[Dixielandjazz] Adding youthful Members

[Marek Boym]

Hi,
Here I am mentioning our New Orleans Function again.

That band plays mainly standards, but widens it repertoire all the time.
It plays for young dancers, and they love it!  And while their
announcements are usually short, they do mention the composers and
original performers.
Cheers

On 26 May 2010 00:01, Phil Wilking <philwilking at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> If you will (can find a place to) play where teen-agers can hear you -
> perhaps shopping malls and such - and will play at tempos a human can dance
> to - the young people will come - at first to jeer and then they will start
> to dance. You have to seek them out, they are not looking for you.
>
> Tempos to dance to are critical, you are trying to be attractive to an
> audience which has never heard anything like you before and is completely
> self-absorbed. They DON'T CARE how musically amazing you can be, so save the
> virtuoso showing off with strange extended chords for the after-hours jam
> session. The same applies to long announcements between tunes: they don't
> care about the history, they want to polish their belt buckles. Use old
> traditional jazz warhorses - King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, etc., they have
> strong rhythms and good melodies which will stick in the kids' minds despite
> the raging hormone fog.
>
> Again, KEEP THE SPEED DOWN! Yes, through familiarity, it is going to seem
> draggy to you - SO WHAT? Your object is to get the girls moving to the
> music. As soon as the girls start to move to the music, you have found your
> proper tempo. Foot tapping is a beginning, but it isn't good enough, you
> want full body movement. When the girls begin to wiggle, the boys will join
> in. If they don't know how to Charleston or Black Bottom (and who will?),
> they'll make something up on the spot and be very happy.
>
> I have seen it happen.
>
> Phil Wilking
>
> Those who would exchange freedom for
> security deserve neither freedom nor security.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Beth Schweitzer" <beth at portafortuna.com>
>>
>> I agree that we need to attract more young people, but I think the real
>> problem is in attracting a younger audience - not younger musicians.
>>
>> How do we get young people interested in listening to
>> OKOM? What can we do to make it "cool" or "hot" or whatever temperature
>> is in style today?
>
>
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