 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SkilledNovice
Date: 2024-12-04 13:21
Hi BBoard members, Like many here coming to ask questions, I am a High School Senior looking to major in music. I know the difficulties of landing a full time job and I know that it is something I will likely never do. Living as a gigging musician also does not appeal to me as I would like to have a stable salary.
What are your opinions on the Feasibility of landing a position in a Semi-Pro orchestra and making a bit (few grand a year) of money after obtaining a double degree in music and another field.
I have already submitted pre screenings to music schools where double majoring/degreeing is common and i'm looking to work a full time job in a outside field. Should I go into college thinking I have a chance at making some money playing clarinet or just focus on my other major/degree.
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-12-04 19:39
Any playing outside of your full time job should be considered for fun, not for a second income source. Music pays virtually nothing these days. It's a terrible way to make money. My kids make more mowing lawns than I make on a typical gig.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-12-04 21:10
If you are going to major in music performance along with some other perhaps more marketable skillset: itself subject to a debate that weighs the cons of making (even a) partial living music, versus the importance of pursuing your passion, I would say that your plan is the only way in this day and age to realistic go about planning for a future that includes holding a clarinet in your hands.
So so few, need I tell you or perhaps nearly anyone reading here, can make a living as a full time player as orchestras seek to contain costs. Even these people supplement their livings through things tangential to playing like teaching private students, or in the case of the part time gig player the repair and sales of instruments, or getting a musical education teaching degree.
Assuming that the music portion of your life is that important to you, which if it is I respect, you are not simply okay with such a plan, but wise.
Good luck. There's nothing wrong with being principal clarinet player in a top 5 orchestra and also having a Phd in chemical engineering if you catch my drift.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2024-12-04 21:57
Hi skilled, France has a system for freelancers by which, if you perform a sufficient number of hours professionally, you can be on the dole the rest of the time. I have a number of friends that have eked out a living this way for years. It is stressful, however, because they always worry about not performing enough to be entitled to unemployment benefits. I'm glad I have a day job!
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2024-12-04 23:22
Rather than practicing 12 hours a day for 10 years to get a crack at a full time clarinet job, I went the school band director route. I found that I also got in plenty of professional playing over the years, especially during Summer vacation from school. Also got my MM in performance.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: crazyclari
Date: 2024-12-05 08:29
Hi, life is what it is. In the past I tried to maintain three income streams. Which is likely pretty common, teach, repair & play. IMo The main detriment was the changing social attitude which devalued the meaning of these things. You will have to also be an entrepreneur and create opportunities on many fronts. The other path I have now taken is to get a job that allows me options, which is rare. Best of luck
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Author: ruben
Date: 2024-12-05 10:39
There's a lot to be said for being a high-level amateur. You play the music you like with the people you like and you decide on how many rehearsals you want to do. Professionals don't experience these luxuries.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-12-05 18:13
Our Municipal Band members get 75€ for doing a gig, which is obviously a token amount in view of all the additional time spent on practicing new material and auditions. This means a gig costs the town hall around 2K however. These are the sort of financial equations that typically dictate what semi-professional musicians can expect to earn.
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: KenJarczyk
Date: 2024-12-06 02:08
There is nothing wrong with a Day-Gig! If not for Day-Gigs, there would be no hope for Tenor Saxophonists to drive Cabs in NYC!
So, a regional orchestra will still need at least 2 clarinetists. Each with at least an A and a Bb clarinet. Also needed will be a C clarinet, an Eb clarinet, and a Bass clarinet. At this point, why not learn saxophone, and get them all, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Now you qualify for some consideration in musical pit orchestras. Add flute, piccolo and alto flute for professional musical pit orchestras. Now, add oboe and bassoon, and your working for large money in NYC. Not too bad, eh?
Ken Jarczyk
Woodwinds Specialist
Eb, C, Bb, A & Bass Clarinets
Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo
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Author: Jordan Selburn
Date: 2024-12-07 21:20
"Good luck. There's nothing wrong with being principal clarinet player in a top 5 orchestra and also having a Phd in chemical engineering if you catch my drift."
There are real life examples of this. Mark Almond is the principle horn with the Chicago Symphony, and is also an MD/PhD who has had research published in Nature. He won the associate principal spot with San Francisco just as the pandemic hit, so reverted to his day job doing Covid research during the shutdown.
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Author: Ebclarinet1
Date: 2024-12-07 21:51
I have a PhD in genetics and worked for years as a cell bologist. Because I played odd instruments (Eb, bass, basset horn) I'd get some jobs playing with the big boys. It was a nice plus to my life but I'm certainly glad I didn't have to depend upon it for my income. I play more consistently with the semi-pro groups and just enjoy these.
Most of my full time musician friends either have teaching positions at universities or run active studios. The university positions pay the MEDICAL INSURANCE. Always a nice perk.
So I think thee are ways to havea career and play some interesting music too.
Eefer guy
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Author: David H. Kinder
Date: 2024-12-07 22:59
Many years ago, there was a publication called WindPlayer Magazine. I used the internet wayback machine to find a couple of articles from that publication.
Here's the link for the article: "Tips for Freelancers" by Dave Atkins back in 1995
https://web.archive.org/web/19961213113130/http://www.windplayer.com:80/wp/atkinsmc.html
As a freelance clarinetist, you're available for whatever kind of work comes along. You're not under contract, as you would be in a symphony orchestra, or in a teaching position. The freelance centers are Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and, to some extent, Nashville, although that's mostly country music. In these places the stakes are very high. It is possible, even as a clarinet player, to make over $200,000 a year in the studios, if you are one of the chosen few. But because it's possible to make that kind of money, almost anything can happen as far as how ruthless people will be. I won't say that people put out contracts on woodwind players, but anything short of that is possible!
The hardest thing about being a freelance player is that you don't get advance notice about when you're going to be called for a job. You have to be 100 percent prepared at all times. You don't get the music in advance, so your sightreading skills have to be phenomenal. If you've been practicing exercises only in C major, and then suddenly you have to sightread something in B major, your fingers may not be in the right position to do it. I recommend practicing with the Baermann method, Book Four, which is nothing but scales and chords.
The truth is that 90 percent of studio musicians don't have to use their full abilities because usually the music is easy. But once in a while something technically difficult or complex comes along. If you're not prepared for it, you can pretty much fall on your face and make a fool of yourself, and your career will go down the tubes. If you want to be a viable, competitive musician in this day and age, there's no room for anything less than technical perfection.
In an audition your technical ability is extremely important. In many cases they're looking for excuses to eliminate large numbers of musicians, so even the slightest glitch in your performance can be grounds for disqualification. I've had many experiences where little things, like having water in a key, eliminated me before I had played anything to show that I had any expressive capability at all.
One of the technical things that can eliminate you from an audition faster than anything else, if you're not good at it, is intonation. If your intonation isn't there so that you can nail it every time, the people who work with you, especially in a competitive freelance environment, will start grousing to the management that you're difficult to play with. If there's a perception among your colleagues that you're not as easy to play with as someone else, you can, in effect, be blackballed.
Intonation is a particular problem on the clarinet because of the way the instrument is made. Although most of the freelance work in L.A. now seems to be up around A=442 pitch, some of the orchestras, especially the pick-up ballet and opera orchestras, will have varying pitch. You might perform with one orchestra that plays A=440 and the next night be with another orchestra that's playing at much higher pitch. Clarinets are factory-tuned to A=440, which means that they generally play between A=441 and A=442, and if you have to play A=440 you can pull the barrel out. Because of the nature of a single-reed instrument, the pitch fluctuation that you can do with your embouchure is not as great as on the flute, oboe or bassoon. Working with an electronic tuner is a good way to start developing your intonation, but there's much more to good intonation than just being able to play in tune with a tuner. You have to develop the flexibility to adjust your pitch level to match the musicians that youÕre playing with.
A genuinely gregarious person, if he also happens to play well, will have a far better chance of making it than the guy who goes off and sulks because he didn't get the call even though he's obviously better than the guy who did. I hear a lot of discussion of sports events on studio calls, and a lot of people discussing their golf game. Students tend to lock themselves up in their practice room and neglect their social lives. I think that a lot of people who are attracted to the idea of being musicians are shy, sensitive types. By practicing all the time, you don't have to face the fact that you're shy, or not very popular, or whatever. But those very skills that we avoid developing are the ones that are necessary to make it as a freelance player.
I can tell you that, after growing up in Hollywood and living there as a professional musician for over 40 years, ability is just a small part of being successful in the freelance world. The best players aren't necessarily playing first chair. Often, the guy playing first chair is the one who knows how to work with other people.
Dave Atkins began his career in the L.A. studios in the 1940s. He has been a member of the Westwood Wind Quintet since 1959, and for 26 years was clarinet soloist with the California Chamber Symphony. He has also performed with the L.A. Philharmonic, and the Portland-based contemporary music ensemble Fear No Music.
He plays Buffet Bb, Eb and bass clarinets. His main mouthpiece is a custom-modified Mitchell Lurie, which he describes as having a "long, open lay." His ligature is an original design that combines the German and French styles. He uses #5 Apollo reeds but adds, "I basically make my own reeds out of Apollo reeds."
Ridenour AureA Bb clarinet
Vandoren BD5 HD 13-series mouthpiece
Vandoren Optimum Silver ligature (plate 1)
Vandoren #4 Blue-box reeds
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Author: kilo
Date: 2024-12-08 19:12
Quote:
Many years ago, there was a publication called WindPlayer Magazine.
Thanks for posting this, David. The music world is definitely changing, and not necessarily for the better when it comes to instrumentalists.
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