Mark Rehder (left) played his last gig of the year at a noon-hour concert downtown Wednesday. (Emily Chung/CBC)

Ottawa musicians who play Christmas parties for their winter bread and butter say this year's festive season has been a lean one.

Joann Simpson, a booking agent who works with 30 classical and jazz musicians a year, said there's been a diminuendo in bookings across the board — at house parties, corporate parties and government events.

'For myself, I feel it would be financially prudent — a little heartbreaking, but financially prudent — to find something a little more stable and turn this into a nice sideline.'— Mark Rehder, drummer

"We're probably one of the first things that gets cut from an entertainment budget or a party budget, and so I've been seeing it … coming over the last two or three years already," she said Wednesday.

In fact, she said, she hasn't booked a single government event in this government city for December.

The downturn in bookings has prompted drummer Mark Rehder to call it quits as a full-time professional musician after 30 years.

"For myself, I feel it would be financially prudent — a little heartbreaking, but financially prudent — to find something a little more stable and turn this into a nice sideline," said Rehder, after performing a noon-hour downtown concert as part of a jazz trio on Wednesday.

It was his last gig of the year — for once, he had nothing booked for New Year's.

Rehder plays in a number of groups, including a seven-piece band that has seen its bookings shrink over the years.

"We'd always have four or five Christmas parties, always had the big New Year's eve bash, and that group hasn't done one single Christmas party this year."

He said he's noticed that people will still happily hire a five-person catering team for their event, but are now trimming the number of musicians down to two or three.

"Which is all right," he said. "We drummers don't get to be one of the two musicians."

He said even though a real recession hasn't hit the region yet, people are already tightening their belts, and that has squeezed musicians who face other challenges. Clubs no longer hire live bands the way they used to, and younger people are accustomed to musical entertainment that doesn't involve live musicians, Rehder said.

Simpson said people still appreciate live music — musicians just have to be flexible and open, sometimes by playing more instruments.

But Rehder said he needs to pay the bills, and plans to find a job involving his second passion, cycling.