GUIDELINES FOR MUSICIANS

Who Is Eligible to Apply: 

Any musician who has lost a substantial part of their income because of the COVID-19 pandemic and who was hired for the English program’s 2019-20 season or for the contra program’s 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, either as an individual or as part of a group.

Types of Performances We Are Looking for: 

* Streamed live.

* Primarily focused on English country dance or contra music.

* Solo, duo, or ensembles are fine, as long as safe practices are followed. For instance, a husband / wife duo might choose to perform; a pianist might choose to accompany him- or herself singing, and so on.

* Instrumentals, singing (for instance, many ECD tunes have words), singing games that the audience joins in on, etc. Your creativity and skill are the only limiting factors.

Which Platform? 

* Facebook and YouTube Live offer our members not only a chance to hear and watch but also to connect socially with each other through comments and emoji reactions during the performance. 

* If you prefer a different platform and we can make it work, that’s fine.

Support We Can Offer: 

  • Publicity: We will publicize the event via our FB page, web site, and eBlast newsletters.
  • Technical check: We will work with you in advance of the event to ensure your setup will reliably perform when you are performing! (Please note, however, that we do not provide equipment for live streaming. That’s on you.)

Payments: 

  • $4 per minute per eligible person performing, for a minimum of 10 minutes, with payments maxing out at $180 per person (though events can run longer than 45 minutes if the performer(s) wants to).
  • Applicants will be hired and payments made only as long as the funds in the Concert Fund permit. 

 

What to Expect:

Applications will be considered on a first-come/first-served basis.

That being said, the Committee will curate among competing applications, basing its decisions on their best estimate of what proposal will engage and entertain the largest audience among our members.

Once the Committee has decided either to schedule your performance or not, a committee member will get back to you. If it’s a go, a committee member will get in touch reviewing what’s been agreed to and about planning the when, what, and how to pull it off. Committee members who are likely to be your first contact person are Paul Ross for English and Galen Kirkpatrick for contra.

How to Get Paid

Following your performance, fill out the Invoice designed by our Treasurer and submit it to bjlapson@gmail.com, cc’ing childgrove@yahoo.com for English music and galenkirkpatrick42@gmail.com for contra. 

Feedback to the Committee:

We would appreciate your feedback about the process, what worked for you, what didn’t, so that we can improve things as we go. 

Let us know if you’re interested in reusing the audio or video stream. As a work-done-for-hire, the rights belong to CDNY, but we will work with you so that you can monetize the recordings for your additional support. 

 

HOW TO APPLY

  1. Fill out the application form
  2. Send it as an attachment in an email to concertfund@cdny.org.
  3. The Subject line should be Your Name_Concert Fund Application

The form will request the following information

  1. Contact information: Name, phone (cell and/or landline), snail mail address, and email address of each performer.
  2. Description of what kind of concert you propose presenting

—repertoire, —number of performers,

—instrumentation, —likely duration, —preferred media platform

  1. Tech help needed setting up the live stream? Yes/no
  2. Schedule: Preferred dates (give us at least two choices) or at least preferred day of the week: We’re looking at Fridays and Saturdays at times that don’t conflict with CDNY’s Saturday Socials (roughly 8:30 PM every other week). There is some advantage in having the events on a somewhat predictable and familiar schedule.

 

We suggest a 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM start time, but if that’s not convenient, please suggest an alternative. And if Friday or Saturday isn’t convenient, suggest one or two days that are. 

 

Competition: Check the competition before choosing a date and time. Tuesdays, for instance, already have regular, very popular events taking place on Facebook and/or Zoom: Karen Axlerod’s 7:00 PM In the Moment Not Concerts and Darlene Hamilton’s 9:00 PM 5 Things…Inside the Dancing Mind interviews with English callers and musicians. 

Lead time: Choosing a date with a week’s lead time will allow for more robust publicity.

If you wish, in your email, you can include links to YouTube or other examples of your playing if you think they might give the Committee a better feel for what you’re planning.

Some general advice: A successful live stream entails more than just good programming and good playing. Think about

  1. Background and lighting (no glaring lamp in camera range)
  2. Transitions: Sheet music ready, organized, and easily accessible? Do you have your narrative at least somewhat planned out and practiced?
  3. Props: Are you planning to show your CD cover or book of tunes and are they easily and seamlessly within reach?
  4. Technical and logistical stuff: iPhone fully charged or on AC or extra battery? Cat in a separate room and answering machine turned off? Have all the equipment you need (iPhone camera may work but you probably want a USB microphone or something better than the mini-mic in your device)? Camera placed high enough so that you’re not perceived as looking down all the time? Water bottle handy?

PSA: At the end of your broadcast, please acknowledge the support received from Country Dance New York; you may suggest folks check cdny.org for other upcoming live streamed events. If you have a PayPal donation button or other means of soliciting direct contributions to you, we encourage you to mention them. Don’t be shy; this is all about giving your fans a chance to connect with and support you.

FOR SAMPLE LIVE STREAMS, CLICK HERE.