Klarinet Archive - Posting 000451.txt from 2000/01

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] job satisfactions among professional musicians
Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 03:01:22 -0500

> this article came up on the flute list, and was sent to me by
> a friend. I
> thought it would be of interest to some people. I am just curious
> as to how
> the professional musicians in this list regard this article, as i
> am aspiring
> to be a musician, and this is an interesting opinion. I would
> like to hear
> what others think.
> thanks,
> andy brown

I found this article quite interesting. I would believe much of what is
written in it as well... My experiences are mostly from around the Los
Angeles Area, but I also spent 4 years in Rochester, NY at the Eastman
School of Music.

Leaving High School, I was your typical idealized musician... I was going
to go to school and get myself an orchestral job. Over the 4 years that I
spent at Eastman, I realized a couple things. First, there was an
extraordinary amount of negativity about the whole music profession. I knew
so many people that seemed to absolutely hate music. Over time I was
"infected" with these feelings. Yeah, if asked, I'd say that I loved
playing (which I did), but I just hated dealing with my instrument and the
stress associated with it. My other realization was the cruel truth that I
probably wouldn't make a living at with the clarinet. I developed a love
for recording and audio work and did what I could to learn about that. This
is what helped me get through Eastman.

I moved out to LA and began to experience other venues in the music biz...
I continued my studies in Clarinet at USC, and began to get my recording
business started. I found that although the general level at USC wasn't
quite as high, more people enjoyed what they were doing. I know a lot of
players out here and those that are freelancing and doing a different gig
every day generally seem to like their jobs much more than those who
exclusively play in orchestras.

There is definitely an assembly line feeling about orchestral playing out
there. The players that like their life the most are the ones that are
doing the most outside the orchestra. Many put together chamber groups and
play their own concerts. Some of the A-List studio players play in the
smaller orchestras so they can play some "real" music more often. It is the
variety that keeps the players happy. I remember one quote that we kept on
hearing in our classes at Eastman. It was something to the effect that
orchestral musicians have the 2nd lowest job satisfaction rating out there
to death-row prison guards.... You keep on hearing that, no wonder so many
people hate their instruments. The attitudes are infectious. If you
surround yourself with bad attitudes, you will develop one yourself.

In short, as much as it pains me to say it, I think this article is right
on...

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Freelance Clarinetist and Recording Engineer
Los Angeles, CA
benmaas@-----.com
http://www.fifthcircle.com

(Since it has been awhile since it was posted, here is the article again...)

***************************************

> Grumbling among the Woodwinds
> Lush notes from your violin resound through gilt-edged halls. Hushed
> audiences listen as you enthrall them with Beethoven or
> Prokofiev. Hundreds
> of admirers burst into applause at each concert's end. Musicians
> who play in
> major symphony orchestras--each of whom has beaten out perhaps
> 200 others in
> auditions--must surely love their jobs. And in contrast, those
> relegated to
> regional orchestras--including many of those 200 "others"--must
> languish in
> frustration, one steppingstone away from glory.
>
> Not so, according to Josephine S. Pichanick, a doctoral candidate in the
> organizational behavior program jointly administered by Harvard Business
> School and the department of psychology. For a study of job satisfaction
> among professional musicians, Pichanick collected questionnaires from 66
> musicians in major and regional symphony orchestras and interviewed 22
> players in depth. The major-orchestra musicians studied earn a
> mean income of
> $85,000 a year, as compared to $15,000 for regional players. "I predicted
> that, because major players were so much better compensated and
> because so
> much more prestige was involved, they'd be more satisfied
> overall," Pichanick
> says.
>
> Surprisingly, the results showed the opposite. Job satisfaction
> for players
> who win a seat in a major symphony orchestra was high early in
> their tenures,
> but fell steadily, gradually regressing to the mean. Regional players'
> satisfaction began lower, but grew over time. Prestige and good pay,
> Pichanick found, do not necessarily equal job satisfaction.
>
> "Many major-orchestra players feel that they are musically stifled," she
> explains. "Their orchestras are strongly driven by boards of trustees who
> oversee large endowments. Serious money is on the line. There's
> little room
> for influence by the players." Management, she explains, caters to what's
> popular with audiences, not what's most meaningful to the orchestra.
>
> Orchestra life in general can be grueling. You perform the same
> pieces year
> after year: "How many times can you record Beethoven's Fifth on a
> CD?" one
> player asked. Working with the same conductor for years can grow
> boring, and
> a few are famously domineering personalities. Performance pressure is
> intense: some musicians resort to beta-blocker medications to get through
> performances. There are repetitive strain injuries, like tendonitis in a
> violinist's wrist or arm. It's a night-and-weekend job, which kills your
> social life. And as one of 100 orchestral musicians, you're an
> anonymous cog
> who must usually forgo recognition for individual talent.
>
> Because major-orchestra musicians start with higher expectations,
> they may
> become more deeply disillusioned over time. A player on the brink of
> retirement from one major orchestra told Pichanick, "It's a
> factory job with
> a little bit of art thrown in." Yet both major and regional
> players stay in
> their jobs; among the interviewees, average job tenure was 18 years.
> Pichanick says the number-one reason for leaving was death.
>
> How do the musicians cope with their frustrations? Ironically, the key to
> regional players' relative contentment may be their part-time
> status. Most
> take second jobs to support themselves, as music teachers, computer
> programmers, bank tellers, insurance brokers. They have less time
> to improve
> their skills as musicians, but "they're exercising some of their other
> skills," Pichanick explains. Over time, they increasingly enjoy their
> orchestral work because they no longer need to find every kind of
> satisfaction in one job. Regional musicians are also more likely to put
> energy into pressing their union to improve pay, hours, and
> benefits; major
> players grumble but, aware of their high pay and status, don't
> act. Working
> to improve your job seems to add, not detract, from your sense of
> satisfaction with it. "You just keep working to make small gains," one
> regional player of 25 years' seniority said. "As the years go by, you get
> more involved."
>
> Frustrated major-orchestra musicians look outside the symphony
> for musical
> satisfaction. They join small chamber groups. They perform as
> soloists for
> regional orchestras. They form quartets, where they can choose
> what music to
> perform, shine as individual musicians, and reconnect with their art. "We
> have these images of glamour and awards,"
>
> Pichanick says, "but there are satisfactions to be found in both big and
> little."
>
> ~Barbara Beckwith
>

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