Turning Down a "Gig"

[serenity55 15]

Hi all,

I think this may be the first time I've done something like this. I was approached to be musical director for something which was called "an opera with jazz influence." I agreed to listen to the music, and decided it wasn't something I was interested in, so I turned it down. I didn't hear the influence from either genre, and the melody lines for the songs that were written seemed to have no shape; no theme, none of the traditional stuff I'm used to hearing in the music I've played.

Has anyone else dealt with anything like that? Or have you ever simply turned down a music job for any reason?

Edited October 19, 2008 by serenity55

[stevegoad 32]

Are you having regrets?

I've turned down a few gigs as a musician, mostly because I didn't like the gig (wanted to tell me how to run my part, what songs I could sing or couldn't sing, etc).and I have turned down a couple of artists who wanted to record in my studio (they wanted my prices, but didn't want to follow the studio's mission).

I guess I am wondering if there is something deeper (usually is when you want to tell the story).

[serenity55 15]

No, as a matter of fact, I felt better after deciding not to do the gig. The music was pretty awful, and it's taken me a long time to realize that I get to choose what I want to do. I haven't always felt like that, and now that I think of it, I have turned down other gigs, because either they didn't pay, or I felt that I was being taken advantage of, meaning it was just assumed that I'd play. I think the hardest thing with this one was saying no, because the person I talked to was so nice, and it was obvious that she, (she's the librettist) knows nothing about music, vocal, instrumentation, anything, and the composer, according to her, knew nothing about writing vocal music.

Edited October 19, 2008 by serenity55