Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How much difference is there..........


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Posted by FLAMES!!! on September 29, 2000 at 02:20:10:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How much difference is there.......... posted by pfft on September 28, 2000 at 23:35:54:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

You have no concept of my point...chase your money; you will never grasp that music is an art, but that it is a sience AND, for a minority of us, a BUSINESS as well! And DO NOT EVER TALK TO ME ABOUT PROFESSIONALISM...IT IS MY JOB TO KNOW THE ART, SIENCE, AND BUSINESS OF MUSIC!!! You and your pompous six-figure income are unfettered with any day-to-day responsiblities regarding the reproduction of music. I do it every damn day, and have to play gigs with hacks like you that make six figures, have all of the latest toys and horns, great clothes, nice cars, own a home, and get to the gig and play poorly, only to go home feeling good about themselves for having played at all...as if I should feel grateful to be allowed into their lousy country club (for our own Symphony Ball...where the musicians are asked to enter through the kitchen with the staff...at our own damn fundraiser!!!). You six figure girls really need to stop measuring your d**ks with your wallets, learn the responsibilities you owe to the music if you choose to play it for money, and realize that I deserve to earn a fair, living wage because I take my profession VERY seriously and do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to ensure the patrons receive their money's worth, to include the intense scrutny of ALL aspects of my horn...even if a jerk like you thinks that that might be a bit less than artistic...IT IS A BUSINES, FOR GOD'S SAKE!

In the post that started all of this, I was relaying how we were doing research during Undergrad to further our personal understanding of our chosen vocation. And, for the life of me, I can not see why you could give a negative review of efforts to that effect...why don't you log on to www.sixfigures.com and take your thoughtless, hurtful and unprofessional attitude with you. And understand that while you surf the $$$.bbs, I will be at my gig, playing my heart out for you, my colleagues, and myself, regardless. And when you are at a club after the concert, I will be at home putting in my two hours of night practice, followed by score study, or journal reading (journals are, by the way, FULL of scholarly articles that quantify and define in hard terms all aspects of music, horns, ornamentation, timbre, breathing...you MIGHT get the point that I am trying to make, but I won't believe it til I see an apology).

In my community we have a former poorly-trained and unsucessful high school choral director. He was not all that good at what he chose to do, and after six or seven years he went into training as a realtor. He has found his niche and makes over half a mil per year selling buildings downtown. (Hey! Six figures, just like you...) He bought his way onto our Board. He formed a Grand Chorus. He conducts it. He donates large sums to our organization. He now conducts us as a freelance orchestra several times per season. He is still awful, but his six figures "talk" to our Board. Now he is "guesting" on our pops series due in large part to those aforementioned donations and the fact that he offered to conduct for free. We have to bail him out at every turn when in a performance situation, yet he gets the positive credit for the performance's quality...despite all 45 or 50 miscues, early cut-offs, and missed meter changes that he commits (a conservative figure, I assure you...). When he is so bad that we can't even hold it together for the sake of the patrons in the hall or finally, for our own frustrated pride, we get blamed for it (or the opus was poorly written, the orchestration convoluded, yada yada yada...).

Money gives you absolutely zero rights to determine what is or is not important for ME to know or want to know about my horn's design, characteristics, or timbre. Nor does money give you the right to say things about groups of people who choose to research those aspects. You play your gigs (undercutting the pros and taking money from already cash-strapped players, most likely), pretend to artistry, and probably tell the pros that they made the choice to be poor, but at least they do something they love...

As if you DON"T? You cash whore! Quit you stupid job if you love playing so much, move to my community and compete with me in a fair market...and then make your silly, glib remarks as you slowly starve to death...because this is a business, after all, and making money is not supposed to be fun, is it? When people such as yourself gig with the regular, full-time working players in a community of players (assuming that they let you, and you are not merely sitting in with a pack of cut-rate duffers demeaning the profession's business image or its artistic reputation...) you tend act like you are our buddy and that we are on equal social footing. And, boy oh boy, you guys couldn't ever really be unhappy when you make your living by playing, 'cause even if you make less in one season than I do in one month, at least you get to do somethinbg that you love...

You are welcome in my world, but I am merely domestic help in yours. It goes both ways. In my community of players, this has gone too far. Things are changing. Now when things such as this occur, those people (part-timers with day gigs)are no longer hired, even if the quintet will only be a quartet, even if it means running off a handful of unproductive board members from the Symphony Association. We have raised our rates to a level commensurate with nearby freelance scenes. If we get to the wedding and the contract says "payment to be made at the job site in full, in advance of services" and Dad has no check...we walk. We are no longer musical prostitutes where I live, and I for one will no longer tolerate dictation from one such as yourself. Take your six-figure job and go to Hell!

Have a great, money-making day! :-)








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