Posted by John Cradler on February 03, 2000 at 11:07:38:
In Reply to: Re: realistic question about this profession posted by steve dedman on January 31, 2000 at 23:08:59:
Here, here, Steve!
I asked myself the "Can I be happy doing anything else?" question in graduate school. Wow, that's a big one to think about. At the time my answer was no and after nearly 11 years as a professional the answer is modified a bit; being a player is by far the most enjoyment I could find, but realistically I would like to think I could find something to pay the bills and also provide some modicum of fulfillment at the same time if the playing career ever went away.
I echo the comments that you don't need to drop 5 figures on an instrument to get a job. I won my job on a used Cerveny piggy that gets a lot of use to this day; total investment of $2000. That same finals round contained none other than Pat Sheridan using his main axe of the time, a Yamaha 321 Eb. (Yes, he was a superfreak back then too!)
John