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By profitable I might mean how fulfilling...
If you work some good couple of hours a day as an employee, teacher, etc but you've studied music professionally, how uplifting is it to work as a musician for someone whose music you find pretty boring, anodyne or even disgusting? Is it worth the effort? Does it teach you anything?
I've been slaving away at the job, at times feeling a tad frustrated 'cos I can't strike the balance at times (work/music) but now I've been working (playing) for a pop singer whose 1st album has just come out. Of course she's not well-known but she's playing alive pretty often. But I'm getting a bit fed up with it. Should I take the plunge and go on with this, that is, is this fruitful and I'm not aware of it, or should I use my free time to play music I like, record, play with my band etc etc?
Thanks in advance for the advice!
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I think that if it's your dream it shouldn't be boring. ( I don't really have experience but that's what I think)
The greatest artistâs are a combination of huge confidence and massive insecurity
-AP Interviewer
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I had a heated debate sometime ago with a few fanatical dudes on the issues you present, IvanMC. I'm a professional musician also. I also teach. I live in a country that is not mine (I live in Greece but am not greek) and have often laboured through music that does not inspire me and that certainly does not represent me. But unfortunately, I do it out of necessity. Financial, obviously. But I try my best to fill in some available gaps with what I love and my own creations. I was accused of being a 'mercenary', and that true art in music cannot bend the knee to such compromissions. Yeah, but that's UTOPIA. Any professional musician would love to make the kind of music we dream is 'our kind of music'. I get FED UP pretty often, but as I said before, I fill the gaps as best as I can. A music fundamentalist even declared that he would rather starve than be a mercenary musician. Sound like religious fundamentalism to me. Music, good music, is in itself fulfilling. It's supposed to be sheer beauty. But this world is full of shit, and shitty compromissions on everything. Let's just make the best of what we have, while in the meantime do something fulfilling...for ourselves and others.
Best of luck IvanMC.
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Thanks for those words, Bellini. Actually I really back you up. Nobody is a mercenary if they pick out to make money out of music. It's great for you to play whatever you can play, earn money out of that and then try to fulfil your soul, your ambition, etc by doing the music you love and getting hold of the tools for that. Then it's a matter of the uttermost importance to strike the balance (job-pleasure); and in my particular case I've struck out so far, since I've got a job other than a musician; but I've been dying to have a music job only, so I've been trying to get music jobs but they haven't been enough (or I haven't been brave enough) so I don't feel as though I can get rid of my job. So at times I end up studying (music, indeed) late at night, pretty early in the morning; and then I find myself frittering away lots of hours slaving away at a job that does not fulfil my lifetime ambition. But who doesn't need the money (which is not a lot anyway)? As you put it, this world is packed with s..t at times!
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Our complaints are pretty much the complaints of many others, even non-musicians. I know of a public notary who can't stand her job and would rather do classical ballet. Incredible, eh? Or of someone who would rather tend his garden rather than being a night-guard. Very few lucky people do what they really like, or want. Who knows, IvanMC? The future is continually in movement, and not all changes may be for the bad. I'm waiting with you, so you got company..HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Chat soon, ok?
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well, i must be one of the "lucky" ones as i love my job
"BTO....Bachman,Turner,Overweight
They were big in the 70s....for five minutes,on a Saturday,after lunch..." - Me 2014.
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I can truthfully say with an open mind and an open heart that I also loved my job...marine industry,,,you never knew what to expect day in and day out!...having said that we always had music on the go at work and at luch time we'd sing and dabble with the guitar or even try the mandolin ?...lol
It's a life long struggle ..you have to eat and raise a family so you need a secure means of income...then you have to play gigs at night to fulfill your true love ! I never considered myself as a "good" enough musician to even attempt the latter !...lol CRAZY-HORSE Wrote:well, i must be one of the "lucky" ones as i love my job
The ultimate connection is between a performer and its' audience!
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As with everything else in life you need to find a balance. No job or career path is perfect there will be parts that are not to your liking as well as the other parts make it worthwhile. A career solely in music is not always a realistic goal not because you don't have the drive or the talent but because of the economics. Will there be enough gigs? Can you teach enough students? Do you have enough ensembles to keep playing regularly? Do you have enough connections to get the next gig? Will you schlep your own equipment to and from the gig? How well do you play under preassure? Can you work well and play well with others?
Where I live the predominant live music opportunities are for Country gigs. If I chose not to play country I would not have had more than a half dozen opportunites a year - obviously not a great way to pay sthe bills if I wanted to make music my living. So I took the gigs - Country, Jazz, Orchestral, Old-Time Dance, Dixieland, Marching Band, Pit Orchestra, Folk, Punk, Metal and more. I also taught students private lessons - which provided regular income when others did not. This did pay the bills but only just. I had a great time working full-time but it was not for me in the long run.
As you eluded to in your first post you WILL end up playing music that is not the most inspiring. You WILL play other people's music that you do not have a personal or artistic connection with. Does that mean you shouldn't learn from that playing opportunity? One of my mentors said to me "whatever you play, play it as well as you can and take something from it that will make you a better player for playing it" - he was talking about a performance situation but he also added that it could be for a learning or teaching situation as well. Follow your heart but not blindly - make sure you can eat and also look at yourself in the mirror and say yes I am doing what I want and need to do.
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Thanks for those words, evilB. I'll definitely follow your advice. So I'll take some gigs in August; I'd thought of turning them down though, but I won't pass up this new chance. Yeah, I'll try to learn from this; you're right: experience makes you a better player, and this will be new experience.
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Bravo evilB. Wisdom so well expressed.
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