killerbass Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I'm planning to move to Canada next year. So I'm interested in one thing: what chances have I to find a work as the bass player in Canada? Some words about me: I'm 23, playing bass for 9 years, before this studied piano for 8 years. I played in many bands of different styles - jazz, funk, rock, reggae, hip hop and even punk At present I'm working (besides gigs) as studio bassist/keyboardist and arranger. KillerBass Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getz out Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Can you wait tables? Some more info might help the folks that can actually answer this thread intelligently (not me). I'm assuming you can read music if you have studied piano. Can you sightread bass? How is your spoken English? Where in Canada? I know Montreal is much different than Nova Scotia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killerbass Posted May 2, 2005 Author Share Posted May 2, 2005 I can sightread bass and I'm regularly practicing sight-reading. My spoken English is better than written, I think... I'm planning to move to Toronto or Montreal (I haven't decided yet). KillerBass Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Toronto is an English-speaking city. Montreal is bilingual, French and English. That might influence your decision. I've heard about a music scene in Toronto but haven't heard much about Montreal. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onelove Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Both Toronto and Montreal have very interesting music scenes... Montreal is more "Jazz" while Toronto is more "pop" although that's not really a fair assessment. It's hard to put that sort of thing in words, but I think you should be able to find work. I live in Canada, but far west of Toronto and Montreal (Winnipeg). My city is much smaller than either, and I think a bass player of your experience would have no trouble getting gigs here. Toronto and Montreal have more people, which means more bass players but also more gigs. The bottom line is, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find gigs in either city, but you might not be playing the best gigs right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killerbass Posted May 2, 2005 Author Share Posted May 2, 2005 Thanx onelove! I think Toronto will be preferable for me also because of its Russian community. KillerBass Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PickPunk Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Not sure if you are any good at speaking french but if not youd want to shoot for toronto as it wont require you to learn another language. the official language of quebec (province which montreal is in) is french although alot of quebecers (myself included) are english the official language is only french. The only province in Canada that is officially bilingual is new brunswick if i'm not mistaken, the rest are officially english. peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twentyamptwist Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Hey PickPunk, I lived in Knowlton for 6 months way back! Long live the Knowlton Pub,Beat the Clock and Lac Brome Boat Club! killerbass: Toronto is multicultural and has a very good professional movie and television industry, advertising, and generally good recording studio community. There could possibly be session work for jingles, tv, movies and that kind of stuff. Montreal (also multicultural), and Quebec in general, has a great homegrown music scene with enough population to really launch careers (ala Celine Dion). Quebec is an interesting cultural microcosm which we Canadians are lucky to have as part of this country. It is also renowned for hospitality and party scene. You can't lose either way! Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby LowTones Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 To complete the above information... Officially, Canada is bilingual. Canada have two official language (by law) coast to coast. Now, distribution is really uneven: Québec is mostly french, all other provinces are mostly english. Québec is the only province (I think) which has another layer of rules (101 Law) on top. It is about language use on signs, advertizing, instruction manuals of goods sold, these kind of things. they MUST be french. If they (by exception) are bilingual, french writings must appear first, or be printed bigger or something like that. This is the basics I remember of it (it was many years ago) and I know it gets complicated in some other area of the 101 Law. I also know a city in Ontario (Saut-Ste-Marie) which declared themselves english only (officially unilingual) by law. What I think about all this is beyond the thread's topic and I certainly don't want to start a "linguistic" war here. BTW, in larger cities like Montréal and Québec City, most (if not all) restaurants, bars, boutiques, business etc. have bilingual staff. Finally, because of the official bilingual status of the Country, all Federal (Gov.) Offices MUST have (some) bilingual employees to provide services in both languages. Bob (you guessed, from Québec) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killerbass Posted May 3, 2005 Author Share Posted May 3, 2005 Thanx for the information! Guess I'm gonna start packing my bags (and basses) soon KillerBass Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catlin Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Montreal has a better music scene than Toronto, very active in JAzz, check it out dude, happy packing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js Posted May 3, 2005 Share Posted May 3, 2005 Should be easy for you to find a band in Toronto. If you're looking for a gig with an original band, Now magazine is a good place to look. Now is a once a week free alternative newspaper, and their classified ads have a musician's wanted section. You can view them online at http://www.nowtoronto.com/ Another resource is www.kickinthehead.com. Has musician ads covering Canada. To narrow it down, filter ads to Ontario (for Toronto) or Quebec (for Montreal). js Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killerbass Posted May 4, 2005 Author Share Posted May 4, 2005 Thanks js, I'll check this out. KillerBass Home Page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.