It’s not a recital, it’s a Gig!

Sunday, November 29th marked the most recent performance by my students and the last time we have a “recital”. I’ve never liked recitals anyway; boring for the audience, nerve-wracking for the students, and time consuming for the teachers. In other words; no fun for anybody. This time, we booked a cool local venue that hosts national indie bands. Natasha’s is normally closed on Sunday so they were open to the idea of a decent crowd (gotta have butts in seats) and serving their lunch buffet. The students worked up classic rock songs such as Sunshine of Your Love, You Really Got Me, and Money. I hired four friends of mine, professional musicians, to play behind my students.
It was a triumph deluxe! One of my favorite moments was when the audience all clapped in time and sang along on the chorus of I Love Rock and Roll, played by nine year old Henry. The finale, Money featured three of my senior guitar students on solos and a bass student on his first performance ( in 7/4 time, no less!). I was most proud of the professional attitude of all my students. They were there to play and stayed focused on the job during the 4 hour rehearsal that lead up to the performance.
The next one is scheduled for February 7th. I said I’d never do another recital and I won’t. From now on; we will only have studio Concerts; real life musical shows that entertain and impress. Or, as Henry was calling it all along “The Gig”.