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How far (time/distance) do you lot travel for regular unpaid rehearsals or gigs?
Just wondering...

I travel all over the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) with two bands. In one case, I traveled down to Northfield, MN about 90 miles for a 2 mile parade. The big travel is to my original community band. We practice on Tuesday and play on Thursday each week throughout the summer. That trip is 275 miles one way. If you have doubted my sanity, you now have evidence to support your concerns.

Distance, about 20 or 30 miles when I lived in Baltimore.

When I lived in NYC, everything was close together, but without fail, it always takes about an hour to get anywhere.

Weeks with rehearsals: about 150/week
Weeks with reh & concerts: about 250

Summertime: more so.

In the midwest, miles roughly translate as minutes and add a few for parking and set up.

Zero miles. I refuse to go to unpaid gigs or for that matter paid gigs that I don't want to be at. I only drive to gigs that I want to go to. I go if I am doing a favor to someone I care about, am going to be with friends, play in a group that has fun people, play in a group that has a fun conductor, and/or any combination that adds more positive things than negative to my life.

Aside from working full time, as an amateur I play in two local wind bands and one local orchestra. One wind band and the orchestra are each associated with a college and university respectively. When school is in session the weekly miles could average 150. Dress rehearsals and gigs can add to that total. Summers are lighter. Although every now and then a paid gig comes along, in general I pay to play. Podcasts and free library audio books make the miles enjoyable. I once very briefly thought about riding my Harley with my gig bag strapped on

40 and 60 miles round trip - community band, and two orchestras (one summer, one fall through spring). All three are comprised of wonderful, nice people, are fun to play in, and are challenging for my skill set (which I enjoy).

KiltieTuba wrote:Wait - we can get paid?

"Several dollars", or so I've heard ...

I keep meaning to, but I never seem to make it past the proverbial bar...
(It COULD happen... )

Tuba player walks into the proverbial bar. Bartender says "He who pays the piper, calls the tune."

I go about 20 miles round trip for community band practices. About 10 miles round trip for German band practice. About 40 miles is longest drive I've had for the German band gigs. Community band concerts are about 10 miles round trip.

For rehearsals, once a month I drive 50 miles for my jazz band and 80 miles for my large band (round trip with bridge tolls.) Since the large band has members from all over Northern California we find a rehearsal space that is about equal distance for most of us, but it is the evening Bay Area commuter traffic that is the PITA.

I will go quite a ways more for a paid gig - one band I regularly play in gets a minimum of $100 per person for even a one hour gig, so I don't mind the travel so much. For my large band there is no individual pay but we often get food and drink or other compensation paid to the band operating fund, plus it is a fun time with many friends - I will drive 150 miles or even more for those gigs. Every few years we do a "road trip" to some interesting country, we usually pay our own way but make a playing vacation out of it. Local work laws and regulations can make it really difficult to get paid for those tours anyway, so we make it a "donation of our services" to a local charity or whatever. 17 countries and 6 other states so far! I really wonder how all of those rock band international tours get those problems worked out!

I suppose I figured the desire to play was a given but it is an important variable and almost impossible to quantify.

My standard variables now I think about it:
MONEY
PEOPLE
REP
ACCESSIBILITY

I travel 30 miles each way to a decent brass band once a week in London. Takes an hour to get in and 45 mins home. Most brass bands here rehearse twice a week which I would find difficult unless it was very near work/home.

Talking about the desire to play as a variable, our best brass bands in the UK have many members travelling 100-150 miles each way commonplace. That is twice a week as standard and frequently much more in the run up to a contest. All for no or almost no money.
Long gone are the days of true local banding at highest level.
The end product standard of performance and the level of detail in rehearsal is exceptional of course...
Interesting.

130 miles round trip twice a week to Brighouse for me. Gig weekly anywhere between 100-400 mile round trip. Do get petrol money for rehearsals (15p mile) but no fees. Gigs we get small contribution to food (£10), and petrol money to bandroom as there is usually a bus. If you prefer to drive to a gig rather than the bus, you stand the cost.

I would not think twice to drive 130 mile R/T if I was driving to Brighouse.

Here in New Jersey I have lots of choices close by, but on Sundays I have rehearsals with two bands I really want to be in that are not nearby. Unfortunately they are in opposite directions from where I live and I end up driving over 100 miles.

Hup

Farthest I drive round trip for a free performance is 60.8 miles. The rehearsals are only about 6.6 miles from work and add less than half a mile to my daily commute.

Ha, I'm surprised. I expected the long distances in the midwest, but my impression has been previously that in England, distance is a greater barrier for whatever reason. But apparently not for tuba players.

The one band that brought in any noticeable money, this year played a couple weddings that were like 100 miles away. I did one, then managed to quit before the second. The farthest rehearsals I recall have been under 15 miles one way, to me that's stretching it. A year or two ago I jammed with some old guys who were pretty hot Western swing players, but they were from like 30 miles away, so going up there to get in on their regular scene was out of the question.

Pay doesn't really enter into the equation - not that it doesn't matter at all, but it isn't on its own a reason why I'd want to be in a band. A band that I'd otherwise not care to play in, would be willing to pay me enough to change my mind? I don't think that's going to happen.

Yesterday I traveled 40 miles round trip for a shopping mall gig with my quintet. We made almost $100 in tips that went to the group's kitty fund. Most of our other gigs are paid. I do travel about 32 miles round trip to play in a local community band although I don't attend rehearsals every week.

I'm really glad tuba isn't my main instrument. There's definitely a lot of playing opportunities around but few of them pay much if anything. I'm a professional musician so I'm very selective what charity work I'm willing to commit.

I drive 5 miles, twice a week for rehearsals and another 5, once a week for performances during the Summer for a community band so I can play with my wife. I drive 100 miles, four times for rehearsals and another 100 for performances with a VERY good wind ensemble of band directors periodically. Besides the quality of the group...my stand mate is a fellow foodie and we have gastronomic adventures on rehearsal nights. Totally worth it, in my opinion.

The brass band and big band band both pay for rehearsals and gigs. The combo does not rehearse, but pays very well for gigs.

Now my school teaching gig...well, it hardly pays at all.

For me the standard of playing, the repertoire and the people are the main factors if I will play with a group without payment.

I travel 37 miles each way every week to my main band - a high standard concert/military band.
Then travel 20 miles to my regular symphony orchestra
And 65 miles to another military band more infrequently.

I do not do any regular brass banding now, as can't give the commitment a higher section band requires, and find most bass parts in lower section bands rather boring.

Have been known to drive 250 miles each way for one off gigs if they really appeals.