Maybe the subject line should be, "Amoral music" ... Karl Miller wrote: > I also wonder what it would be like trying be the orchestra marketing > person who has to write the advance for the next performance of a standard > rep Concerto. They hype the outrageously overpriced soloist...and no, I > do not think Yo Yo Ma is worth $40,000 per performance. I also wonder what it must be like trying to be a symphony musician living this. That figure, for one night's performing, is more than the yearly salary of many symphony musicians. I do not know how it is in other parts of the country, but here in Shreveport, Louisiana, we have what I think is a pretty fine symphony, considering. However, the "rank-and-file" performers are paid a disgracefully meager wage. Most have to have several jobs to make ends meet, and most teach at several middle schools and high schools --- traveling daily between them, not fulltime at any one school, so they often lack health insurance and other benefits. There are, at present, a luckier "core" of 24 players (down from 30) who are paid a whopping $12K per year for their symphony playing. The rest are paid "per service". This amounts to $30-60 for each of four or five "services" for each of the 8 or 9 monthly symphonies, and the occasional extra pops condert or whatever. I am told that you can, if you play all that the symphony offers, haul in a hefty $3600 per year. I checked the numbers above --- no typos. Of course the performers are "free" to work with other symphonies in the surrounding area. There aint many. And it would take a lot of hustle to make a livelihood that way as a fulltime musician. Can you practice? Will you get to play anything but th usual fare in such an environment? Some have had to move away to find better pay. Many cannot. Things are going to get worse, I hear, and more will leave. (I hated to even mention the name of my city --- I have held back making critical observations on this list because the symphony needs all the help it can get and I do not wish to make things worse or complain about what cannot be made better. But I don't really think it can get much worse.) The big bucks go to at least some of the executives on the board, and of course to the conductor. If I understand it correctly, our conductor is also the conductor for at least one another orchestra in another state, so I suspect he's doing just fine, thank you. But the I guess he too has to hustle to make his (loftier) ends meet. In any case, symphony musicians get paid an order of magnitude less. The political situation between the musicians and the board is presently a big, cacophonous mess. I'm not trying to be a reporter, so I cannot state the absolute facts (which would surely be disputed by someone). I suspect this goes on in many cities in the USA. I fantasize that the musicians break free of the business model they are trapped in, that they could manage themselves somehow without the need of boards and fatcats and overpriced conductors. A pipe dream, I am sure. I talked to a nonprofit exec who assures me they do need deep tentacles into the wealthier parts of the society. Fat lot of good it does them now. I know that a few of the musicans conduct smaller orchestras, and of course others could learn to do that. My favorite conductor of this symphony in recent years was actually the concertmaster. He was interim conductor for a year or so while they looked for a big name to take over. How must THAT feel? He still fills in as conductor from time to time while the "real" conductor is off on some gig or soiree with another orchestra. I wish the musicians could all quit and make a go of it on their own. Meanwhile, the board and/or conductor (aka, "Musical Director" -- does this mean two salaries?) have had their own fantasies. The most recent is that more customers will be found by alternating the classical music offerings with more pops and "Broadway Nights". Our concert season is only 8 or 9 months to begin with, one concert per month, which is not much. So now it has been halved, at least for me, as I am not interested in the pops fare. The next big idea was that people need a theme to be coaxed into coming out for a concert. So they recently had a night of concert music related to "dance": Rach's "Symphonic Dances", Weber's "Invitation to the Dance", and Piazzolla's "Tangazo". That was fine with me, although the idea of a theme actually puts me off. But not enough to even consider staying away. Until... ... until I found out that the rest of the brainstorm was that people also need something to watch while the music plays. And so, part of the program was that a local dance troupe would perform on the stage, accompanied by the classical music. Live music videos! This will turn the people on! Don't ask me how it went, because do not know. Hey, I am not against art music or avant-garde attempts, but this struck me as so insulting and silly that I went into a snit and vowed not to go. The the music is no longer sufficient and needs to be in the background, supported by kids dancing? Even at a symphony performance? Give me a break. Just shoot me. Just shoot the symphony. I complained to our (lone) music professor at my university. She correctly pointed out that the symphony is struggling and trying desparately to find ways to fill the seats. I know, I know. But this? She also noted that she had not seen my name on the donors list. Right! I buy the cheapest tickets, too, up in the nosebleed section. But were I to plop down larger chunks of money, just where would this money go? Another raffle of a Mercedes? (I understand from one of my spies that they do not break even on this gimmick, but someone else disputes that.) To the musicians? (I doubt it.) Will it go, I asked, to provide tickets to people who would like to go but cannot afford it, or to students to get a taste of live classical music? (The Shreveport Opera does this and I have supported it.) Sorry, I seem to be spiraling off-topic... Karl continued: > I did some figuring... with our hall seating about 2,300 people, you would > have to have the ticket prices average out to $100 each...to break even. I > could buy a bunch of CDs for $100. Okay, so maybe I'm not all that much off-topic. Yes, that is where my classical bucks go, too: to CD's and other digital forms of music. (Steve Schwarz is costing me a fortune. Thank goodness he reviews many albums on Naxos, to which I subscribe.) > None of this makes any sense, either artistically or from the business > perspective. For me, it is insane. It is. And I add it makes no moral sense, either. Rick Mabry Shreveport, LA *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html