The four of us played at Moto this last Thursday and I learned a few things that I can share here.
#1 – It’s Cold in the Wintertime In my world it’s heard that bands get paid for getting to the gig but they play for free. It’s true the work itself is mostly all kinds of fun but getting around to get to work with your acoustic bass or guitar or whatever is really a drag. At Moto the saying is more like you play for free and they pay you to keep the door shut. At least in the winter time. It is f-uh-r-uh-eezing everytime that door opens and folks, I guess, are accustomed to doors that shut themselves. I think I have to reach outside and close that door at least three times per set.
#2 – The Power of Soft Moto is a very attractive environment and people go to have a good time and chat. Recently the chattiness of the people there has become a slight distraction for the music. In general, I completely understand. Part of our role is to be ambiance and not necessarily captivating entertainment. But, you know, I think all of us would prefer the latter. Two weeks ago we erred on the side of playing too loud. The thought being that playing louder would make the sound penetrate more. A naked horn in that room is a pretty loud affair ultimately. This is why Stefan does not play tenor sax in that room but relegates himself to the clarinet and the bass clarinet.
As a way to get the cats in the band to be more playful I asked us to play St. Louis Blues as soft as possible. Clifton started positively inaudibly! Rob said he couldn’t hear him. He came up a little bit. Still too soft. Rinse and repeat a few times. Finally we were playing as soft as we could so that we could all hear each other. A few magical things happened. It was something different so we were all paying more attention and we had to actively listen to hear each other at all. The conversations were at an equal or even louder volume than the band. The rhythms of the verbal statements started to influence our playing. The room got generally quieter. Clifton could play more intricate finger-pick type stuff.
When it was time for me to take a solo I just hit one fierce blast (actually only ‘mezzo forte’ by my standards) and then left a whole pile of space around it. Another short brutal phrase and then more glorious chatty space. After about three of those I had most of the people in the room looking at the band stand. By the end of the solo I had earned everyone’s attention.
#3 – Soft is Sexy It sounds obvious but in that room, that’s what the girls like. Go figure.