 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2013-09-30 14:18
Board proposal: average salary $104500, plus $20000 bonus for signing on, with 10 weeks, minimum, paid vacation. Unanimously rejected, and thus locked out for one full year. (previous average was $136000).
richard smith
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2013-09-30 15:47
It's difficult to go by the Average salary in an orchestra because the majority don't make that. I was told the minimum was offered at 86K which of course is not bad but it is a 25 percent cut for the year before and I beleive it actually goes down each year for three years. That's what i read anyway. Don't forget what the board did, spent 50 million on the lobby and some other "improvements" to the hall and then told the musicians they were broke. I'm not sure about the vacation pay and other contract items though. I know in Baltimore, where I just retired after 50
years, we took a 25K cut about five years ago and they just signed a new contract that restores 10K over the 3 year period back to 75K but had to give up several working conditions that we've spent the last few decades getting. I know what people will say when they wish they had that job in the first place but it's tough to take those types of cuts when you have kids in college, paying a mortage etc. I know, better than being unemployed, and I agree, but still difficult. Baltimore also went down from 96 musicians to 82, so more musicians are won't be hired as people retired or left for greener places, as some have been able to do.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: TAS
Date: 2013-10-03 02:57
Good luck working at your local McDonalds, likelly detesting every union you come across for the rest of your life.
Symphony Orchestras, for the most part, are equivalent to the 1% elites that protestors went after last year on Wall Street.We have lost two or more generations of middle class musicians who played their orchestral instruments within vibrant school music programs in urban areas well enough to appreciate and patronize live symphony performances. They don't exist anymore. Now,a few rich parents fly their rich kids around the world to get their creds with the best teachers, leaving everyone else in the dust.
My guess is that 20-30 years hence there will be only three or four orchestras left in the US of world class stature....maybe. And they will be priced out of the market for anyone but the 1% to hear in live performance.
What's next? Colleges and universities trimming back on music staff and programs, realizing that there is no future except to perpetuate the teaching profession with no professional vocational prospects outside the classroom.
IPods and Salsa Bands will reign supreme as our culture deteriorates.
TAS
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-10-03 13:57
Music for Bread & Circuses doesn't have to be good. It only has to be LOUD, with flashing graphics. Wardrobe malfunctions not essential, but highly recommended.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2013-10-03 16:55
> Symphony orchestras have always been for the pleasure of the elite. Just ask Haydn and Prince Esterhazy. So it should appeal to the 1%'s and they should be the ones funding their chosen orchestra.
> Those 1% have to decide what they will pay for their courtly entertainment. In the case of MN, it would seem that their board does not want to pay what the musicians are asking for.
> In the end the board pays the bills. There will always be a gap between ticket sales and costs. That's the gap that the board fills. And in MN, they seem to be unwilling to fill that gap, for whatever reason.
> The ticket prices for the masses (the other 99%) have gotten so high that most people, even if they want to go, cannot afford to go. Similar to the NBA in that regard. I can listen to live streams at home, subscribe to the Berlin Philharmonic on the Internet, and listen to my vinyl and CDs (remember those?) of the same works that they play downtown. And don't have to pay for parking either.
>Average household income in the US has been stagnant for over 5 years and in real dollars (inflation adjusted) have lost ground. Right or wrong (I am not taking sides here), there is little sympathy in the broad public for workers who choose to walk away from contracts that average in the six figures. And those average Joes don't care about "world class" or how many graduate degrees or years training went into getting the orchestra job. And the board knows this.
> What striking/locked out orchestras will find out is this: Yes, there are a few franchise players (the Michael Jordans if you will) of our industry that can move around (such as Burt Hara has been able to do). But the majority of rank & file players have little mobility and are not really competitive in audition situations esp if they have not taken them in several years. And the board and management know this.
>In the end it is a graph that intersects. For every day the musicians hold out, the management actually saves money (since they have less to raise at the end of the year to meet the gap). And the management will still get their checks since the board will be paying for their salaries through contributed income.
>In the end, this will hurt the morale of the orchestra. They will return at some point beaten down and defeated. They certainly will not get what they first came to the table asking for. So itt will take a complete turnover of the orchestra to forget the past year going on to two years. Not good for the culture of such an esteemed organizations that boasts music directors that include Ormandy and Mitropoulos.
Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings here.
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Author: Dileep Gangolli
Date: 2013-10-04 18:32
Yes we need to make twerking part of the audition process esp once candidates get in front of the screen.
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-10-04 23:21
Sometimes the boards or governing bodies of expensive cultural icons such as orchestras, theatrical and operatic companies and choirs lose sight of the function of the organisation they represent. The boardroom can become an exclusive club run for the benefit of the board members, their friends and business associates, and the musicians/actors/singers just get in the way. I don't say that this happens often, but it does happen. I've seen it.
Tony F.
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Author: DougR
Date: 2013-10-05 17:31
I think it might be a little premature to regard this MO situation as finished and done. There seem to be a couple of things happening here that might actually lend to optimism (even though the past year has been absolute hell for the musicians): one is that the musicians of the MO are forming an orchestra and fashioning their own concert series (I'm not sure how the financing, organization, and structure are going to work, but they're dealing with that day by day now).
Then there's this, from local Minnesota media, which is actually kind of an earth-shattering story--a local politician with national visibility in his own right, actually citing the subsidies sports franchises get, as a reason to do the same for local symphonies! (link: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/10/03/daily-circuit-carlson-orchestra
Meanwhile, the orchestra board maintains its support among most of the elite in MN, but has lost a good part of its audience's sympathy, and now has the task of explaining why an outfit with a bigger endowment than Ed's BSO has to hire non-union musicians (you can bet the union will never enter into a contract with the current board, and why would they).
Of COURSE the general public isn't in sympathy with musicians striking! Show me when the general public has been in sympathy with any strike by ANY union, anywhere. If WE let that be our determining metric as to what musicians ought to get paid, then maybe we deserve the pittance that an ignorant public wants to pay us. The job here is to educate the public and get them on musicians' side, not throw up the hands and say "It's hopeless."
Here's a VERY illuminating discussion thread that includes persuasive comments on both sides of the issue. I found it very useful; possibly others here will too.
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The Clarinet Pages
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