Posted by Rick Denney on June 18, 2003 at 11:11:04:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Musician's life in the Military posted by Kenneth Sloan on June 18, 2003 at 05:54:29:
Yup. But it's a bitter pill that everyone tastes at some point in their professional careers.
But, to Sean and the unnamed person to which he was responding, why don't you find musical outlets outside the military? One key advantage to the premiere bands is that you don't have to spend nearly as much time playing soldier as most military bandsmen, and you live in an area with lots of opportunities to take advantage of that flexibility. The conductor of the wind ensemble in which I play is in a premiere band, and he plays a sousaphone for a living, too. But he drives for two hours to the far western suburbs to conduct our group, and we are grateful. What we pay him isn't worth his time, but what he gets from it in terms of satisfaction and personal development apparently is.
Lots of others teach local students and play outside gigs of various sorts. Some go to grad school and get a doctorate.
I've always said that only an amateur can afford to be a purist. We just don't have the available time to realize our purist objectives. There's irony there, to be sure, but it's there for everybody. When I was a professional photographer, I hated it and got out of photography altogether. But perhaps 15 years ago I started up again, and have found joy in the activity without professional pressures.
I have the answer--come play in our wind ensemble! I'll even let you be the section leader, heh, heh.
Rick "who thinks loving a job is mostly a personal choice" Denney