Loan balances rivaling those of medical students.

Multiple degrees with vague practical application.

Overeducated and underemployed.

Bitter and angry.

Broke and desperate.

Is this the way it has to be? No! There is another path, another orientation, a healthier way to approach the pursuit of a professional life in music performance…..(more)

Stories abound in the orchestral world of arguments begun on stage over seemingly innocuous incidents (a sideways glance during a colleague’s solo, a comment made during rehearsal, or even a difference in pitch, articulation, or rhythmic timing) continuing backstage, moving into the dressing room, and extending over a period of weeks, months, and even years. It is quite common in orchestras for person x to refuse to sit next to person y, who in turn asks to never be seated with person z…..(more)

As I pulled onto the tollway, I noticed that the ‘check engine’ light had just appeared on my dashboard. I scowled. This was the first time that any light had come on my dash, and I was annoyed that the perfect streak I had been having thus far with my Saturn was ending.

It sure was ending. I had no idea how badly it was ending……(more)

Now, I love stringed instruments as much as the next person, but let’s be realistic for a moment here. There is no way (I mean NO WAY at all) that strings will ever defeat brass in a competition for coolness at the grade school level. It just won’t happen. It’s like rock-paper-scissors. Brass is rock and we strings are scissors, and no matter what we do, rock crushes scissors. We all learned this back in grade school….(more)

This post highlights the differences between a traditional website and a blog in plan English, providing the non-techie an understanding about why blogs are so useful and how more and more sites are moving to this kind of content management system…..(more)

Delving into teaching in a series on being a freelance musician is a bit dicey, which is why I wanted to lay out the groundwork at the beginning for the examples that follow. Having a “teaching career” can mean so many things, and there are a myriad of divergent paths for teaching musicians. I will briefly describe some of the various roles that a teaching musician can inhabit before discussing the considerations and challenges of private teaching for the freelance musician….(more)

Click to Listen (right-click to download)

Click to watch these great video episodes from Lyric Opera of Chicago bassist Andy Anderson.