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Thread: Need pointers for leading a new Old Time Stringband

  1. #1

    Default Need pointers for leading a new Old Time Stringband

    Hello, it's been a while since I posted. Thanks for this great website! I started an Old Time band about 4 years ago, and it worked for three years. Then some members and I went in different musical directions, so I and one other member dropped out. I found some old friends, plus the other member who dropped out, and restarted the band. One of the problems with the first band was that it was my band and other members started making computer/web technical decisions without my or anyone else's discussion. I thought of giving the new band my name, such as "Stringalong and the..." but didn't do that. I think that would be one way to lead. But I was not comfortable with that, not sure why. Anyway, I do want "business" and technical decisions to be cleared with the band, and with me, before anyone speaks or posts "for" -- or attempting to represent -- the rest of us. Any suggestions? And by the way, I'm really loose and democratic when it comes to choosing tunes. We all contribute to the tune decisions. But I am the most experienced musician in the band, started the band up, and want to have some authority over who "speaks for" and represents the band. Does anyone here have experience being a band leader for Old Time music?

  2. #2
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Need pointers for leading a new Old Time Stringband

    Band leader and Old time music is an oxymoron. If you try to control "the band" it will work against you. Play music and have fun. I have found that when the band is having fun, the audience is having fun, that's what is all about.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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  4. #3
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Need pointers for leading a new Old Time Stringband

    Well, I've been in probably a half-dozen bands, and the only one that had a member who wanted to be "leader" (Twelve Corners Klezmer Band) was by far the least happy and the one I stayed in the shortest time. (In all honesty, the "leader" kicked me out, because I frequently questioned his decisions -- which were, often, dumb -- and because I insisted that all band members should have a voice.)

    I have been the coordinator and organizer of several bands, and because I have the aptitude and skill for it, have often acted as "front man" in performance; I'm surely not the best musician, but I'm often the best MC. In a good band, one that works together for a while, members end up fitting into proper roles: front man, music arranger, lead musician, job-getter, PA-setup-takedown person, etc. What makes it work is that the band insists that all significant decisions are reviewed and approved by all members; one member doesn't get to commit the others before they've reviewed and consented. In one of my groups, I make all, or almost all, the contacts with sponsors, handle the money, and pay the other members -- up to the point of issuing them 1099's every year.

    Not quite sure what you're worried about: that another band member will "'speak for' and represent the band" improperly, unprofessionally -- commit the group to something you don't want it to do? You can be the person who prints the business cards with your contact info, lists the group in directories with your address/phone, issues publicity material with your name on it. What will be hard to do, is to prevent other band members from saying "Yeah, I play in the Rabid Possums -- we do old-time music, and gee, it would be great to play at your coffeehouse/barn dance/kibbutz/laundromat/whatever." What you probably want him/her to say afterwards is, "You should contact Stringalong; he handles our bookings."

    If your band works and interacts well, that'll happen. But trying to strictly control your members' interactions, is going to lead to friction. At least, that's been my experience.
    Allen Hopkins
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