Concerts or Lack of Concerts!!

[Di B]

When I first started out in banding, the council jobs were an important part of your income in a year. Nowadays, the council has cut right back on bands in general and they are few and far between (at least that is in Derbyshire!!)

Have other bands found this? How have they supplemented their income? How easy do you find it to find engagements nowadays? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve you might like to share?

Also, for the sponsored bands, would your band be able to exist financially if you lost that sponsorship? How important is it to your bands existence?

We generally get get engagements through people who have heard us play (the best type to get in my opinion!) and doing a mail drop on local businesses and organisations. Also people who have hired us before will come back the following year.

Cheers

[satchmo shaz]

We have built up partnerships with local schools, churches and community halls which have all brought in revenue/concerts. we also do quite a lot of charity work which has led to more concerts and donations. you could also try freemasons, rotary, round table and the lions
cheers shaz x

[Di B]

We do the charity work and local churches and I think our training band has done concerts at a local school too!

My other thought is working mens clubs/royal british legion/etc

As for free masons etc they are great jobs, but I think it is a case of knowing the right people!

Do you have a funny handshake perchance? :lol:

[satchmo shaz]

only up me trouser leg :o

[Keppler]

Well we have one fund raising concert every year - just one, so we go all for that.. the past couple of years have averaged out at just over €1200 a concert - after adjusting for currency changes etc.. Our other concerts are usually freebies, or charity jobs etc

This is enough to deal with our major bills (the insurance bill has jumped drastically in the last two years)

For the most part, we're able to cover ourselves through member subs from there - along with the odd fund raiser. For the most part, we don't get paid for any jobs we do - any few euro for a job is a bonus.

Thankfully, we've been lucky with the local arts council - who've been good to us with regard to some training aspects - but that's drying up now as well. Sponsorship isn't an issue with us.

It's hard being a small town band! ;)

Anyway, the best trick I have is inviting a local primary school choir to your concert for a five minute slot. All the mammies and daddys will come and pay to hear the little darlings sing, and if you schedule them in for the second half, then you can get them to buy raffle tickets. Also, it's odds on they'll go to the bar during interval, encouraging the hotel to let you have the hall again next year. Plus, they get to hear (and be impressed by) the band, so maybe they'll come again. AND, you get a breather while the choir are singing! :) Could this possibly be the best scheme in the world?! Ok, its unoriginal but hey...

[BoozyBTrom]

We have to do concerts to survive. Like most bands. contrary to popular beleif we are no longer sponsored by the Ever Ready company. i think we have to raise so much a month just to pay the mortgage on the band room.

Think last year we did something like 35 concerts plus contests on top. its all go and without the dedicated guys and gals in the band we would be dead and buried.

[Roger Thorne]

When I first started out in banding, the council jobs were an important part of your income in a year. Nowadays, the council has cut right back on bands in general and they are few and far between (at least that is in Derbyshire!!)


Shropshire is no different either Di.
I remember when I was a young lad (many, many years ago) my Mum and Dad used to take me to Shrewsbury Quarry on a Sunday afternoon to listen to the band. In those days it was Bands like Dyke, Morris Motors, Fodens, Fairey's etc.
Throughout my banding life I have always performed in the Quarry Bandstand on Sunday afternoons and remember the days when audiences would be in the region of five hundred plus for both the afternoon and evening concerts.

Sadly those days are gone and with all the cutbacks the Council no longer provide any entertainment whatsoever in Shrewsbury during the Summer months. The only time this beautiful Victorian Bandstand is now used is for two days during the Shrewsbury Flower Show.

I also remember playing in Bandstands at Wolverhampton, Newcastle upon Tyne, Chester, Llandudno, Stourport on Severn and Telford.

Does anyone know if the local councils still ask Bands to perform in these towns. It would be interesting to know.


:wink:

[BoozyBTrom]

There are still a few council jobs within the north east. mainly though the summer months.

Wonky Baton would be he man to ask. Being a proper north eastener.

Not a Chocolate one like me

[Di B]

Thanks for that Keppler...

We do have a 'spot' for our training band, but the idea of a school choir is a great one!!!

Think I might mention that to our band.....

[PeterBale]

My first outing with Coventry Festival Band (now Jaguar Cars Coventry) was at the bandstand in Wolverhampton, and I am pretty certain they still run concerts there, and I think Coventry and Stoke on Trent also still have bands fairly frequently. The London scene is pretty bleak when it comes to bandstand engagements nowadays. When I was in the forces, many moons ago, in addition to the bandstand in St James's Park there were weekly engagements through the summer at Embankment Gardens, with two performances each day. All you seem to get at the embankment these days is the occasional lunch-time programme given by american college bands, or small groups presenting jazz or theatre items. As for St James's Park, since the bandstand proper was taken down following the Regents' Park bombing, the whole set-up has seemed rather lack-lustre - the new setting is far from ideal, and there is very little publicity over which bands are performing when.

What I am a little unsure over is how this state of afairs has come about, whether the bands have fallen prey to the sort of budgetary restrictions facing all local authorities, whether the costs involved now outweigh any financial benefits to the bands, or whether there has simply been a declining interest all round.

What I would say is that it is very important that any band who is presenting a park concert must give proper thought to the content of their programme, and also to the way they present it. I have attended at St James's Park on a couple of occasions when the band, a prominent top section band at that, appeared simply to be playing to themselves. Whilst musically the standard was pretty good, there was virtually no communication and contact with the fairly large crowd that had gathered, and so an opportunity was lost. They were not playing under their usual conductor, which may have made a difference, but surely you then have to work that bit harder to produce the same result. On another occasion, I was astounded, having heard the first of two programmes, to find some items repeated in the second concert - not the best way to encourage an audience!

[gorgeous_bari!_player]

the council has cut right back

I dont know alot of detail about it - but the hampshire county council, cancelled the Hampshire Youth bands tours.
The county band was due to go to new zealand for their 50th aniversiary tour.
and the training band were ment to be going to vienna.
needless to say alot of broken spirited young people.

[HBB]

Have other bands found this? How have they supplemented their income? How easy do you find it to find engagements nowadays? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve you might like to share?

Cheers

Well, a good experience we had was the WHOLE AUDIENCE was related to the band :P:P:P :lol:

[sparkling_quavers]

Also try registering with you local library they will have a list of local societies/organisations. We had had enquiries for gigs/new members through this.

Secondly make sure you keep your website up-to-date and that contacts check their emails. There is nothing more annoying that someone not replying to you enquiries.

We wrote to all the local councils last year and this got us alot of bookings for this summer/autumn. Councils just don't realise half the bands still exist. It is all about pushing your name forward.

Finially I have to agree with everyone else...local links with schools and the community is a very good idea! word of mouth is far the best advertising!!

The last point! Most bands without sponsorship survive because they work very hard at doing so. Members contribute towards costs like coaches etc for contests and they do lots of fund-raising activities especially at Christmas. Things like caroling at Xmas can raise quite a bit of money if u have a team dedicated enough to do it!

[AJSOP]

dont usually have problems finding engagements. we have problems having too many. although i like concerts so it does not worry me. most our summer weekends we have concerts and the odd ones during the week. Certainly keeps your lip in. :wink:

[brasscrest]

In Washington we have the advantage of a large number of public memorials, many of which are suitable for informal concerts. The National Capital Band typically do a couple of them a year, and visiting bands will usually be scheduled for one also. We have to get a permit from the Park Service to hold one, which takes a couple of months to grind through the bureaucracy, but there is no cost to the band. Unfortunately, you can't solicit funds at one of these concerts, but you will usually get a couple of thousand people walking by in an hour, depending on the weather.

There are no bandstands, just an area to for the band to stand, and (depending on which memorial you're at) steps to sit on for those who stop to listen.

[snapey]

We never get anything from the council, except the occasional request for a non paying job. In general we end up turning jobs away especially through the summer because we seem to get offered loads of park jobs and the like.

[Hornted]

We have no difficulty in getting work from the local councils in both Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire -negotiating a good fee can be more of a problem. I have found the most profitable concerts are those that you organise yourselves, pick a good venue, get the junior band to play as well and invite a choir, you should be in for a profitable successfull evening.

[Despot]

Thanks for that Keppler...

We do have a 'spot' for our training band, but the idea of a school choir is a great one!!!

Think I might mention that to our band.....

Yeah thanks Kepps, giving away all our tricks! :D

Seriously it works. GUARANTEED to fill the hall. But of course we REALLY only have the little darlings along for for their musical contribution..ahem! :mrgreen:

[katej]

Roger
Wellington are going to be at the bandstand in Telford Town Park twice this year but don't know if we get paid or just rely on the generosity of the public!!
Kate

[Australian Euphonium]

What is a typical council job in the UK?

ours are usualy stinkin' hot marches or low-profile functions, gatherings etc. which are more often than not absolutely horrible experiences... However our council gives the band a very healthy sponsorship fund every year so we're always obligated to provide the music when they ask.

[WoodenFlugel]

Council sponsored job?......excuse me but I'm not familier with that concept. We get absolutely sod all from our local authority. It's shameful that when we had a centenary last year we asked our local authority to sponsor the concert in the event of a loss. We got a big fat NO! We also invited the whole council chamber along (for free) to celebrate with us - how many turned up - exactly none! Shame on you Oadby and Wigston district council. :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

*breathe*

Sorry to rant but our relationship with our local council is.....erm...."difficult".

So bearing that in mind all of our jobs are sorted off our own backs.....the best way to get decent jobs is by reputation...it takes ages, and a lot of hard work but the rewards are pretty good! :tup

[Space Cowboy]

The whole issue of doing concerts with my band winds me up.

We [Haslingden & Helmshore] are a newly promoted [to 1st section] band in the north west. I have been with the band about 2 1/2 years after 6 years or so away from banding during which time I played [and still do] with a 6 piece soul band doing pubs, clubs and weddings.

We do not pay any subs as members of the band and so do concerts to raise the money to fund the band.

What winds me up is the absolute pittance that bands at our level receive for playing in concerts. It astonished me when I joined the band to discover that we get paid about 1/2 the going rate that a 6 piece band gets playing in a pub for our concerts.

I would rather we didn't do concerts, financed ourselves through member subs, and just stuck to contests if we are to get paid such a paltry sum. Contrary to how this may sound I am not a money obsessed mercenary, I just put a value on both my time and the skill of the band. If the organisations [churches etc] who want to pay us these ridiculously low rates were to hire 27 cleaners for a couple of hours to give the place a tidy up then they would not get away with paying the rates they pay us.

In most cases brass bands are probably worse off than the organisations who claim they can only pay these low rates.

Rant over. :x

[CaharleyFarley]

Well lets face it - Brass Bands arn't exactly in great demand at the Mo. That's why we do gigs for as good as nowt - we do it for our own enjoyment.

Maybe if we all stopped playing to one another (contests) - we would fair better.........oops I slipped off topic there!

[Hornted]

I don't agree I think live music is in demand. I can easily get work for my own band most of which at a reasonable fee. I ususally find enough work to provide gigs for other bands within our area. Last year I probably turned down 15 gigs because we ran out of time.

The key I think is to play to your audience, do not bore them rigid with test pieces, be professional and look at each concert you do and decide what was successful and what was not, Look for feedback from the concert organisers.

[WhatSharp?]

Well we have 4 major concerts this year plus a couple of park jobs and a few marching jobs (we had to cancel a couple of marches due to double weekends and clashes, we get a good turnout for concerts but not much at all for marches!) concert wise we are up on last year.

[Lauradoll]

The whole issue of doing concerts with my band winds me up. I would rather we didn't do concerts, financed ourselves through member subs, and just stuck to contests if we are to get paid such a paltry sum. Contrary to how this may sound I am not a money obsessed mercenary, .


Concerts should be a good springboard for a contest, for example building up ensemble and listening skills, not just seen as a means of making money. Why just stick to contests? You may not make any money there but have to shell out to go. Money wasted? I'd say so!

[glen miler]

The whole issue of doing concerts with my band winds me up. I would rather we didn't do concerts, financed ourselves through member subs, and just stuck to contests if we are to get paid such a paltry sum. Contrary to how this may sound I am not a money obsessed mercenary, .


Concerts should be a good springboard for a contest, for example building up ensemble and listening skills, not just seen as a means of making money. Why just stick to contests? You may not make any money there but have to shell out to go. Money wasted? I'd say so!

You are right concerts SHOULD be a springboard for contests. Unfortunately for us they are not.

We generally dont contest between the Areas and Pontins and only do concerts. In these concerts we usually play pieces that are not that demanding and don't require much rehearsal and so the standard of the band drops off and it all has to be built up again for Pontins.

[wewizrobbed]

so enter more contests :S

[Lauradoll]

Or play more demanding concert repertoire to ensure the standard is kept up. Play through some "hard" test pieces.

[andyp]

I guess we're lucky, we have to turn down jobs cos we're too busy. We always try to pass them on to other bands we know, though, rather than just saying "Sorry no can do".
Partnerships are the way to go, we've found them very successful. With a church, for example, they do all the work (publicity, ticket sales etc), you just turn up and play, and you split the proceeds. Mutual benefits all round.

The only council-funded (or it may be TUC/Union funded, can't remember) one I know of round here is Formby Hall in Atherton, near Wigan, they have a champ/1st section band once a month March to November. Very popular it is too, specially as you can sit at a table and have a beer while listening - most civilised!