Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-11-11 00:50
Thirty K a year in Mexico is enough to get by on if you are retired. You sure won't live an American lifestyle, however.
My thoughts on this have run on for over forty years. When I was a young sprout, I had two great passions. The first was to become an astronomer, and the second was to do something in music.
While I had little trouble with the theory and the math, my research into job prospects (looking ahead after high school but before committing to a course of study), revealed to me that someone with a doctorate (not just a degree) could make a passible living (for the time and place), but nothing like I could make as a union bricklayer (with no college education whatsoever - plus I already had the apprenticeship with the B,SM,T, and TW Union (now known as the Bricklayers and Allied Trades Union) under my belt). As for the "rewarding" nature of a doctorate, there wasn't any - those who we spoke to pointed out that they were working as lab assistants, spending eight hours in the day comparing photographs of star spectra.
Same goes for music. Grandpa Wilhelm played union work in the early 1900's, and loved to tell the story of what happened to instrumental music in the 1920's. When quality recordings (i.e., 78 rpm flats) and talkies came in, the local union membership dropped off by over half within five years.
When I played "part time" out of the hall, there were five dinner theaters, two traveling Broadway houses, a pit orchestra at the local Six Flags in addition to the other venues (symphony, gig bands, Municipal Opera, rep theater pit, Shakey's Pizza and so forth. Now, everything north of the word "venues" is ancient history.
Search elsewhere on here for something I originally wrote up back in the 1980's, titled "Stephen and Susan". It's a comparison and contrast between a collegian level basketball player and a conservatory clarinet player, and the basketballer comes out on top. Way on top.
Also to be considered:
Back in the 1960's, there was a massive turnover in music education in the United States, where instructors who were in large part added at the beginning of such programs. That batch (the ones brought on young in the 1960's) are now retiring from their careers, and have (in large part) replaced by those coming out of college programs over the past five years.
The next great replacement cycle there will come along in 2020 to 2025. Even teaching is going to dry up for a while.
While astronomy was ruled out only after research, music was a no brainer. High school staff were already ample illustration of how rough it would be, plus the experience working from the hall showed me the "practical" side. Since then, I've had a number of careers, I make plenty of money doing the last two of these, and am able to do all of the music stuff I want on the side. I don't have to skip house payments (some of the gigging guys I know have to skip rent payments), I don't have to worry about medical problems, and I don't have to stoop to playing stuff I can't stand.
Mozart never went to music school. Anton Stadler never went to music school, Beethoven never went to college. If you're that good to succeed in today's competitive environment, you can get by the same way. Guess what? You ain't...
Finally, I have a friend from back in the 1960's who was a spectacular 'cello player. She hit all the benchmarks, went to the right schools, and so forth. What's all that talent doing these days (and for the past fifteen years)? Working as a receptionist. One bright thing in her life: it only took about ten years to pay off the student loans.
A lot of people want to do something for which they have great passion. Professional pony groomer, astronaut, jet fighter pilot, baseball pitcher, fashion designer, musician - all figure high on the list. It behooves these folks to get real in a hurry. Most of the pony groomer candidates do, but all too few of the music folks do not...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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