 The Doublers BBoard
|
Author: ginnamac
Date: 2012-07-25 04:12
Hi all, I've been playing for a local professional theater that goes through MDs fairly regularly. The pay sucks at $50 a service, but it's fun. I used to make an additional $15 for doubling (reeds) The latest MD has a tiered system of paying people. She believes musicians should be paid by order of importance, with drums and bass making $65 while the rest (excluding her on keyboard) make $50. I'm a little peeved, but am grateful to be playing at all so hate to make waves. I typically have to combine 2-3 books to cover parts and it is an added hassle the others don't have. Have others experienced this?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-07-25 12:46
I feel your pain about working for less than your worth. An all too common story these days. A manager having a tier system on the team is downright wrong. I've never heard of such a thing. Unfortunately, if you've already agreed to the gig, you will just have to smile through it, and try to work it out next time around. If it makes you feel any better, I've combined reeds 1-4 for less pay. I know that probably doesn't help.
I've heard of a MD in my area that was a terrible manager, so much so that a musician sued the theater for breach of contract (There's other points to the story, but I'm not going to go through it). This MD was never hired back. While this is an extreme story, I guess the point I'm trying to go for is make a good impression, look for other opportunities with other MDs and theaters, perform a good service, and hopefully you won't have to work with this MD or this MD won't get hired back again.
Drew S.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2012-07-25 13:21
OP, you said this was professional theater, right? So why aren't you being paid AFM scale?
Normally, there's a basic service fee that applies to all musicians. Any doubles are increases on that, usually on fixed percentages.
Quite often, the first double is an additional 25%, the next is an additional 15%, and any others are 10%.
Given that, on a show paying $100 as a basic fee, if you were playing four horns, you'd be making $150/service.
Condensing the books on top of that? That's copying/arranging work, and that is generally paid hourly or per page - in addition to the service fee.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-07-25 17:39
It does sound more like community theater. A very good community theater probably, but I could bet they are hiring non-union, and I wonder if the actors are even getting paid.
Drew S.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Merlin_Williams
Date: 2012-07-25 18:13
The OP did specify it as being professional theater.
wrote:
> It does sound more like community theater. A very good
> community theater probably, but I could bet they are hiring
> non-union, and I wonder if the actors are even getting paid.
>
> Drew S.
Jupiter Canada Artist/Clinician
Stratford Shakespeare Festival musician
Woodwind Doubling Channel Creator on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/WoodwindDoubling
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-07-25 18:27
Yes, but judging by the latter facts, I would take a guess that the term professional is possibly being loosely related to the outgoing product, and maybe not the managing institution.
Of course, professional doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be union, or that they have to pay scale. I'm currently performing in a rendition of "A Grand Night for Singing", of which I'm sure the theater would like to consider themselves "Professional." They, however, are not paying union scale, and I'm not a union member currently. It seems like the term "Professional" is a loose term, and maybe the terms union and non-union, and the enhancers good, excellent, or poor would provide better detail on the situation.
Drew S.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: oboesax
Date: 2012-07-26 00:32
My daughter has played in a number of pit orchestras. Pay ranges from $10 to $50 a service for community and "semi-professional" theater pit orchestra. I haven't heard about paying drums and bass more, but my daughter was paid less than the others once because she is under 18 (which made her mad, but like you she enjoyed the experience and didn't want to make waves). There are at least 75 theaters in our large metropolitan area, yet only 4 of them pay musicians union wage. That's what you get in "right to work" areas.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: anonrob
Date: 2012-07-26 16:54
Pay for a professional theatre should be governed by the local Union Scale or a CBA. Otherwise, you have no protection.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jaysne
Date: 2012-09-26 19:53
Reminds of a community theatre group I played with once. It eventually came out that they, too, had a tiered system for paying the musicians. It was based on if you were a full-time music person or not. For example, they often hired music professors from the local college to perform. Because music was their full-time day gig, they got paid the most. Full-time players also got paid more. Players who had non-music day jobs were paid less.
It had nothing to do with talent or ability; it was all about what you full-time profession was, regardless of how well you played. Real fair, right? It was especially ridiculous since some of the "non-musicians" were as good or even better players than the full-time musicians.
When that policy eventually came to light, it was quickly lambasted by everyone--including the full-time musicians. They got rid of that sucker in a hurry. I don't know if the manager who came up with that idea was a musician or not, but they surely were a dope.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
