How to host a concert in your home

Here's the 2002 article I wrote for Acoustic Guitar magazine that inspired me to host my own series.

So you've been to all the local coffeehouses, bars and theaters on a simple quest to find a good place to hear music? Ever wished you could send home the bar chatters, turn off the cash register, unplug the espresso machine and hear the music the way it was meant to be heard? If so, you're not alone. A lot of people just like you have taken matters into their own homes.

Over the past decade, a growing number of music fans have opened their doors to create a space that's ideal for both the audience and the performers. House concerts can range from private parties with a few friends and guitars to formal performances with small sound systems, lighting and 60 to 80 people in the room. As someone who's just learning how to host my own house concerts, I wanted to find out how to get started and how to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for everyone in the room. So I spoke with a few people around the country who have many years experience at presenting successful shows.

The first question is: what inspires someone to put on a house concert?

Tom Meshishnek has been hosting Mo's Melody Mansion shows from the basement of his Victorian house in San Francisco since 1994. He says, "I never set out to create an alternative venue or host a regular series of concerts. It was initially meant to be an informal venue for friends and acquaintances where I could record live shows for a sympathetic audience. But since the first show was such a success, it seemed like a fun idea to try it once a month." After attending on of the shows at Mo's Melody Mansion, singer/songwriter Irina Rivkin was inspired to create some shows of her own. "I had been putting together concerts at the women's community center and music festivals in the Russian River area (of Northern California). When I found the house that I live in now, I had the idea to continue developing this musical community, but in one specific place," said Rivkin. The result is the Rose Street House of Music in Berkeley, California. "One thing I really like about the house concerts is the intimacy," says Rivkin. "When there's not as much physical separation, the audience can actually see the performers, and the performers can see the eyes of the audience. People really listen." Plus, as someone who is allergic to smoke and chemicals, Irina want to create an environmentally safe place to perform.

How do you get started?

If you've never hosted a show before, you might want to start small. Throw a party and invite a dozen friends over to hear a local singer/songwriter. Pass around a tip jar and collect the email addresses of everyone who enjoyed the show and wants to come again. Ask them what they liked or didn't like about the experience. Then, at the next show, have two performers, maybe someone with a more established local following, and invite a few more people.

Some hosts, on the other hand, jump in with both feet and have great success. For their first show ever in November of 1991, Bruce and Liz Rouse, of Rouse House Concerts in Austin, Texas, invited songwriter Jon Ims. The week before the show, two of Jon's songs were in the top two positions on the country charts: "She's in Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood and "Falling Out of Love" by Reba McIntyre. The night of the show, their invitations, Jon's reputation and word of mouth brought in about 50 people and they were off to a running start. Since then, they've hosted concerts nearly every month. They've even been involved with house concert seminars at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

How do you find performers?

If you're like Neale Eckstein and Laurie Laba of Boston's Fox Run Concert Series, you just ring up one of your favorite performers and ask. Back in August of 1997, their first house concert featured Boston-area favorite Ellis Paul. In the five years since then, they've presented many well-known names, including Lucy Kaplansky, Chris Trapper of The Push Stars, Peter Mulvey, Cliff Eberhardt and Susan Werner. Like their friend, Bruce Rouse, they found many of their performers through the Folk Alliance, which Neale says presents a diverse range of musicians. "It's basically for anyone who doesn't want to play in bars," says Eckstein.

They've also had great luck finding acts at the Kerrville Folk Festival. Once such act was Willy Porter. "He's not only an amazing singer and musician, he's great with the audience," says Eckstein. "For the most part, so much of the enjoyment is how the performer relates to the audience. So if a performer isn't comfortable talking with audience and working up close, the show won't work as well." "Plus performers are going to be spending a lot of time with the hosts, so the comfort level is important," said Eckstein. "I'll typically be spending 8-10 hours with the performer, so I want to book performers who are nice people. Fortunately, the people who do this kind of music tend to be really nice and grateful to be there." If you'd prefer to keep things on a smaller scale for your first show, just approach a performer from your neighborhood coffeehouse after their gig. Chances are, they'd welcome the opportunity. Most musicians are always on the lookout for new places to play, as Tom Meshishnek discovered. "Within the first year, people I didn't know were sending me press kits from as far away as Chicago," Meshishnek said.

The Internet is another great tool for finding artist. Most musicians' Web sites will tell you who handles the booking and how to get in touch with them. Even if it seems unlikely that your favorite musician would be available to play such a small room, they sometimes have days between gigs when they're own tour that they might like to fill with just such an event. It doesn't hurt to ask.

How do performers get paid?

As you might guess, house concerts hosts are not in it for the money. In most cases, the money collected from audience donations and reservations goes straight to the performers. As Eckstein puts it, "All the hosts I know lose money on every show. You don't make money as a host. It's only for your own enjoyment." At Mo's Melody Mansion, Meshishnek puts a tip jar by the door with a suggested donation. "No door man, no tickets," he says. " If you can’t pay, come on in anyway. I know that many people put in much more than the suggested donation. All the money goes to the performers. I don’t have any overhead. I live here. I don’t need any money, but the musicians deserve your cash." To cover the out-of-pocket costs of promoting the shows, some hosts make an arrangement with the performers that allows them to keep a small percentage of the donations.

How do you promote the show?

These days, the easiest way to get the word out is via email. Fox Run, Rouse House Concerts, Mo's Melody Mansion and Rose Street Music all have Web sites that provide audience members with a lot of information, including artist bios and links to their sites. Typically, the artists themselves draw a majority of the people in the room through their own Web sites and promotional work. But if your first show turns into a series of good shows, you may well attract "regulars" -- people who come to every show whether they've ever heard of the artist or not simply because they trust your taste in music. That's when you really know you're doing something right. Some hosts go the extra mile and create their own posters or pass out postcards. Irina Rivkin of Rose Street Music has even been able to spread the word via public radio through her performances on KPFA FM. In the end, though, most agree that good word of mouth is the most effective draw of all.

How many people should you invite?

Invite as many as possible and accept as many as your room will hold comfortably. With the help of folding chairs and throw pillows, many houses can accommodate between 30 and 70 people. Depending on the size of the room you'll be using for your performance, you may want to limit the number of attendees to the number of seats you will have available. To avoid overcrowding, many of the house concert venues require that people pay for reservations in advance. This helps to prevent the problem of turning people away at the door, only to find out later that there are several no shows.

Should you use amplification or keep it completely acoustic?

This seems to depend on the performer. The Rose Street House of Music has a small PA and microphone available for those with quieter voices. "Most choose to perform without the PA. But when we use it, we keep it a low level so it still feels acoustic," Rivkin said. Mo's Melody Mansion uses a PA mainly so the audience can hear the lyrics. Even in place where it might not be absolutely necessary, a sound system is made available as a courtesy to singers who prefer to use a microphone to keep from straining their voice. So the consensus seems to be: it's good to have a microphone and some kind of low level amplification just in case. Be sure to tell the performers beforehand what kind of system you have so they can come prepared.

What can I do to make my house as comfortable as possible for both the performer and audience?

Comfortable seating is important. Many hosts begin with rented chairs to supplement the furniture already available in their rooms. Some eventually wind up finding or buying some kind of permanent chairs if they decide to commit to hosting a series.

How can I personalize the event?

Even if the performance itself has same kind of stage boundaries you might find at a typical public venue, you can still do a lot to make the night feel less formal and more personal than the average night on the town. One way is with the food you offer. Some shows turn the event into a full-on potluck. Others simply offer snacks, desserts and soft drinks. Whichever you choose, the refreshment break between sets is part of the charm of the house concert since it gives the audience a chance to meet and chat with the performers. At The Rouse House Concerts, part of what attracts the crowds and keeps them coming back is the song circle that happens after every show. It gives the crowd even more of an opportunity to interact with each other, make connections and share some of their own music in an "open mic" kind of atmosphere.

Whether you're into hosting a one-time music party or creating a series, remember that the main idea is to have fun. Plus all the people you meet people and connections you make can open doors to similar events in other parts of your state or even across the country. "We've become friends with a lot of people by doing this," said Eckstein. "The number of places presenting house concerts absolutely has exploded in the time just in the past five years that we've been doing it."

Other tips to keep in mind:

• Create a clear space for the stage and for the audience. Even though it's an informal setting, if you can give the performer the most visible spot with the best lighting and acoustics, it will make for a better show. The performance can have traditional boundaries between stage and audience, even if those boundaries disappear after the show or between sets.

• Ask for people to turn off cell phones. Minimize any extraneous room noise. Don't have the stage near the kitchen, if the dishwasher's going, the refrigerator's buzzing or water's running at the sink. This is house concert equivalent of the espresso machine or bar chatter.

• Make it clear whether pets or kids are welcome

• Be sensitive to those who are allergic

• Be clear about your house rules on smoking / not smoking

• Many places offer overnight accommodations to the performer as part of the deal. Other places have audiences members that offer accommodations in exchange for free admission.

• For more help, check out www.houseconcerts.org, where Tom Neff of Grassy Hill Acoustic Concerts in Lyme, Connecticut offers a detailed guideline based on his own experiences.

UPDATE FROM DREW IN 2007: To find house concerts hosts across the country, visit Fran Snyder's excellent site: http://concertsinyourhome.com/