Posted by euphonist on October 24, 2000 at 15:04:21:
In Reply to: Re: Are orchestras dying? posted by Chuck on October 24, 2000 at 12:01:11:
Please forgive my comments, but as one who is deemed unworthy to be a part of your orchestral orginizations I'm a touch put off by your comments about bands. Orchestras have it bad? How many professional bands do you see in the US? How many times have you heard someone over 5 ask what a violin is? How many times have you heard ANYONE get excited about a premier of a new band piece, or even a full concert hall for ANY kind of a band concert? There may be schools w/o an orchestra and "band kids" may be woefully undereducated about your "serious" music, but I haven't heard of too many people making a living playing in a concert style band outside of the service. Which, by the way, pays rather poorly and generally involves a whole lot of junk that doesn't relate to music. They also don't have somebody to make all the arrangements for their concerts, pack their stuff for trips, ect. They do it all themselves.
I am a die hard euphonium player, lover and educator. If you feel that we can't be serious musicians because we play in something other than an orchestra, I feel for you. I respect orchestral musicians and the orchestral structure and literature. I would simply ask that you do the same for us in the band world. I promise you, we have all the same problems you do, only generally worse.
Fred