Posted by Matt Good on January 27, 2003 at 00:37:27:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Houston Symphony Cutting Jobs, Salaries posted by Fafner on January 26, 2003 at 19:41:32:
Dear Fafner:
To clarify a few of your points:
#1 You do not have to be a member of a union to audition for an orchestra in the US. You do get your postion base upon musical ability.
#2 Once you are tenured, you still may lose your job through the dismissal procedure that is in every orchestra contract in the US.
#3 The string positions in the Houston Symphony that are being cut are through attrition.
#4 I play more sevices than the principal trumpet and clarinet here in the Dallas Symphony and I do not make nearly their amounts of overscale (We have associate principal positions for trumpet and clarinet).
The Union Musicians of the Houston Symphony are not the problem. They too recognize that there are serious financial problems with the Houston Symphony Society. The musicians have placed several scenerios to appease the financially strapped organization only to be ignored. The problem lies with the Society's Executive committee. It seems that the Society no longer wants to raise money to have a large orchestra in their city. The financial problems stem from years of bad management in the 90's when the economy was booming. Also a flood that wiped out the offices and library in 2001 and the Enron crisis didn't help either. Also remember, Houston has the most Fortune 500 companies and is the largest city in Central Time Zone.
What the musicians are trying to do now is to save the artisic integrity of what is a great orchestra. Huge wage cuts and cuts in benefits are driving the best talent out of the orchestra elswhere. Soon the Houston symphony will become an entry level position. Like any other industry, the best salaries attract the best in the industry. Why did Fred Geib leave the NY Philharmonic in 1928 and go play in Radio City Music Hall? Answer: it was a better paying gig.
Playing in a professional orchestra is not a job but a lifestyle. The work we do is intense and stressful. If it were not for collective bargaining, I would not get health care, a pension (so I may retire), vacation weeks and a salary. If it were not for our union contract I would be paid per sevice. As late as 1960, the Philadelphia Orchestra worked just 35 weeks per year with no vacations and every Monday was a recording session. Back when Bill Bell played in the NY Philharmonic in the late 40's their season was 28 weeks. To supplement his income in the summers, he played in the Asbury Park Band in Asbury Park, NJ. It is through collective bargaining that now many of us have decent, respectable jobs so we can own homes and live comfortable lives in "The Greatest Country on Earth".
Matthew Good
Principal Tuba, Dallas Symphony Orchestra