Klarinet Archive - Posting 000717.txt from 2001/11

From: "Benjamin Maas" <benmaas@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] so you want to do this for a living
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 17:39:15 -0500

Time to chime in on a thread that bears a remarkable resemblance to my
[young] career so far... Just because there aren't many orchestral playing
jobs out there doesn't mean that you should give up the studying of the
clarinet.

I did my undergrad work (BM '97) at the Eastman School of Music. During my
time there, I found that it was always made clear by the majority of my
professors that there was a really good chance that I wouldn't get an
orchestral job. Not because of a lack of skill, but because of the reasons
that Mr. Hattner described. Too many people looking for too few jobs. As a
result, not only did I become very bitter about wanting to play, I also took
a large number of classes on related [music] topics. They included music
business, concert and music promotion (without "selling out"), music school
management, and many others. I had also been understudying in the recording
department there for a couple years as well.

Upon graduating, I came to Los Angeles to continue my studies at the
University of Southern Calif. with Mitchell Lurie. Under his direction, I
learned several very important lessons. First of all: An orchestral job is
not the be-all and end-all in the music profession. There are lots of
things that you can do to earn a living that don't involve playing in an
orchestra. Second: You have to be happy with what you are doing. It
doesn't matter about the income if you are truly happy with what you are
doing. He encouraged me to pursue my recording work because it is something
that I was good at and really enjoyed doing.

His reasoning was this... If you enjoy what you are doing, you'll end up
being able to earn some sort of a living. But more importantly, you'll be
happy. Also if you are a well-rounded musician, you'll end up with
opportunities that you didn't realize were possible. I had planned on
getting that elusive orchestral job. Now, though, I record music for a
living. I still practice and perform--just freelance here in LA. I also
have a few private students. The recording business is going quite well and
I play for the reason that I started doing: I like playing my clarinet.
Just last week I finished mixing what [hopefully] will be the first of many
film scores.

We'll see where this path leads, but until then, I'm just going to enjoy the
ride.

--Ben

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

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