{"id":45400,"date":"2016-11-26T12:03:59","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T20:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/?p=45400"},"modified":"2024-06-23T10:25:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T17:25:59","slug":"being-a-professional-musician-lesson-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/2016\/being-a-professional-musician-lesson-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Being A Professional Musician: Lesson Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a professional musician for decades doesn’t mean you’re immune to getting burned<\/h2>\n

A year ago I did a favour for my partner’s former colleague. Let’s call her Jane (not her real name). With under a week’s notice I reincarnated my Bassic Sax Jazz Ensemble,<\/em> and performed a two-hour Christmas show for about 200 of Jane’s clients and fellow staff members.<\/p>\n

I did give Jane a bit of a hard time after it was over, and told her if she had given me more than five days lead time, we would have had some more material for her. Jane agreed, and then told me to keep December 5, 2016 open, and that we’d do it again. I said OK, that’s certainly more than five days notice. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Throughout the year I kept the date open, and by August I had made sure that I had the Bassic Sax Jazz Ensemble’s<\/em> members lined-up for the Dec. 5 performance. What made it difficult was that it was a show that stretched from late morning into early afternoon, so availability was an issue. However, everyone made sure that they kept the date open, and come mid-November we were set to rehearse a few times to gel as a group.<\/p>\n

The problem was, by early November I hadn’t heard from Jane, so I couldn’t tell my band members with 100% certainty that the show was still a go. I was 95% sure, since this was Jane I was dealing with, and she is dependable as all get-out. But still, I didn’t want to have people waste their time\u2014especially at this time of the year when we’re all busy with rehearsals and Christmas shows in all the other bands we’re already involved in.<\/p>\n

Over the course of a week I left phone messages for Jane at work and on her cell; I tried to find her at her group’s fundraiser; and I texted her as well. Just a mere 12 days before the actual date of the show, I finally heard back from Jane. She told me that my group won’t be doing the performance this year. Apparently there were funding issues, and the new entertainment sponsor insisted on providing their own entertainer.<\/p>\n

\"contract,<\/a>WTF? Yes, the text was apologetic, but still: Really? I couldn’t have been told at the time it happened? Why was I the one who had to leave voicemail messages and texts to find out that my group was fired?<\/p>\n

This is of course exactly why bands have contracts, and even take 50% deposits for upcoming shows.<\/p>\n

Again, if it had been anyone other than Jane I would have done just that, but Jane and her organization have never treated me as anything other than the professional I am.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, a professional does not take kindly to being treated like this. An amateur, who is just happy to be able to perform for the public, would likely just let this run like water off a duck’s back. A pro is not likely to be as forgiving however.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I’d like to offer my thoughts about professional musicians. This is for potential clients who require musicians for the events, but also for young musicians starting out.<\/p>\n

What are professional musicians?<\/h2>\n

Professional musicians are just that: professionals, and as such we deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect as any other professional whether it be social worker; banker; nurse; teacher; or any one of the countless other trained professions that you care to list.<\/p>\n

Professional musicians spend years, and countless hours honing their craft. Many (most) have attended post-secondary school and studied music, and\/or have studied with private instructors on their particular instrument. Over the years these studies have cost a great deal of money.<\/p>\n

Professional musicians also have a great deal of money tied up in professional gear. Besides instruments, they have all the accessories, and electronic gear that allows them to perform either with a band, or as a solo act.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/a>Maintaining all that gear takes money as well. For example, the average professional saxophone, used at shows, needs to be serviced at least once a year for a minimum of $200, and overhauled every 5 to 10 years for about $1,000. As for electronic equipment, it too needs to be repaired (rarely), or replaced as it gets damaged, and\/or wears out.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: being a professional musician is expensive, but as I wrote about last year<\/a>, our wages haven\u2019t gone up since the 1970s. As a matter of fact, when adjusted for inflation, we are actually making about 1\/3 <\/span>of the money that we did in the 1970s, and about \u00bd that we did in the 1980s. Pretty sad when you think about it.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the time we put in. I\u2019ve figured it out, but as a band leader, for every 1 hour of performance I put in about 3 hours of additional prep\u2014beyond what a regular band member puts in. This is why, in part, leaders tend to pay band members less than they pay themselves<\/p>\n

All this brings me back to my original point: When we as professional musicians get booked for a gig, we expect to be treated just like any other professional. For example, if you\u2019re planning an event and book a caterer, do they not expect a deposit? If you cancel that caterer and choose to go with a different one, you forfeit your deposit. Why should musicians be treated any differently?<\/p>\n

Concluding thought for young pros<\/h2>\n

For you young pros starting out, don’t sell yourselves short. Don’t get caught up in that race to the bottom. This is how we’ve ended up settling for that $100\/night job that we have today, which anyone who has been around in the 70s and 80s will tell you, are not living wages.<\/p>\n

\n
…this is just my blog<\/em>. <\/span> My \u201creal\u201d <\/b> website is<\/span> www.bassic-sax.info.<\/a> If you\u2019re looking for <\/span> sax info<\/strong>,<\/span> you should check it out too.<\/span>There\u2019s lots<\/em> there! <\/span><\/div>\n
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Being a professional musician for decades doesn’t mean you’re immune to getting burned A year ago I did a favour for my partner’s former colleague. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[80],"tags":[617,626,633,645,700],"class_list":["post-45400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-playing-saxophone","tag-bands","tag-bassic-sax-jazz-ensemble","tag-musings","tag-playing-saxophone","tag-professional-realities"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t