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French Scat, Nothing Personal, Casual Claustrophobia

By Mr. P.C.
July 17, 2023
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French Scat

Dear Mr. P.C.:

I'm a jazz vocalist about to sing abroad for the first time. When we play in France, do I have to scat in French?

—Perplexed About Rendering International Scat

Dear PARIS:

How could they possibly understand you if you scat in English? Find recordings of good French scat solos and transcribe them—that's the best way to internalize the language.

If that doesn't work for you, you might get away with scatting in English—as long as you use your best French accent.

Nothing Personal

Dear Mr. P.C.:

As sidepeople, we all have our feasts and famines. But I find that when I'm not getting calls it hits me on a personal level. No one wants me, I'm a loser, that kind of thing. How can I avoid letting it get to me?

—Vulnerable Vic

Dear VV:

Don't be so hard on yourself—it's not that people don't value you as a person, they just don't like you as a musician. And while it's true that music—even when it's as unlikable as yours—reveals the deepest parts of one's soul, you apparently have some superficial personality traits that people don't mind at all.

Casual Claustrophobia

Dear Mr. P.C.:

I just played a background trio gig for a wedding reception in a home. The guests: young and incredibly loud. Not only could we not hear ourselves, they were packed so tightly around us that we couldn't even escape the bandstand for our breaks! Would it have been inappropriate to ask them to clear the space and keep it down?

—Loony Lou, Louisville

Dear LLL:

If the guests were really that loud, being right up against you was the only way they could possibly hear you. You were there to provide background music, and it wouldn't really be background music if they couldn't hear it, would it? Nor would it be background music if they were quietly listening! The guests did exactly what it took to make the gig exactly what it was supposed to be, even over the objections of three employees with delusions of grandeur.

Have a question for Mr. P.C.? Ask him.

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