Playing Piano in a Mall for the Holidays: Temp Job Option or Victim of Economy?

Going through your local malls around the holidays can be enough of an obstacle course without encountering feverish, quota-panicked salesmen getting into our face while working the walkway or many of us dealing with belligerent consumers. While there may be a contingent of people who think the mall piano player is definitively the third most annoying hurdle in the middle of a mall walkway, I give you an assurance the pianist him or herself has no intentional ill will intended. The music the pianist is playing is intended as a way to not only entertain you on a conscious level but also to help you in a scientific way on a subconscious level.

Both of those methods of processing music add up to an interesting and healthy gig for a pianist who doesn't want to play regular dates in a club filled with second and third-hand smoke. For a good number of years, you could see a pianist playing happily away in the walkway of a mall while nodding to consumers. Then the 2000's hit and the call to hire freelancing musicians stagnated with relegation in the malls to the gratis performances from high school students.

I realized this when sticking my neck out once in the early to mid 2000's to see if I could get a temporary job as a mall pianist during the holidays. After calling the management of my local mall to pitch myself and set up an audition, I was told (politely to assuage the shock) that they didn't hire piano players any more due to usual 21^st century cutbacks.

It was only a few short years earlier when I saw a big white grand piano set up in an alcove at a Mervyn's store during the holidays. There, a piano player was playing his heart out and getting an hourly rate while tired shoppers sat in surrounding easy chairs to listen or ask requests of their favorite Christmas songs.

Because I haven't attempted to go after such a temp job again since starting a writing career, the chances of it existing more plentifully may have increased since then. For you pianists out there who wouldn't mind going after such an opportunity as a chance to make extra money, some unofficial and personalized rules are in order to convince mall management you're worthy of them hiring you.

You also have to be an astute programmer in your set list in order to attract friendly Christmas shoppers and avoid the dreaded rolled eyes of customers who have acute radars to bad song choices.

Being competitive as a mall pianist

Any pianist is going to tell his or her fellow pianist to practice any chance they get so their technique is supreme. When you can execute most of the challenging techniques of the keyboard, you'll be able to play anything, including classical repertoire in the Christmas music genre. Beware, though, that sticking with familiar Christmas songs everybody knows is the answer to getting the job as a mall pianist. When you audition, be sure to play something even a music-challenged mall manager would recognize.

And if your piano technique is agile, be sure to show it off a little to the manager and, later, the mall crowd. That doesn't mean bombastic playing (that's a whole other problem to avoid), but more tasteful runs, arpeggios or trills. Consider these minor, though, to finding your own style and deep understanding of harmony. Merely playing chords that resonate with both the musically ignorant and astute will make the difference in the public stopping by or sitting down to listen to your every note.

Keep in mind the general assumption is that mall pianists are as close to cocktail pianist as you can get. That might form the opinion of one using overly basic chords or unoriginal arrangements. Try to break that persona by creating a unique sound without sounding akin to Stravinsky playing Victorian carols.

Creating a program that attracts passing customers

Preferably, using a bevy of arpeggios and runs provides that magical sound associated with holiday music. Along with that, however, should be a variety of rhythms everybody will relate to. When starting out a set in the mall, try playing an upbeat song in a pop rhythm or perhaps gospel style. A triumphant "Joy to the World" or "This Christmas" are good religious and secular examples of an upbeat piece as a start.

In the middle of the set, try a series of ethereal pieces. Many Victorian Christmas carols can be turned into an impressionistic palette of jewels that capture the ear of people who had a stressful shopping experience. It helps to have the lid open on the piano so those gentler songs can project into every passing ear unless the mall has something sitting on top of the piano that prevents it from being opened. Request that it be opened if it isn't.

Even though Christmas carols don't always work well with contemporary rhythms, try a few secular pieces in rock or other contemporary idioms. Be aware this should be done very sparingly--perhaps as a lead-in to your final set.

The final set should be something that leaves people in awe. Do a medley of Christmas songs that can show off your technique. Playing a combination of religious and secular songs will show a subtle nod to balance so you don't get a vicious glare from both camps that may be mingling around one another and your piano in a rare moment of solidarity.

That solidarity grows if you're skilled at taking requests.

Interacting verbally and via body language to passing customers

One of the worst stigmas of a mall or club pianist is in the appearance of the pianist, wearing a tux and exuding enough smarmy quirks to outdo the late Liberace. Know that most mall pianists aren't like that, and you should try to avoid any semblance to it, other than the inevitable tux. Don't express yourself at the piano by doing open emoting while you play. You'll hear the twittering sounds of giggles breezing by you all day if you do.

Generally, the mall pianist is set up to be right out in the crowd so you can occasionally talk with customers or merely smile and nod to them while you're playing. The latter is usually the case, even though I learned from experience that some customers will want to talk to the point of monopolizing your time. If you encounter people similar, learn how to play extemporaneously without thinking or looking at the keyboard and while gabbing.
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With supposed scientific evidence proving customers buy more when a mall pianist is playing appealing music around them, it seems implausible for this type of temp job to disappear from every mall in America. While some malls may dip into a pool of experienced pianists, don't be afraid to call mall management to see if they have openings. It's the rare temp job that provides a cathartic and arguably mysterious symbiosis between the employee & customer.

As an under-recognized part of the economy's 4^th quarter, may it never be brushed aside as a casual casualty during economic failure...