Klarinet Archive - Posting 000719.txt from 2001/11

From: "Robert Moody" <LetsReason@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] so you want to do this for a living
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 18:25:29 -0500

<<Just because there aren't many orchestral playing jobs out there doesn't
mean that you should give up the studying of the clarinet.>>

Amen Brother! ;-)

<<First of all: An orchestral job is not the be-all and end-all in the
music profession.>>

Hallelujah!

<<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.>>

Amen to that too. Great wisdom there.

I wanted to emphasize the point that has also been developed concerning
"liking what you do". I happen to love chess and when the money is
available for tournament entry fees, I compete. I wanted to take lessons
from a Master-rated player and found one (1) in my local area of Roanoke,
Virginia. Among the tactics, strategies and approaches to learning chess, I
learned a very enlightening lesson that often only really hits home through
experiencing it first-hand. I learned that if you TRULY love what you're
doing, it CANNOT be about the money.

Russel Potter loves chess and is an absolutely wonderful teacher. He does
NOTHING ELSE and makes a living at it. He brings home about $24,000 a year
on average from doing nothing but teaching lessons and playing in
tournaments. Most of us know that, even though he is single, that is not a
whole lot of money. But you know what, he is happy! He can pays his bills,
put food on the table and gas in the car and not much more, but he is happy.
He gets up everyday and all he has to do is play chess, teach it and dream
of new things to do. The guy is 50+ years old and has a Bachelors in some
social science field, taught school for a few years, decided he wasn't happy
and went to do what DID make him happy.

If you love the clarinet and/or teaching, you can find a way to "make a
living" at it. If you can manage to make ends meet and not worry about
Cadillacs and Lincolns in your driveway, you can make your living doing what
you like to do. And hey..who knows...maybe you WILL get a regular gig
playing or teaching and you'll be a pig in sh...well...you'll be very happy!

I love the idea that has been pushed in some of the posts that you should
dream the dream, but live in reality. Maybe one day your dream will become
a kind of reality-maybe it won't. But if you take the path in what you love
to do...you'll have a better chance of being happy on the trip.

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

And an AMEN to that. ;-)

Robert

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