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Author: msloss
Date: 2005-08-03 12:27
Bradley, let's hope you are successful. From hundreds and thousands of miles away let's hope you are talented and determined enough to be successful. The competition is pretty stiff for a shrinking pool of dollars. The presumption is that most if not all of the participants on this board are avid fans of the clarinet. Of this dedicated pool, how many pay to attend concerts, ballets, and operas on a regular basis? If each person thought of the ten people closest to them outside their families, what percentage of them do the same? How much are you willing to pay yourself to go hear a performance?
I have fought the economics battle myself countless times trying to stage chamber concerts. Somehow we manage to get it done, deliver exceptional programs, and bleed red in the process. We always pay the artists in full, and then have to burn the chairs for heat and eat our shoes for food. Government funding is dwindling, corporate sponsorship is stretched, and individuals are giving less. In fact, if Congress permanently blows away the estate tax, a major incentive for the wealthy to give to charitable organizations evaporates. Audiences alone can't (won't) sustain these live performances, particularly if ticket prices have to rise.
To all aspiring musicians, look in the back of the union paper and see what the typical wage is for a symphony position. Then think about how many students you need to take and at what hourly rate to supplement that. Assuming you can poach the work from somebody else, how many commercial studio gigs do you need to take to add to that? Look at a few job adds for music stores and see how much they can afford to pay. Attend some chamber concerts and see how hard it is to attract an audience, and then do the mental math on how much each ticketholder would have to pay so the musicians can buy groceries that week. And when you are done, figure out who is going to buy you health insurance, a car, fund your retirement plan, etc. Then figure out when you are going to practice. This is a HARD gig, and there is no entitlement program. The romance drains out of it pretty quick when that nice drunk lady spills a scotch'n'soda down your bell putting in a request for the Macarena at that gig you took for $100 to hold body and soul together waiting for the next audition.
It is Darwinian, but having a large and diverse population of music students guarantees a sustainable supply of exceptional musicians. Great for the end product. The problem is the ecology of music doesn't have resources to support that population. As witnessed in Pittsburgh, overfeed on limited resources and it collapses. That leaves a lot of bank tellers, grocery clerks, and telemarketers on the outside looking in. Plan B isn't an insult to the aspirations of a young artist -- it is just the reality of the market.
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Ken Shaw |
2005-08-02 17:31 |
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larryb |
2005-08-02 18:00 |
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crnichols |
2005-08-02 18:07 |
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Synonymous Botch |
2005-08-02 18:16 |
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David Spiegelthal |
2005-08-02 18:25 |
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3dogmom |
2005-08-02 18:34 |
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GBK |
2005-08-02 18:36 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-02 18:51 |
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chedmanus |
2005-08-02 19:11 |
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GBK |
2005-08-02 19:24 |
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clarinetist04 |
2005-08-02 19:38 |
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clarinetist04 |
2005-08-02 19:40 |
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3dogmom |
2005-08-02 19:47 |
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GBK |
2005-08-02 19:58 |
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clarinetwife |
2005-08-02 21:17 |
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stevensfo |
2005-08-02 21:38 |
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GBK |
2005-08-02 21:37 |
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clarinetist04 |
2005-08-02 22:21 |
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Bob Phillips |
2005-08-02 22:39 |
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stevensfo |
2005-08-02 23:24 |
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Bob A |
2005-08-02 23:24 |
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diz |
2005-08-03 00:55 |
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Ed |
2005-08-03 01:09 |
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hartt |
2005-08-03 02:05 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 02:57 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-03 03:45 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 04:07 |
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Jack Kissinger |
2005-08-03 03:55 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 04:17 |
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3dogmom |
2005-08-03 14:36 |
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Bnatural |
2005-08-03 04:10 |
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stevensfo |
2005-08-04 18:29 |
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3dogmom |
2005-08-04 19:54 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-03 05:23 |
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larryb |
2005-08-03 05:27 |
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hartt |
2005-08-03 05:28 |
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GBK |
2005-08-03 05:35 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 12:24 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-03 05:50 |
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Re: Pittsburgh Ballet Dumps Live Music new |
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msloss |
2005-08-03 12:27 |
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msloss |
2005-08-03 12:40 |
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Katrina |
2005-08-03 15:08 |
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salvey |
2005-08-03 15:19 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 15:24 |
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Terry Stibal |
2005-08-03 16:00 |
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hartt |
2005-08-03 16:16 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 17:27 |
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archer1960 |
2005-08-03 17:35 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 17:42 |
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Jack Kissinger |
2005-08-03 17:54 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 18:13 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-03 18:04 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 18:20 |
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Danny Boy |
2005-08-03 18:32 |
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Tom Piercy |
2005-08-03 18:40 |
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Tom Piercy |
2005-08-03 19:01 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 23:13 |
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GBK |
2005-08-03 19:09 |
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Terry Stibal |
2005-08-03 19:12 |
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GBK |
2005-08-03 19:40 |
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Terry Stibal |
2005-08-03 20:17 |
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Jack Kissinger |
2005-08-03 20:47 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 23:35 |
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archer1960 |
2005-08-04 00:17 |
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GBK |
2005-08-03 21:11 |
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archer1960 |
2005-08-04 00:28 |
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clarinetist04 |
2005-08-03 21:16 |
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David Spiegelthal |
2005-08-03 21:20 |
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Katrina |
2005-08-03 21:46 |
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Jack Kissinger |
2005-08-03 23:26 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-03 23:38 |
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lowclarinetman |
2005-08-04 00:37 |
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diz |
2005-08-04 01:21 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-04 02:54 |
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Terry Stibal |
2005-08-04 01:32 |
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lowclarinetman |
2005-08-04 15:28 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-04 16:47 |
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Ken Shaw |
2005-08-04 16:04 |
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3dogmom |
2005-08-04 16:22 |
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GBK |
2005-08-04 19:24 |
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stevensfo |
2005-08-05 17:51 |
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Jack Kissinger |
2005-08-04 20:08 |
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msloss |
2005-08-04 20:54 |
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Ken Shaw |
2005-08-04 21:00 |
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GBK |
2005-08-04 21:24 |
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Bradley |
2005-08-04 23:23 |
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Kevin |
2005-08-04 23:28 |
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Ken Shaw |
2005-08-05 00:36 |
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Terry Stibal |
2005-08-05 15:48 |
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DavidBlumberg |
2005-08-05 16:34 |
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Katrina |
2005-08-05 03:23 |
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clarinetwife |
2005-08-05 18:25 |
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GBK |
2005-08-05 18:46 |
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