African American Musicians In Twin Cities Area

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by User032009

It's very sad that many musicians/bands in Minneapolis are so wishy-washy, fake, phony and prejudice/racist, and it's because of that, they miss out on working with some extremely talented musicians of color.

Have you had success in other cities?

[User032009]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I always find it interesting that people automatically assume that they didn't get the job, audition or whatever because of the color of their skin. What if he was just being nice and didn't really like your voice. Maybe the add was very general so they could collect a pool of people to use in the future or maybe they would get lucky and that one outstanding person they were looking for would audition. Maybe they really did want male voices??? Why do you assume it is because of your skin color? Maybe you aren't as good as you think you are??

LOL @ maybe I'm not as good as I think I am! You didn't hear me sing, so what do YOU know? Wow....how RUDE and NASTY of you, but thanks!

Re-read the post and perhaps you can find the answers for which you are looking.

[User032009]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Have you had success in other cities?

Have not lived in another city as of yet, so can only go off of my experiences as a musician in Twin Cities area.

[mellah]

It's a couple of months since your last post user032009. How're things going? Any success yet? Any fruitful auditions? Good luck to you and keep hanging in there... your perseverance will pay off! I'[ll be praying for you and sending good karma your way!

[User032009]

Update: I went to an audition a couple of days ago, and it was rather ODD. I met with two guys - one was ihe drummer, the other the organizer - in the drummer's basement. I was asked to sing, so I did, and the organizer of the group said, “Yeah, sounds like you got some tone.” (??) Then, the organizer and the other guy other proceeded to talk amongst themselves and basically IGNORE me, rather indirectly talking to me and occasionally asking me questions. Also, the organizer just kept breaking out in song, as if he were simply singing to hear himself sing and/or to possibly entertain the other guy, I guess. The organizer actually asked me “Are you afraid of the stage?”, to which I replied, "NO." WTF? How would I be afraid of the stage if I’ve been performing with bands before? (I gave him this information through e-mail before we even met!) GEEZ……

The other guy acted like he had ADD or was on crack or something, as he couldn’t sit still for 5 minutes and kept fidgeting and talking a mile a minute. He kept talking about how GREAT AND WONDERFUL another local singer is and how he “found” this singer while he was bowling and she was singing karaoke. He went on and on and on about her. Uh, I thought we were there to give ME an audition, not talk about some other singer! Though neither of them said outright they didn’t want me to join, it was obvious that they were not that interested in having me in their band. The whole thing was pretty lame, and I e-mailed the organizer of the group the very next day that I was not interested in joining their “band."

On another note, I am currently taking voice lessons and even the vocal coach said to me, from her experience, that most of the people involved in the music scene in Minnesota tend to be rather snobby, elitist and cliquish.

I’m done, and I won’t be back to this particular thread.

Thanks, again, to everyone for your input.

[acrylic]

Yeah, chances are you're probably not a good singer if you've had that bad of luck. I don't see any other way to explain it.

[User032009]

Originally Posted by acrylic

Yeah, chances are you're probably not a good singer if you've had that bad of luck. I don't see any other way to explain it.

Ok, this will be my final reply:

Really? Is that the best you can come up with? That I can't sing? Have you heard me sing? Are you a singer? Have you dealt with trying to be a musician in this city? From my point of view, it's not all about the singing but the attitudes of the musicians here in MN that I have encountered. You know what they say about making assumptions..

Good luck to all!

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Singing ability is so subjective, without knowing a ton about the local music scene I'd say alot of it has to do with what type/style of singer the group is looking for as much as it comes down to the perceived ability and talent of the singer. I'm sorry to hear things didn't work out for you here and if you really do have alot of talent then it may have been a product of not being at the right place at the right time to find the perfect band/group to fit into. Personally, if I was forming a band and was looking for a singer, if I found somebody that was talented enough I would do whatever necessary to make things work, even if it meant completely changing the style of music my band played. Just my thoughts as somebody outside of the industry looking in.

Also, without actually listening to your work I find it impossible to even consider the possibility of "not being able to sing" as being the cause for your lack of success here. Also, to be fair, there are plenty of what I would consider terrible singers who have done quite well and have sold alot of records. There are also alot of great singers out there who have absolutely nothing to show for it. Once again, it comes down to alot of other factors, not just talent.

[acrylic]

Originally Posted by User032009

Ok, this will be my final reply:

Really? Is that the best you can come up with? That I can't sing? Have you heard me sing? Because from my point of view, it's not all about the singing but the attitudes of the musicians here in MN that I have encountered. You know what they say about making assumptions..

Good luck to all!

Maybe we can give our opinions on how well you sing if you uploaded a song or two you've sang.

I really don't know. Out of all the different auditions you went to, you think it all boils down to race? How high of a horse are you sitting on to make those type of assumptions.

There's a few scenarios:
1. There is the possibility of race, but I honestly doubt it. That would never deter me in finding a band-mate.
2. Maybe your attitude/personality turns people off. Obviously people in a group have to click. Maybe you don't click with the people personality-wise.
3. Maybe they're looking for a different style of singer. It's not always "WOW YOU HAVE A GREAT VOICE BE IN MY BAND!" I would never want a singer with the voice of, say, Adam Lambert in my band. It's just not my style. Plus, live singing and recordings are different. They maybe wanted to give you a chance live.
4. Or maybe all along, like I said, you don't have a good singing voice. I'm not saying this is definitive. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

It's a two-way street. Don't live in a race-obsessed world, where everything is black and white (unintentional pun)... think outside the box and see people as equals.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by acrylic

Maybe we can give our opinions on how well you sing if you uploaded a song or two you've sang.

I think this is a really good idea. If you are confident in your ability why not put it on display for us? If nothing else it would be another good opportunity to get your music out to the public, maybe somebody on here will like what they hear and will beg you to join their band, who knows?