Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-08-05 15:48
As Mary says above, there's a lot of misunderstanding about what passes for "success" in this segment of the world. But, I can easily understand why young students, operating in the relatively sheltered world of the school system and universities, can get the impression that what they are doing is at the center of the universe and absolutely the most important thing in the world.
Unfortunately, this just isn't the case. Just as sports enthusiasts and art enthusiasts, immersed deeply in the craft that goes into making each of those categories so enthralling for their fans (a word that is a contraction of "fanatics", remember), sometimes lose track of the concepts that make their infatuations so marginal to everyday life, music students (who live in a similar rarified world of practice and focus on their "main chance") can get swept up in the "musicality" of it all and lose sight of the reality.
Musical reality is that, no matter how good you are (Stanley Drucker and Sabine Meyer included), you are only very good in a _very_ limited field. That Stan and Sabine have the spot that they occupy is a wonderful thing (both for them and for those who are entertained by what they do). However, there are only two of them (and perhaps a thousand others like them world-wide) simply because there just isn't the depth of support for "art music" that there is for (say) quality concrete work.
Sport is an excellent comparison, for there too we have "useless" (in terms of "practical") talents taken to the nth degree. (I don't think I'm going to get any arguments there, although some might dispute that professional clarinet playing falls into the same category.)
Lots of kids play basketball (category 1), lots of them play it pretty well (category 2), and a significant number of them play it well enough for schools and colleges to "spot" them the chance to play it in their names (category 3). Of all of those, there are perhaps 1,000 who will make the transition to the "pro ranks" (category 4).
The problem is that there are far, far too many of category 2) above for the limited number of slots in category 3), and that there are virtually no slots in category 4), so few opportunities that they might as well not exist for practical purposes.
Yet, despite the "odds" against success, any number of category 2) folks batter their heads against the gates of category 3), all in the hopes that they will somehow succeed in making the stratospheric leap into category 4). Some go so far as to mortgage their futures by paying all their attention to their roundball skills, training in them to the virtual exclusion of everything else. (Does that sound familiar?) And, when it comes time to pay the balloon note that life eventually calls due, they find that they've got nothing to work with.
Change "basketball/roundball" to clarinet in the above examples, and you should be able see the analogy quite clearly.
I keep forgetting about student loans. My wife and I went through college on a pay as you go basis, and my son and daughter were held to the same standard. But, I know that huge numbers of people take out the various loans and other obligations, the better to fund a quality education.
The reasons that they give you those loans are a) because they expect them to be repaid, with a fair amount of interest, and b) that your education will make you a more productive member of society, thus helping society as a whole. However, reason a) is far more important in their eyes than reason b), and using reason b) as an argument against reason a) in an effort to delay payment is a strategy that you will find has...umm..."limited traction".
I'd not want to be the one with thousands of dollars coming due who is looking for one of those precious few category 4) jobs in music to help pay down the note. I'd want to make sure that I started out in life with as much of a chance as I could to be "debt" free as soon as possible. And, as part of the strategy to deal with this "real world" problem, I'd want to size up my chances before I grabbed the dice and threw them on the table.
Playing classical music (which is what being a very good clarinet player means) is not the way to that kind of money. Look at the minimum wage money that the various "for service" orchestras pay. As someone pointed out, you can get more money washing cars than you can playing an entry level orchestra position.
If you can't see this, then you need to go have a head valve reground or something, because it's an established fact, and one that you (as a future member of what we call "society") are going to have to confront tout suite after you finish those golden, sheltered, "hothouse" years of college. There are just too few positions chased by far too many people, most of whom are just as good as you are. Maybe you'll make the cut, but most likely you won't (pure statistical probabilities at work here). If you get a job, you'll still be on short commons; if you don't, you'll be in very tight straits indeed.
Consider that contrabassoon audition that I mentioned earlier. If _dozens_ of contrabassoon folks are interested in one position in a marginal orchestra, just imagine how many clarinet people are going to do the same thing for a similar slot.
(For that matter, just imagine dozens of contrabassoons in the same place at the same time. That would make the ICS convention showroom look placid by comparison..."Each bassoon, having its big, fat say" indeed!)
Go get a degree in marketing or something else that is in demand (engineering is always good), and continue to play the clarinet all you want on the side. You'll still have a full musical life, you'll be able to play the exact same literature for about the same audience size (i.e., slim to none) plus you won't have to hustle to try and pay the bills every month.
And, keep in mind that even engineers have a hard time getting hired in some circumstances. It's always a crap shoot with employment, no matter what the field. However, your chances are far better with a field like engineering, the medical professions, or even (God forbid) marketing (all areas where there is some demand for new faces) than with anything having to do with music.
Join the union (just so you have easy access to the "Position Available" ads), read the International Musician each month, and use a calculator to figure out just how much your years of effort are going to be worth in the best of circumstances. And, for God's (and your parent's, and your) sake, do it before you make a decision which will (in large part) determine the course of the rest of your life.
(And, please don't go on about how I'm anti-music. I am not anti-music by any stretch of the imagination; I've played art and other styles for many, many years in a wide variety of professional and semi-pro venues during that time, and I intend to keep it up until I die. It's just that I'm taking a realistic view of the question, something that far too many young folks don't bother to do. And, I'd extend the same advice to a theater, visual arts, "beauty industry" participant (modeling) or (yes, indeed) sports enthusiast in the same vein as I have with those in the music field.)
"Work to live, play to enjoy"...it's a better credo than "Play to live, work to enjoy".
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
Post Edited (2005-08-05 15:55)
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