How much do restaurant pianists earn?
mike bishop
UK)?
To be honest I'm still new to the piano (I've been playing for only a
year), so I'm not good enough to go for it yet, but I like the sound of
playing the piano in a restaurant nights while working a "normal" job
during the day, and hopefully will do this one day.
Also, does anyone have any experience of this job? What is expected of the
pianist? I guess you'd have to be, say, Grade 8 ABRSM, and I'd imagine
you'd have to be a pretty handy sightreader, but I'd be interested in any
info about it.
Thanks,
Mike
Neil
> Does anyone know roughly how much a restaurant pianist earns (I'm in the
> UK)?
>
> To be honest I'm still new to the piano (I've been playing for only a
> year), so I'm not good enough to go for it yet, but I like the sound of
> playing the piano in a restaurant nights while working a "normal" job
> during the day, and hopefully will do this one day.
The restaurant manager just wants the background sound of the piano --
dinner, tips and about US$20 per hour
>
> Also, does anyone have any experience of this job?
Yes
>�What is expected of the pianist?
Anything from first comment above to the following and anywhere in
between--
The restaurant manager specifies the genre(s) of music you're to play,
and you may be expected to satisfy requests and you may be expected to
play only by memory -- dinner (unless they consider that
unprofessional), tips (unless they consider that unprofessional) and
about US$25 to $50 per hour.
Other IFs: clothes, who supplies the piano (I charge an extra $100 if
I have to bring my Clavinova -- for a regular gig the restaurant will
obviously buy one)
> I guess you'd have to be, say, Grade 8 ABRSM.
Forget about Grades -- do you play well?
> and I'd imagine
> you'd have to be a pretty handy sightreader,
Do you play well?
Memorizing and playing by ear is what's in demand.
> but I'd be interested in any info about it.
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
Hope I helped. Practice and perform (for your family, friends, the
mailman) -- now!
Reply to author and in my email Reply to you I'll attach a pdf of the
chapter SUCCEEDING AT PERFORMING and the Table of Contents.
Neil Miller, author of The Piano Lessons Book
Enter in Amazon.com search: Neil Miller Piano Lessons Book
OR http://www.createspace.com/3332371
tysteel
Well, what is expected. Hmmmmmm... You might need to develop a thick
skin, especially if some of the patrons decide they'd like to throw
tomatos or launch other food particles at you-- that is, if they think
your performance is rotten!
On a more serious note...
I would think that skills like playing by ear and being able to
improvise would be indispensable for such a gig.
One thing you may want to focus more on is playing from fake books/
chord charts, and practicing how to come up with your own arrangments
by reading a lead sheet. You need to be familiar with playing
accompaniment --especially need to practice good voice leading. You
must also develop facility in being able to mix in melody notes when
appropriate..that is important. On the subject of voice leading, to
give you an example, if you have chords on the lead sheet you are
reading like say C, Fm, G, in a single measure ....it would not sound
very good to play all of those chords, one right after the other, in
root position. Practice inversions, practice smooth voice leading.
Make the music breathe, make the songs move and groove.
Everthing else will follow.
mike bishop
<...>
> The restaurant manager specifies the genre(s) of music you're to play,
> and you may be expected to satisfy requests and you may be expected to
> play only by memory -- dinner (unless they consider that
> unprofessional), tips (unless they consider that unprofessional) and
> about US$25 to $50 per hour.
>
> Other IFs: clothes, who supplies the piano (I charge an extra $100 if
> I have to bring my Clavinova -- for a regular gig the restaurant will
> obviously buy one)
<...>
Thanks for both replies --- really helpful!
Patrick L
"mike bishop" <mb...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:119xa8plif6y3$.olf01krt1rw3$.dlg@40tude.net...
Most pianists who play in restaurants cannot be evaluated on a "grade level"
basis, they are way beyond that kind of thing, and many learned in an
altogether different path, or went off the grade system years back.
Therefore, if you think that a "grade 8" is sufficient, you have a
misunderstanding of the needs of this type of performing.
You have to know a lot of songs, because, what if the owner, on the behalf
of one of his customers, requests a well-known song (that every pianist
should know, such as the Wind Beneath My Wings, etc), and you don't know it?
You would have to be able to sight read it.
Well, that list "songs every pianist should know" is probably at least 300
songs and counting. You've got your work cut out for you. Also, this list
varies according the the restaurant's clientele, because if the clientele
is of the more affluent, upscale, type (which it often is), you will have
to know a ton of songs from well-known musicals.
If you don't know the song, you have to be able to site read it from a fake
book (you will have several handy, in case you need to play a song you don't
know) and so you have to be good enough to create impromptu arrangements
with only the melody note and the chords in front of you (fake books only,
no piano/vocal canned arrangements with treble and bass clefs). If someone
comes up and wants to sing, you have to be able to transpose, now you are
talkin' years of practice.
Additionally, you have to invent your own arrangements on those you do
know, because those silly things you see in piano/vocal books simply won't
do.
From beginner to this point, I would say 10 years if you practice a lot and
work at it, or 20 years if you go about it casually (I'm on my 12th year,
and getting there, but my forte is guitar, which I've played for 40 years,
and a couple of years professionally). Young geniuses could get there much
quicker, of course.
And the pay? Not much, I'm afraid. 20 years ago I got $125 for a
hotel gig, and I've been out of the running for years. I checked with a
friend of mine, who is gigging, and he told me that they aren't getting much
more. If you want good pay, do private gigs (called "casuals", or "general
business", depending on which coast you are on, and this could include
weddings).
It's for the love of music, of course, not for the money or the applause
(you won't get much, though I did, on some venues, but on guitar, but I
suspect it was only because people marvel that a guitarist could play
guitar like a pianist), or why bother?
Patrick