, and it’s not worth it!
2. The other kind of small audience is the group that’s really listening to you, and interested in your show. This is actually a really good situation, and often you can often present your best material to an audience like this. (I once saw the Lewis Family do their full, high-powered stage show for a Sunday-morning festival audience of about six people. The people were there to listen, and the Lewises gave them a great show.) With a small, quiet audience, especially if you are not using a sound system, you can establish a familiar rapport with the listeners, talk to them about the songs and tunes you’re playing, tell some stories if the situation’s right, and have a good time all around.
This just came to mind because at a Florida festival recently, Christopher and I played a Saturday show for an audience of eight people. Why just eight people? Well, our set that day wasn’t in the festival program, but had been hastily scheduled in the last couple of days before the show. So not many people knew we were playing, but the ones who showed up were REALLY ready to listen and enjoy our music. We did a quiet, intimate show for those folks, and we had a great time playing and singing. And at the end of the set, we sold eight CDs— one for every member of the audience!— a record which I never expect to break. That statistic, by itself, says a lot about what a good time the audience had. This was the ideal small audience!
The next day, Sunday, we were in a different situation. We played on the festival’s main stage for hundreds of enthusiastic listeners, and we stacked the set with several of our best crowd-pleasers, both bluegrass and original material. And we all had a good time there, too. So there are plenty of ways to enjoy yourself playing for an audience, and at that festival, we found two of them!
Everybody pick purty–
Red
Last night the girls in At Least We’re Hot gathered here at my house to do a little picking. Officially there are six of us (myself-fiddle, Connie-banjo, Julie-banjo, Kelley-guitar, Myrna-mandolin, Janice-bass) but each time we get together we never know for sure who will be able to make it. Last night’s combination of people—Kelley, Janice, Connie, and me—resulted in my being the only lead instrument. Connie is working up some breaks on her clawhammer banjo and so far she plays “Angelina Baker” and “Old Joe Clark”. Outside of that, every break was a fiddle break. That suited me just fine! And it was really good practice. In between our Hottie jams I normally don’t pick up my fiddle so whenever we pick is the only practice I get. I found out it makes a huge difference to my muscles whether I’m just playing one break and then passing it on to someone else vs. playing four breaks in a row on a tune like “Soldier’s Joy.” Stamina really comes into play.
