[Dixielandjazz] DJML Member Survey Results Thus Far

[Judy Eames]

 Of the 400 or so members of DJML, FOUR consider themselves "a professional
> musician"; FOUR play banjo; THREE are drummers;  THREE play washboard; ONE
> is a fan; TWO are festival directors; TWO are promoters; ONE is a
recording
> engineer; and TWO are singers.
>


Stop and think.... do we REALLY want 400 responses???

I think the old pro/non pro argument will run and run. It was certainly
running in the Melody Makers in the 1920s and in those days one of the
arguments was that there were just  not enough full timers to go round and
you needed the part timers for the weekend gigs:-)  Heady days.

In the end does it matter? It's the job you do on the day that you're judged
by.

One of the key factors that should identify a professional is respect for
fellow performers and audiences.  Combing your hair and wearing clean
clothes are a good start:-) I've seen "professionals" with outsize egos
gatecrash and  wreck a gig, and there've been many occasions in and out of
jazz when  people who were too drunk to do the job. This just shows contempt
for the promoter and the audience IMHO.

So am I a professional?... if I tried to live on the gig money I'd starve
but  since I started being taken seriously as a singer, I've worked as a
supply teacher and in free-lance publishing and have  never turned a gig
down because of other work commitments ... pro?  semi-pro ?? don't know,
don't care!  I do know that I've lost jobs to undercutters and that I've
never knowingly undercut.   I do one cheap local gig occasionally,  the
landlord puts on jazz in his tiny pub twice a week and we're among the bands
who have had well paid work as a result of appearing there  ...

Just watch out for the other 350 plus responses:-)

Judy Eames
Kaminsky Connection
Aston, Oxfordshire
UK
www.judyeames.co.uk
>