Posted by Rick Denney on August 31, 2001 at 10:03:20:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: German F theories posted by Jason on August 31, 2001 at 00:05:54:
That's not what he's saying. He's saying that professors and universities, especially those with public funds, should not actively recruit young tuba players to study in preparation for orchestral gigs that don't exist. It's a policy point that he brings up, not advice for the young.
The decision you make is up to you. But you must live with the consequences of your decisions. If you choose to chase the dream, and don't mind eaking a bare living doing jobs that require no training while you pursue that dream, then keep at it. For many born musicians, this is an easy choice. They'd rather be poor and playing music than comfortable and having to fight for practice time and performance opportunities like the rest of us. Sean Chisham can tell you all about that. What you are not allowed to do is be bitter because there are no jobs for which you trained--you knew how it was before you started.
A previous poster raised key points: Don't put all your tuba eggs in the orchestra basket. Vaughan Williams said that composers have to spend a significant percentage of their time "doing their stodge." And Ansel Adams (an artist in another field), realized that when he chose photography as his art (vs. the piano, for which he was trained to concert quality), he was setting himself up for considerable plain old commercial work. He called them "assignments from without," but he did them just the same. You may find that learning electric and string bass gives you a musical way to accept those "assignments from without" and put food on the table.
Rick "who thinks amateurs can chase dreams, too" Denney