Though it may seem like paying cartage reimbursement is a no-brainer for management, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been shorted this compensation while working on jobs, even when there is a policy in place under a contract negotiated with the American Federation of Musicians.

Those of us who receive cartage payment often get the evil eye from our colleagues (who mistakenly think that we’re getting more money per service when we’re only being compensated for having to drive solo in a car full of gear and arrive an hour early to load in). In many groups I work with, this reimbursement is viewed by management as a perk and looked at with dubiousness. It is therefore frequently on the chopping block when renegotiating contracts.

This is a segment of an e-mail exchange. After this exchange, those of us in this group began to be taxed on our reimbursement. This is not a normal occurrence in most groups I work with (mileage and cartage are generally viewed as reimbursement and are therefore not subjected to withholding by the employer–though we musicians have to report this money as income to the IRS), and a huge uproar broke out around this issue in this ensemble.

Though we cartage recipients were outraged, there are a lot more of them (the non-cartage recipients) than there are of us, and we often find ourselves alone in this battle, with management viewing us as an expensive annoyance and our colleagues viewing us as being awarded extra pay for doing the same job.

Is Cartage Compensation or Reimbursement?

After chatting with my more tax law-aware musician colleagues, I have been made aware that there are benefits to having taxes withheld on cartage, since this money must then be reported as self-employment income and is subjected to higher taxes as a result.

What do you think? Is cartage income or is it extra compensation?

Regardless of the above answer, you can see how hot under the collar musicians get when the subject is even broached. Here’s a bit of the exchange I dug up in my e-mail archive. I changed all the names of involved parties:

Hello ___________,

I am John Doe, the accountant for the Anonymous Center, and also the Random Symphony Orchestra. I am also familiar with some of your names having done the accounting for the No Name Chamber Orchestra for many years also . Please allow me to explain the change in handling cartage.

This has been a topic under discussion for many years now. We have been advising the Random Symphony about this situation off and on, but we decided it was time to take action now to protect the organization.

Basically, any payment made to an individual for which receipts are not turned into the organization has to be considered taxable income. This is also true of per diem money paid out. With the No Name Chamber Orchestra, this money also appeared on your year-end 1099s. Any per diems or drayage (as they call it), were also considered income, and it was filed with the government accordingly. You did indeed pay taxes on this income. Because the Random Symphony Orchestra correctly pays musician’s fees through payroll, the per diems and cartage should also be paid through payroll. An individual can not receive a W-2 and a 1099 from the same organization.

If musicians were to fill out expense reports for their personal expenses relating to business and submit them directly to the Random Symphony Orchestra for reimbursement, then it would not be considered income. Since the organization has no way of knowing whether or not any cartage money is actually spent or to what extent it is spent, we have to consider the entire amount taxable income. If you do have receipts, you can claim those business expenses on your year-end taxes to offset the income. The Random Symphony Orchestra does not handle expense reports for musicians.

As an hypothetical example, let’s look at per diems. An organization may give employees a $50 per diem for an out of town trip. Some people may indeed spend all or part of it, but others will save the money. Without knowing who spent what amount, i.e. without receipts turned in to verify that indeed the entire $50 was spent, we have to acknowledge the entire amount as income.

This is not an issue of mistrust or misuse. We wholeheartedly respect your professionalism, your integrity and your talents. This new policy is simply protecting the Random Symphony Orchestra from any government scrutiny as far as money paid to an individual.

I hope this explains the situation a little better. If anyone has any further questions, please call Frank Doe. If he can not help you, you may call me at the number below. I fully understand your concern, but please know, this is something that needs to be done to keep things in check. I appreciate you asking the question. I hope I have given you a satisfactory response.

Sincerely……..

Bill Doe
Service Accounting Manager
Anonymous Center

The e-mail outcry was instantaneous. This one (from a percussionist) sums up my thoughts on the issue quite nicely:

Dear Bill Doe:

I don’t get it. As far as I see it, cartage payment is indeed reimbursement: reimbursement for expenses involved in moving large heavy equipment. Some musicians have these expenses, and some don’t. Those that do have these expenses are reimbursed for those expenses. On the other hand, all musicians receive compensation for playing their instruments. What am I missing?

These outcries fell on indifferent ears. Our personnel manager e-mailed us with this message soon after the original one from Bill Doe:

Hello All,

I wanted to let you know that there is a new policy in place for cartage payment starting the beginning of 2006. Our accountants at Anonymous Center Accounting are going to be including your cartage in your payroll. This issue on how cartage has been paid in the past has been going back and forth for some time now. It has been determined by them that it is a form of compensation. The rule states:

“Anything that is paid to an employee that is not a reimbursement is considered compensation.”

So, in this check and in the future you will see cartage included as earnings.

Any questions please feel free to talk to me about it, although I might have to go back to the accountants, as I am not an expert on this subject.

Thanks,

Frank Doe

Notice that “Frank Doe” refers to cartage as compensation Is this accurate?

Many heated e-mail exchanges followed from both musicians and management, yet the policy remained in place until I quit this ensemble, and it probably still is in place.

One more thing–no musicians in this ensemble receive any mileage compensation either, even though tout-of-town talent makes up a significant percentage of the ensemble. Lovely huh? I quit soon after.

Your Thoughts?

What do you think of cartage payments (especially those of you who don’t receive them)? Are they reimbursement or extra compensation (you know what I think)? Was the management reasonable in this exchange? Do we deserve cartage at all?

Welcome to the world of freelance orchestral playing!

Adaptistration blogger and Inside the Arts mastermind Drew McManus recently put out a post about summer music festivals that really caught my eye. In this post (dated 6/27/08), Drew writes:

Unlike regular season positions, music festivals have an added bonus by offering their exclusive location as an added incentive to performance and travel pay. Add to that varying levels of accommodations (from “you’re on your own” to gratis top-of-the-line private housing), travel pay, and proximity to major airports and you have all the elements for the basic formula many musicians consider when looking for summer work. Consequently, festivals located in idyllic locations typically have some leeway over those needing to leverage monetary compensation and travel pay to a larger degree.

Trading location for pay is an established fixture in the among both part-time and full-time orchestra rank-and-file, though (as discussed later in this post), I often question the sensibility of this trade-off. More on that later.

Drew continues:

Unfortunately, the sharp increase in gas prices has thrown that delicate balance out of whack. Not only is it far more expensive for musicians (not to mention seasonal staffers and patrons) to drive to music festivals but musicians are having a much more difficult time flying with instruments due to increased airline fees. As an example, if a Chicago based musician wanted to play in the Colorado Music Festival the estimated fuel cost is nearly $400, a 47% increase compared to last summer.

This post touches upon one of my gravest concerns for musicians looking to earn a living as orchestral performers. In my post earlier this year (reprinted in Los Angeles’ Overture Magazine) The Real Cost of Driving to Gigs for the Freelance Musician, I demonstrated how one’s seeming profit is drastically eaten away by fuel costs and other travel expenses.

Taking musician summer festival compensation on even a cursory run through Drew’s Gig After Gas Online Calculator makes most summer gigs (outside of a select few festivals) seem like a dubious proposition for generating a profit.

If we musicians make no money doing festivals, why do we do it? I have played a lot of orchestra festivls over the years. Some have been awesome, some have been grim, but few of them have been dull, and in hindsight, I don’t regret doing any of them!

Still, it is valuable to take a few moments and break down some of the pros and cons of these summer activities. Here are a few of the major reasons why musicians play summer festivals:

1. Paid Vacation – Musicians (especially freelance musicians) often have neither the time nor the discretionary income to take an honest-to-goodness vacation, and a summer festival is therefore the closest thing that many musical folks get to taking time off. Better a working vacation than no vacation, right? More on that later…

2. Working in Paradise – As Drew discusses in his post, getting a chance to make music in a pretty place is one of the driving force behind taking summer festival work. Non-musicians may not understand this compulsion, but playing a concert in the crisp mountain air, an exotic locale, or (as I do each summer) in wacky boathouses and barns in the middle of Lake Michigan is a feeling that just can’t be replicated.

3. Filling Slow Months – Music doesn’t really….well…. pay that well! Freelance musicians and orchestral musicians in orchestras without a summer season often find themselves besotted with work in the chilly months, only to be completely and utterly unemployed in the warm months. While work may disappear for them, those pesky bills keep coming! Taking some summer work (even low-paying work) is therefore preferable to no work.

4. Recharging Creative Juices – Many musicians grow weary of the monotony of their regular work, and taking off for a few weeks in the summer allows for meeting new friends, playing under different conductors, learning new repertoire, and getting a few weeks of fresh faces and places can be like a B12 shot of creative juices, keeping a musician inspired for the entire year to come.

5. Social Reasons – Musicians tend to be social creatures, and many folks simply view festivals as a time to party down. The meager pay offered by many festivals is not so grim if viewed as beer and pizza money rather than mortgage and health care money, and many orchestra festivals become shaggy hippie affairs as musicians stay out all night partying at local joints, doing hikes, and spending time on the water.

Pros and Cons to Summer Festival Work

1. Two services a day… is that really a vacation? – I have played many summer festivals in beautiful locations, only to find myself locked in a rehearsal room morning, noon, and night. The problem with summer festivals is that they keep wanting you to do some dang work when you’re there. While you may be there for a vacation, your employers think of you more like summer staff, and even if they don’t the audience certainly does! You’re there to take care of business, and your personal enjoyment typically comes second to the job.

2. Very few days off – I played a festival in a gorgeous West Coast location many years ago. I was there for three weeks, and I got (drum roll) two whole days off! I had two services a day for nearly every other day I was out there. This, friends, is typical. How many mountains can you climb in two days? How many rivers can you canoe? Again, you’re not actually going there for vacation (right?), but having an idea of how much down time you get while at a festival is a smart.

3. Colossally bad pay – Now, not all summer festivals pay poorly. In fact, most of the gigs I’ve done in the summer have payed close to what I typically make for equivalent work in Chicago. But many festivals pay astonishingly poorly, with little to no travel compensation and a pitiful per-service rate.

Here’s an example of the latter. While this festival was quite enjoyable, even a cursory glance at the following number will have you doubting the wisdom of doing such a festival. As you can see, I lost so much money doing this festival that I could have easily taken my wife and I on a great vacation:

Per-Service Compensation: $26

Number of Services Per Day: 2

Days Worked Per Week: 6

Festival Length: 3 weeks

Total Days Off: 2

Travel Pay: $500

Distance I Traveled (Round-Trip): 5200 miles

My Mileage Costs According to 2007 Federal Compensation Rates (50.5 cents/mile): $2,626

Actual Travel Costs According to the Gig After Gas Online Calculator (71.9 cents/mile): $3,738.80

My total per-service compensation for the festival: $1,134

My total compensation including travel pay: $1,634

My net loss according to the federal mileage rate: $992 loss

My net loss according to the Gig After Gas rate: $2,104.80

Weighing the pros and cons

As I said earlier, I have played a huge number of summer festivals. Some have lined my pocket with a little cash and some have put me deeply in debt. Not being made out of money, I’ve jettisoned the latter and embraced the former, though some of my best memories come from those crazy low-paying orchestral festivals I used to do.

Is it worth it? Well, define “worth it.” I tend to be the kind of person who looks at these things as paid vacation, despite the long hours often spent. I like the change of pace, the unfamiliar colleagues, and I find that summer festivals give me creative energy and help to keep me inspired. For these reasons, I embrace them and don’t ponder the financial nuts and bolts very much.

I generally don’t look at the festivals I’ve done as income generators (though I do come home with a profit from the ones I do these days). I could easily make more money staying at home and teaching, but I enjoy the change of atmosphere and break in routine.

Here’s a video of Justin sharing stories from his book Real Men Don’t Rehearse (available through his website):

I’ve got reams of tales of my own (many of which can be found under my Articles page), and I’ve put my more serious thoughts about where this business is headed together in my book Road Warrior Without an Expense Account. I’m currently working on a much more lighthearted book. It’s already at 300 paperback pages (!), so expect a nice chunky read when it arrives.

I really enjoy writing, and having the opportunity to both compose longer-form posts (an index of these appears on our Articles page) and make the move into writing books (both with Road Warrior Without an Expense Account and the new book of crazy gig stories I’m currently working on) is extremely satisfying.

These are some of my favorite recent posts. I hope you find a few thing that you may have overlooked in previous months. You can always use the page navigation at the bottom of each blog page to sail forward or backward in time, use the calendar in the sidebar, or check out our sitemap. Enjoy!

By the way, all these posts come from April, May, and June of this year. Geez–I write a lot! I don’t really notice until I line them up back to back…and these are only a fraction of all the posts written during this time!

The Tale of the White Jacket – I think that all men in classical music look at the concert attire worn by our female colleagues with a little bit of envy from time to time. Not that we men all want to wear heels and make-up (though some of us probably do….not that there’s anything wrong with that!), but putting on a tuxedo shirt, tails, and a tight bow tie is not exactly the most comfortable way to play a musical instrument. Though we men get to dress in comfort in many pit situations, wearing black just like the women, most of the time we’re confined to some jacket and tie combination–even in the summer! (more)

The Art of Slowing Down – Summer is when I really developed my blog in the first place, and in subsequent summers I did most of the redesigning and behind-the-scenes work. It’s also a great time to do some writing and restore those creative energies, renewing my enthusiasm for another year of teaching, performing, and writing. While I have a good time simply blogging in my kitchen (like I’m doing now!), drinking coffee and hanging out with the cats, I’ve been able to play chamber music with a dynamite group of musicians up in Door County these past several years….(more)

Ripping Off Your Teachers – When I was getting started as a freelance musician at the tail end of my masters degree, I was quaking in my boots about my future prospects. After all, I was regularly buying CDs at Borders and Barnes and Noble from former Northwestern doctoral music students. If the best they could do was retail bookstore work after getting a doctoral degree, what were my prospects going to look like? got a call for at the…. well, I’l call it the Jimbobo School of Music for the purposes of this post. I’m sad to say that this “school of music” still exists here in metro Chicago, and it’s a truly rotten operation—the perfect representation of everything that’s wrong with the private lesson “music school” system. (more)

Blogging on the Beach – I am currently at the northern tip of the Door County peninsula on the Lake Michigan side, hanging out in the the wild and rarely visited Newport State Park. Though many of the other parks up here in Door County are packed with Illinois tourists escaping the smog and stress of Chicago, this park is pretty far off the beaten path, and I am one of only a few cars parked here. I’ve got a great view of the beach, joined at the moment only by the seagulls and the mosquitos (note to self–buy better bug spray). Man, if only I could live this kind of lifestyle year-round! (more)

Twelve Survival Tips for Freelance Musicians – Over time, professional freelancers develop a set of skills quite peculiar to the profession, alternately taking on the role of long-haul trucker, delivery man, cabbie, and crisis control expert. Though they share the same basic musical skills as their more stably employed colleagues, freelancers are constantly faced with foreign environments and unfamiliar faces, and are required to execute their musical craft amid a dizzying array of unusual and often bizarre circumstances. (more)

Instrumental Junkies Part 2: Musical Scavengers – I was recently playing in a massive venue in Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center, with 5000 seats and a stage large enough to hold a 747 jet. I paid my parking fee, pulled in and unloaded, wheeling my bass and stool in my tuxedo through throngs of conventioneers in button-down shirts and sport jackets. As I passed through the crowds into the dilapidated and expansive convention center, people gazed at me as if I had a third eye on my forehead. “What’s that?” – “Where ya goin’ with that thing?” and the ubiquitous “betcha wish you played the piccolo!” line, one that I seem to hear every single time I take my bass out of the house. (more)

Here Comes the Bride – A colleague of mine got a call to play a wedding recently with a rather strange request. The bride wanted “Here Comes the Bride” played at the ceremony….but she specifically requested that the double bass play the melody! “Uh, okay…” my colleague replied. “So you must have… played the bass in high school, then?” “No,” said the bride. “Uh…. okay…..” It’s not that we bassists can’t play Here Comes the Bride, of course. But why the bass? It’s like having the tuba play revelry or taps at a military ceremony. Kind of cool but kind of… well…. unusual. (more)

Top Ten Ways That College Debt Screws Up Your Life…and How to Avoid It! – Achieving success in the classical music world (I’m defining success rather narrowly here) often requires a musician to audition for a select handful of schools that have a specific teacher on faculty with a reputation for turning out “successful” students. Unlike disciplines like engineering, business, or computer science, there are frequently only a few schools that have a consistent track record of placement for a specific instrument. Want a job? You’d better think seriously about fighting for a spot at one of those schools… even if that school costs $40,000 (or more) plus room and board each year. (more)

Instrumental Junkies: Overview – This is both a completely exhausting and strangely addictive lifestyle, and every time I try to divorce myself from it I keep getting pulled back into it. Sometimes I hate it, especially when I’m driving home from a $75 gig in a snowstorm, but when faced with a week off or a week of crappy gigging, I usually opt for the crappy gigging, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of financial sense. Simply put, playing the bass makes me feel…well, useful. While outsiders may seem a week off from playing as a cause for celebration (after all, how many people in regular joe jobs daydream of the flexible schedule of the musician?), when this week off is a result of there simply not being enough work rather than an intentional vacation I feel myself getting antsy and feeling more than a little bit like a bum. (more)

Mac versus PC part 3: podcasting – After a few weeks spent adjusting to this new operating system and the new applications available to me, I’v discovered that I can massively cut down on the number of small but annoying tasks that always plagued my Windows podcasting workflow. This experience is strikingly similar to what I outlined for my blog workflow transition in part 2 of this series. Even though I’m basically doing the same tasks for blogging and podcasting on my new Mac set-up as I was doing on my old Windows set-up, the more seamless integration of programs and user-friendliness of the major applications has sped up my process considerably, leaving me more time to actually create content rather than futz with settings and file transfers. (more)

The Babbling Conductor – Though I am thinking of one conductor in particular for this exmple, I’ve seen this kind of phenomenon happen in many orchestras, and I believe that the behavior of the musicians described in the following paragraphs (I’m making you curious, right?) is a natural orchestral musician response to long-winded conductors. Is this a fair response? Immature? Jocular good fun? That’s for you to decide–but it is a very common occurrence in the orchestra! I actually think that a verbose conductor can be a real asset to a performance, and that it often really enhances the audience experience in the abstract; in reality, however, I become one of the squirrelly musicians I’m describing. I just can’t help myself. want to play when I’m on a gig, and any extra talk keeps me from doing the job that I was hired to do….even though I realize that this is a valuable part of the performance and something that should happen. (more)

How Taking Less Work Has Led to More Work for Me – As I spend more of my time focusing on local activities (playing, teaching, etc.) and less on driving all over the country, I’ve gotten a chance to really take in this remarkable city that I live in. What a fascinating and multifaceted place metro Chicago is! I’m currently sitting on the Midway Pleasance, gazing up at the awe-inspiring neo-gothic architecture of the University of Chicago (though it was constructed around 1900, it looks like someone ripped out a medieval European city and plopped it smack-dab in the middle of Chicago. (more)

Mac versus PC part 2: blogging – One of the main tasks I use my laptop for is blogging, and the workflow on the Mac was of primary importance to me. Though I spent the first few years of my blog ging career on a PC, I knew that over 50% of all bloggers use a Mac, and therefore I figured that there had to be some benefit. I’ve found the transition from the PC to the Mac to be an overall positive experience, though there are a few things that I miss from the PC. I am not interested in running Windows on this Mac in any form (whether through Boot Camp or Parallels), so though I know that I could install Windows and get these programs, I’m trying to find a suitable Mac replacement for these components of my blogging experience. (more)

Standing versus Sitting for the Double Bassist – Ahh, those lovely and divisive double bass issues like standing–fodder for eternal and impassioned debate on both sides of the fence. Deciding whether or not to stand while playing the instrument (or to do both depending on the context) is a pivotal decision for every single bassist, and it is the source of much controversy and confusion. Honestly, I should have my head examined for even considering tackling this thorny topic. I’m sure that even pointing out these various differences will cause a good deal of heated debate and disagreement (notice that I avoid mentioning the stance I actually use). What on Earth am I thinking? Who knows…but here it goes! (more)

Mac versus PC part 1: overview – Only a few days after writing about how everyone mocks my Acer laptop, I moved over to a shiny new MacBook with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2 gigs of RAM, with Leopard, iLife ‘08, and the regular accoutrement of Mac applications. As a former Mac user who switched over to the PC just as OSX was on the horizon, coming back to this platform is like coming back home, but to a sleek, 21st-century home outfitted with the latest gadgets. (more)

Disturbing Trends in Adjunct Faculty Employment – A recent article in the Chicago Reader (May 1, 2008 Vol. 37, No. 32) titled And All I Got Was This Lousy PhD jumped off the page as I was perusing the paper recently, and for good reason–this piece by Deanna Issacs confirms many of my frustrations and concerns regarding trends in hiring practices at many universities. I’ve written two articles on this very topic which may interest readers (the former was published in 2007 in Adjunct Nation Magazine, and the latter is part of my upcoming book Road Warrior Without an Expense Account)….(more)

In Search of the Perfect Bow – Most string players own several different bows during the course of their playing career, usually starting on a fiberglass or inexpensive wooden bow in early years of study and upgrading many times on the journey toward professional-level playing. Like strings, rosin, and other key pieces of gear, bows are a very personal and subjective item, and many string players spend their entire lives in search of the perfect bow. (more)

How Long Should a Private Lesson Last? – I’ve always been fascinated by the wide variance in lesson durations among various teachers. Many of my piano teacher colleagues hold lessons for preschoolers that last only 15 minutes, while some legendary pedagogues teach lessons that last six, seven, or even eight hours. I’ve even met some teachers who teach a student until the late hours, then give them a place to sleep, feed them breakfast, and resume the lesson for another multi-hour stretch! (more)

Everybody Mocks My Windows Computer! – As a blogger, podcaster, and all-around new media guy, I have found that most people assume that I am on a Mac. I frequently have people ask me if I’ve installed Leopard yet, how to perform a specific task in iMovie, or tips on assembling podcasts in GarageBand. This is a pretty reasonable assumption–a majority of mew media types seem to be on a Mac these days, and for good reason! Integrating audio, video, pictures, and blogging into one’s workflow is just…well, easier on a Mac. (more)

Bye Bye Basses – Hydraulic stages are both a blessing and a curse! I’ve played on them in a variety of venues, and while they’re usually a blessing for stage and pit logistics in multi-use halls, they can yield some amusing (and potentially disastrous) unintended results.I have played performances with a variety of groups in Milwaukee’s Uihlein Hall over the years, but most of these performances have been with the Milwaukee Ballet. This hall has a hydraulic stage, which is raised for full symphonic performances and lowered in the front for ballet and opera performances. (more)

Influx of Music School Funding – With ever-diminishing opportunities for music performance careers, why have so many individuals, universities, and foundations contributed funding for these ambitious new developments? Don’t get me wrong–I think that these are wonderful developments. I’ve spent all of my college years at aging and ill-equipped facilities, with ratty practice rooms, scant ensemble rehearsal rooms, terrible soundproofing, and no elevators. (more)

How Solo Part Assignments Change Your Playing – As a performer of an instrument traditionally used in multi-member orchestral sections, much of my energy and focus in rehearsals and performances is spent achieving unanimity of blend, pitch, timing, and tone with my double bass colleagues. My goal is to first amalgamate with my section mates, then to weave this cohesive sonic product with the rest of the ensemble. I love this process–this, in fact, is one of the main reasons why I play music! To me, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as being part of a well-oiled double bass machine. (more)

The Real Cost of Driving to Gigs for the Freelance Musician – A recent feature in the Chicago Tribune (Sunday, April 13, 2008 by Jim Mateja) about the actual operating costs per mile for a variety of different vehicles caught my eye–not surprising considering how much I’ve written on commuting and its effect of the livelihood of a musician. The price of gas rose 31.5 percent in 2007, which means that the average consumer (driving 10,000 miles a year) will spend between $5,510 and $9,095 to operate a 2008 model car. This figure is based on gas, oil, tires, and maintenance–parking or tolls are not included in these calculations. (more)

Summer is when I really developed my blog in the first place, and in subsequent summers I did most of the redesigning and behind-the-scenes work. It’s also a great time to do some writing and restore those creative energies, renewing my enthusiasm for another year of teaching, performing, and writing.

While I have a good time simply blogging in my kitchen (like I’m doing now!), drinking coffee and hanging out with the cats, I’ve been able to play chamber music with a dynamite group of musicians up in Door County these past several years. With more shoreline than any other county in the United States, this place is a sea lover’s dream, and the gentle breezes and pleasant solitude are the antithesis of my busy Chicago lifestyle.

Head north, take a boat….

My parents have been able to come up and spend some time in Door County these past several summers while I’ve been up here, which has been a lot of fun. My dad in particular enjoys this nautical setting (he maintains a blog on kayaking called Kayaking the Lakes of South Dakota). This summer, we took a trip up to Washington Island (requiring a ferry ride from the tip of the Door peninsula), then boarded an even smaller boat and crossed the channel to Rock Island.

Rock Island is the last island in northern Wisconsin before crossing the Michigan state line, and though it is now a state park, at one time it was owned by Chicago business tycoon Chester Thordarson. Here’s a shot of Thordarson’s old boathouse:

All the buildings were constructed with deference to Thordarson’s Icelandic heritage, and it’s quite a sight to see these grand structures on this remote island. Even in June, this part of Wisconsin can be quite cold. Temperatures hovered in the low fifties, making me shudder as I contemplated how this placed looks in December or January. People drive across the Lake Michigan ice to reach this place in the winter, and though the thought of taking a vehicle across the lake seems insane in Chicago, it makes a lot of sense up here.

After getting off the boat and hiking for a half-hour, we ended up at a lighthouse on the north end of the island, where we were greeted by a lighthouse caretaker and given a tour of the building. This lighthouse’s keeper must have had a lonely existence in this remote place on the continent.

This sign hung in Thordarsen’s bar room many years ago. I like the sentiments on it:

This bar is dedicated to those merry old souls of other days who again will make drinking a pleasure… who achieve contentment, enjoy what they drink, prove able to carry it… and remain GENTLEMEN

Sounds like Thordarsen had grown tired of bawdy drunken guests, eh?

When I was getting started as a freelance musician at the tail end of my masters degree, I was quaking in my boots about my future prospects. After all, I was regularly buying CDs at Borders and Barnes and Noble from former Northwestern doctoral music students. If the best they could do was retail bookstore work after getting a doctoral degree, what were my prospects going to look like?

Fortunately, a lot of stuff fell in place for me in a hurry, and I found myself with three regular gigs (the Elgin Symphony, IRIS Orchestra, and Milwaukee Ballet) by the fall.

Now I just needed some teaching!

I got a call for at the…. well, I’ll call it the Jimbobo School of Music for the purposes of this post. I’m sad to say that this “school of music” still exists here in metro Chicago, and it’s a truly rotten operation—the perfect representation of everything that’s wrong with the private lesson “music school” system.

In fact, I’ve got some choice words about this whole system at some point in the near future. Oh man, do I ever have some stuff to share about this system. But that’s for another time…..

Landing the Teaching Gig

I was delighted to be called for an interview at the Jimbobo School of Music. A gig teaching the bass? This sounds great! Adding some private students into my freelance mix seemed like the perfect thing to complement the work I’d already lassoed. I drove out and met with the director of the Jimbobo School. Everything sounded fine to me. I was to get $34 an hour (the parents were almost certainly being charged $80 for this lesson, but hey, those administrative costs are mighty high, right?), and I was to have one student. I was to travel to their house in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago to teach them.

But wait! This was only going to be a half-hour lesson. So only $17 for me per trip. Um, OK…

Hmm…. $17… plus traveling to the Gold Coast, where there is absolutely, positively no parking whatsoever…. well, I could take the train…. if I left 1 1/2 hours early I should be able to make it… and then there was the train ride home… another hour or so.

OK, so I’d be getting $17 for teaching plus the 2 1/2 hours of commuting, minus the $3 I’d pay for the train (or $12 for parking if I chose to drive). That came to $4.67 an hour if I took the train, and $1.67 if I drove (crappy Chicago traffic made the commute by car about as long as the train ride).

Alright, $4.67 a lesson after getting a masters in music from an expensive private school! I was on my way up in the world, sure to pay off those $40,000 in loans in no time flat. Right? And hey, if I chose to drive, I’d actually have enough money for a coffee… before taxes.

But hey, some teaching was better than no teaching in my mind, and maybe I’d get some more students…. in the Gold Coast…. that I’d have to get to…. but whatever, sounds good to me!

I made it to my first lesson with time to spare, and I sat in the south end of Lincoln Park doing some people watching. This area of Chicago has always fascinated me, as the truly opulent bump right up against homeless people sleeping in the park. Fur coated women walk poodles walk past men wrapped in blankets, and limousines drop dapper young hipsters at The Pump Room (where Sinatra used to hang out when visiting Chicago) just down the street from the Cabrini-Green housing project.

All this was happening nearly ten years ago, and the Cabrini-Green housing project has largely been demolished to make way for more high-rise condominiums. But the homeless still sleep in the park, right next to statues of Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Schiller, and other historical luminaries.

Meeting My Student….Yikes!

My student was a seventh grader at a prestigious private school in the area, and though I was pretty green as a teacher, I knew from the outset that he was trouble personified. To call him spoiled would be an insult to spoiled children—he was basically every private teacher’s nightmare: inattentive, inappropriate, uninterested, and just basically impossible.

I was led upstairs to his room, where our lessons were to take place (the worst possible place to teach a student—don’t teach them in their room!). He promptly flopped on the bed, closed his eyes, and refused to respond to my cajoling.

This lesson was going great! This was worth the $4.67!

I finally convinced him to stand up and play a few notes, though he tried at one point to climb back on his bed with his bass (don’t teach lessons in kid’s rooms, remember?). I think that we got through a D major scale…. maybe…. before calling it a day.

Teaching experience! Yay!

Needless to say, at this point I did not think that teaching was something I was interested in developing, career-wise. These early experiences made gigging seem like striking the jackpot.

One quick aside—I now love teaching and actually prefer it in many cases to playing. You can read a more contemporary reflection on my thoughts on teaching here. I’m just trying to illustrate how truly bad this situation was, and how it turned me off of teaching altogether for a time…but only a time.

Where’s My Paycheck?

Weeks went by, with these agonizing lessons continuing. I had been instructed at the Jimbobo School of Music to send in a timesheet (fax-not mail) at the beginning of every month. Lacking a fax machine in my grad student hovel, I trudged down to my local Kinko’s and plopped a few bucks down to fax this over to them.

I faxed my September timesheet.

No paycheck.

I faxed my October timesheet.

No paycheck.

I called the office.

No answer.

I left a message.

No call back.

I called again.

No answer.

I left another message.

No response.

The Lessons Grind On – Still No Paycheck

November came, meaning that I had taught this student for two months with no compensation and no response to my faxes or my phone calls. I could drive out to the Jimbobo School, but this place was located on the opposite side of the suburban area, over an hour away from my place in Chicago at the time. Did I really want to spend more money on collecting my $4.67 hourly wage?

Coming out of one of my lessons in late October, I ran into a former colleague from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He was heading in to teach violin to another sibling for the very same family!

I stopped him for a moment, determined to get to the bottom of this:

Jason: Let me ask you something…. does this school take a long time to pay?

Violinist: Oh, heavens, yes! I haven’t gotten paid for months! I call the office and yell at Ms. _______, but nothing seems to get done.

Jason: [incredulous guffaw]

Violinist: You know, none of the teachers are getting paid. the husband of one of the piano teachers calls the office all the time, yelling at them in Russian to get paid, but nothing ever happens. I am just about to quit myself.

Scammed?

Even though I was new to the “teaching business,” I knew that something was rotten in Denmark. I mean, c’mon—no paychecks and no phone calls for two months? In no way, shape, or form was this worth it. Not for experience, not for musical satisfaction, certainly not for income! Just not worth it.

I decided that quitting time for my association with the Jimbobo School had arrived, and I called the office to “tender my resignation,” as it were.

No answer.

I left a message

No response.

I faxed all my timesheets again, having to go to Kinko’s and shell out some more $$$–I was well into negative figures on this teaching “gig.”

No response.

Taking it to the Board Members

I went to this student’s house a couple more times in November, noticing that the leaves had changed on all the trees in Lincoln Park. The residents were dressed in their finest, like 19th century industrialists, while the homeless continued huddling in the park.

I recalled the Jimbobo School’s director mentioning that the parents of the student I was teaching (really quite nice people, despite the frustrating behavior of their son) were on the board of directors for the school. I decided to tell them about the whole situation.

Jason: Sorry to say it [keeping true feeling bottled up deep below surface!], but this will be our last lesson.

Parents: Oh no!

Jason: Did the Jimbobo School fill you in on this?

Parents: This is all news to us. We had no idea you were quitting.

Jason: Well, I haven’t gotten paid once since starting to teach for the Jimbobo School, so I told them last week that I’d have to quit. I just can’t work for free!

Parents: What?!? We’ve been paying them! We donate to them and everything.

Jason: Well, I though you’d like to know that none of the money is reaching any of the teachers.

At Last: A Response!

Guess What? The next day, I get a frantic call from the school’s receptionist.

Though I’m a stickler for calling people back, I decided to let this one sit and marinate on the answering machine.

Later that day, guess what? Another phone call! This time from the director of the Jimbobo School.

I let this one marinate as well. Apparently, I’d gotten their attention! They informed me that a check was being issued and would be mailed that day.

Getting….Paid?

Sure enough, a check arrived in the mail.

I opened it.

It was for half of the first month’s lessons! A whopping $34.

For years, I’ve kept a file folder labeled ‘Evidence’ (kind of like my lame version of Nixon’s enemies list… only not about enemies…. uh, never mind). I’d put any material directed at me that I thought I’d need to possibly refer to later. I’ve got all my car explosion papers, nasty notes left under my windshield wipers from 10 years ago…. and the pay stubs from the Jimbobo School! I kid you not.

Scammed!

I got on the phone and called up the Jimbobo School, quaking with frustration and anger.

The receptionist picked up. Caller ID? Maybe they were instructed to actually answer calls from my number this time.

The conversation that ensued only added to my frustration:

Receptionist: Hello?

Jason: This is Jason Heath, the bass teacher. I just got a check from the Jimbobo School.

Receptionist: Good. We sent it out earlier this week.

Jason: Right….the problem is that it’s only for half of one month’s pay!

Receptionist: That can’t be right. We sent you a check for all of September.

Jason: No, I only got a check for half of…. wait a minute! You only sent a check for September? What about all the October lessons I taught and the one I did in November?

Receptionist: We’ve only issued checks to teachers for September at this point.

Jason: Well, actually, you didn’t send me a check at all until I told your board member I hadn’t gotten paid. When will I get a check for October?

Receptionist: We don’t have that information at that time.

Jason: Don’t have that… information? OK, I need to get paid for all my lessons now.

Unsurprisingly, this encounter ended without resolution. Lovely.

Up the Chain of Command

The next day, I got an angry call from the Jimbobo School’s director:

Director: The ____________ family says that you’re quitting? What’s going on? You can’t quit! This is unacceptable!

Jason: Why haven’t I gotten paid? That’s unacceptable!

I won’t bore you with all the details–suffice it to say, I was informed that I would be paid the remaining amount owed promptly.

After finally making it clear that I was in fact quitting, I was asked if I could recommend anybody for the “position.”

Why on Earth would I recommend that anyone deal with this organization? I wouldn’t inflict that o my worst enemies, let alone my double bass friends and colleagues. I informed him that he’d not be getting any recommendations from me and hung up.

Least Profitable Venture Ever

Not only had I invested all those hours teaching and commuting, plus shelling out money to park or take the rain, but I’d also frittered away considerable time on the phone, walking to Kinko’s, and gnashing my teeth in frustration as I tried to fall asleep late at night, fuming about this ridiculous situation.

My compensation? After 2 1/2 months of frustration, indifference, and lack of communication?

$34.

I love teaching! Especially for private music “schools!”

Angry Jason Takes the Stage

Determined not to let this school continue getting away with scamming inexperienced music graduates like me (my violinist colleague was going through the same exact thing, remember?), I called up the Civic Orchestra of Chicago office (where the Jimbobo School had gotten my name) and filled them in on all the gory details, strongly suggesting that they refrain from giving any more teacher names to this organization.

They let me know that I wasn’t the first musician to complain about this school (!), and that they weren’t planing on giving out any more Civic Orchestra member names to this school.

Full Payment at Long Last

My check for the complete amount finally arrived by early December, along with a Post-It note imploring me to come back and work for the Jimbobo School. I ran to the bank as fast as I could and deposited the check.

I’d now make a little over $100 from teaching, and I only had to invest $40-60 in commuting costs plus a few dozen hours of my time.

Teaching rocks…and it sure is profitable!

The Final Confrontation

I got one more phone call from the Jimbobo School, this time from the executive director. He was a doctor with a practice near the Jimbobo School, and he seemed like a very nice fellow. I’ve probably never let loose in a professional situation like I did with this person, and though I am convinced that I was completely justified in my frustration and anger, I definitely feel more than a little chagrined as I remember my words. He called me as I was walking into the local grocery store, and I remember standing in the entryway ranting and raving for a solid fifteen minutes on my cell phone, the spitting image of the eccentric musician.

He listened quietly as I said my piece, apologized for the treatment I had received, and filled me in on the background of the school. Apparently, this school had been run into the ground financially and had reorganized the previous year, and all efforts were being made to get things on the right track financially.

I felt ashamed at becoming so frustrated, at telling my board member parent about not getting paid, at calling the Civic Orchestra office and warning them about this organization. After all, arts organizations are always dancing on the precipice of financial disaster, and I as much as anyone want to see them succeed.

But this wasn’t a case of a symphony financially imploding, a summer festival losing their funding, or a school budget facing governmental shortfalls. I was teaching a private lesson to one student, and this group couldn’t pay me the less than 50% cut I was owed? C’mon, we’re talking about a hundred bucks here!

Final Thoughts

This is a prime example of why I like teaching private students privately, and not through some music school framework. Local music schools offering private lessons to K-12 age students often charge twice as much (or more!) as they pay their teachers. Why should a parent have to pay a 50% premium for a lesson? Aside from providing the teaching space (which is usually at a premium in local music schools anyway), what benefit does this arrangement offer either teacher or student?

There are many examples of stellar programs that incorporate private teaching, music theory, orchestra, and chamber music into a cohesive experience for their students. The Merit School of Music here in Chicago is a prime example of such a school, and many others exist in the United States and beyond. Many people prefer this kind of arrangement, allowing the school to handle student recruitment, collect payment, and in many cases even arrange teacher schedules.

I prefer to handle these things privately and maintain my own studio. This is not a ideal arrangement all teachers, but it works for me. In fact, the whole private music academy versus independent private teacher topic is worthy of a more extended discussion, and I’ll try to get into it at a future time here on the blog.

For now, however, just take this tale of the Jimbobo School as a cautionary lesson in assessing a teaching situation. Could I have avoided this situation? Probably, though I was so inexperienced that I didn’t really know what sort of teaching situations existed out there.

Readers: How have your experiences working for private music schools been? Better? Worse? Similar? Have you gotten reeled into inequitable teaching arrangements like this in the past, and if so, how did you disentangle yourself? What benefits (and there are certainly many, despite what I’ve written here!) to such schools provide in your eyes? I’d love to hear from you!

Freelancers must be highly adaptable, creative problem solvers, and expert networkers, and they must have the ability to deal with dozens of separate information channels and collate them together, minimizing conflicts and allowing enough time to make it from venue to venue. Too little work, and they’ll end up in the poorhouse. Too much work, and they’re headed for the madhouse. It’s a delicate balancing act!

There are a few common-sense strategies that any new freelancer can employ to bolster their chances of succeeding in this exciting but frustrating environment:

1. Don’t be late! – It doesn’t matter how you do it, but never, ever, ever be late if you want to keep working in tis business. Car broke down? Tough. Trains not running on time? Gee, I’m sorry about that. Bad weather? What a pity. Traffic too heavy? You don’t say. It doesn’t matter what excuses you give–late is late, and barring some extremely rare emergency situation (and bad traffic is not an emergency), lateness is unacceptable. This is the #1 way to alienate people in the freelance business. Any shadow of a doubt on whether a musician is going to make it on time is enough to make a contractor call someone else. The stress isn’t worth ti for them, and each late arrival is a nail in your freelance coffin

2. Always double your travel time estimation – Though this tip applies to all freelance musicians, it is doubly important for folks in the early stages of getting established. Musicians in smaller metropolitan areas might not to leave quite as early as their big city brethren, but they should still leave enough time to allow a cushion for unanticipated situations. I can’t tell you ho many times my big cushion of travel time saved my bacon in Chicagoland. Maybe there’s an accident. Maybe it’s sowing. Maybe a butter truck turned over on the expressway, coating the freeway in a slick goo (this actually happened!). You have not control over these external factors, but you do have control over your departure time, so give yourself a safety cushion for all gigs.

3. Load your cell phone up with all imaginable contact numbers – I can’t tell you how many panicky calls I’ve gotten from my freelance colleagues asking if I had so-and-so’s number. Plan ahead! Program into your cell phone the numbers of all contractors, colleagues, carpool buddies, and your own personal list of substitute players. You may even wan to add the box office and/or backstage numbers of the various halls you play in. You may think that this is overkill, but over the years you’ll thank yourself for taking the time. Again, doing this has saved my bacon when I’ve been in a tight spot more times than I care to recall!

4. Keep spare gear in your car – Keep some or all of the following gear in the car. You may never need to draw upon it (though I certainly have!), but you’ll help out colleagues who forgot their tie, dressed in the wrong outfit, etc. They’ll thank you, and you’ll build up some god gig karma in the process.

Keep the following in the car (this is a male-centric list with the clothing items–sorry!):

• music stand
• music clips (for outdoor gigs)
• spare black tie
• spare white tie
• spare long tie
• spare black suit/tux jacket
• extra black socks
• spare white shirt
• spare tux shirt

These spare items can be your old nasties–any musician is sure to have a pile of frighteningly stained and soiled formal wear somewhere in their closet. Load up a small bag with these items and stuff it in your trunk or under your seat. You don’t realize how much of a problem forgetting your black socks is until you actually do it!

5. Get a portable e-mail device and check it constantly – When I started freelancing in the late nineties, I don’t think that I ever got a single gig via e-mail. Now, almost 100% of my gigs come to me this way. If you respond right away (whether your answer is yes or no), you’ll be perceived as “on top of it,” and you’ll probably get more work from that individual as a result–even if you said no! The biggest pain for a contractor is booking musicians, and if they know that you respond within 15 minutes (even if the answer is no) and another musician takes 1- days to respond, guess who they’ll ask the next time they need someone?

6. Build up a recommendation list and keep it handy! – Always have names on hand to pass along to contractors. Consider the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1:

Contractor: Hello. I need a bassist for next Friday and Saturday. Are you available?

Musician: Can’t do it. Sorry.

- click-

Scenario 2:

Contractor: Hello. I need a bassist for next Friday and Saturday. Are you available?

Musician: You know, I’m not free, but have you tried Fred or Jim? I think they might be free. I know that Bill and Jack are playing the same gig I’m playing, so they probably can’t make it but both Fred and Jim mentioned to me that they didn’t have a lot going on this weekend. And if they can’t do it, there are these two new hot shot players that just moved to town. Let me give you their names. I’ve played a gig with the first guy and he sounded great. I haven’t met the second guy, but I’ve heard great things….

Under scenario 1, calling you results in a dead end. Under Scenario 2, calling you leads to a whole bunch of time-saving information. Under this scenario, you become an asset to the contractor, helping him to know what else is going on in town, who might be free, and if there are any new players in the are that might be interested. Keeping on top of the scene and being ready with recommendations is something that comes with experience, but making an effort to be an active and aware member of the freelance community rather than random player #14324 can only benefit you in the long run.

7. Learn when to say yes and when to say no – There are gigs that are worth your time, and there are gigs that aren’t. Learning to draw this distinction comes with time, and the cost/benefit ratio of any gig will be different for each individual musician, so one player’s pile of cow crap may be another person’s meal ticket.

Even if you know that the gig you’re being offered is, in you eyes, a pile of cow crap, you may want to refrain from chastising the person for calling you for this gig. Maybe you have a student who’s like the experience. Maybe you know someone who lives right next to the venue, and playing this would make a lot of sense for them logistically. Maybe you know some players new to town who’d love the work.

If you do decide to let the contractor know that you think the gig doesn’t pay enough (this is a good thing to do if the contractor is demanding a player of a certain caliber but offering substandard pay), you may want to to it in a polite fashion.

Then again, maybe you want to exclaim, “I ain’t workin’ for that!” and slam down the phone. Everyone’s different.

8. if you ever contract (and you will), never make “cattle calls!” – For those unfamiliar with the term a cattle call is when a contractor calls down their list for a certain instrument, and the first person to get back to them gets the gig. While some contractors use this tactic frequently (though no one I work with), it is generally considered bed form, implying that the contractor just needs someone (anyone!) and doesn’t particularly care about you. Gigging thus becomes a race to the phone, and while this may be a commonly accepted method of doling out work in other professions, it is frowned upon in the freelance music scene.

Sometimes, however, there really is a tight situation that necessitates a cattle call. Cattle calls may be an undesirable tactic, but they are the most efficient way to find a player. If you really need to use this tactic (generally considered OK if the gig is happening in less than 24 hours), make it clear in the phone/e-mail that it is a “cattle call,” be sure to apologize for using this tactic, and leave your contact info, making clear that this is an unusual circumstance.

Some individuals always cattle call, and while I will respond to this tactic from a contractor I do a lot of work for, I almost never return the message if it is an unknown contractor or one notorious for using this tactic. Maybe it’s a point of pride, but I like to think that, even though I am “just a freelancer,” my talents are significant enough to warrant an individual call with a reasonable response time, not a frantic and indiscriminate cattle call.

I actually got a teaching cattle call one, which really flabbergasted me. I mean, it’s one thing if you’re calling about a gig, but I’d like to think that selecting a teacher shouldn’t be done with this shotgun tactic. Even worse–the call was to be a bass teacher at a local high school! Not knowing it was a cattle call (otherwise I wouldn’t have called back), I returned the call, only to be told, “Sorry, someone already got back to me. Better luck next time!”

Luck? For teaching? Where are your priorities, my man? I’ve certainly got some choice words about that orchestra director after this experience!

9. Don’t answer the phone (but always check your messages) – This may seem contradictory advice to #5 (getting a portable e-mail device), and this approach may not work for everybody, but I personally like to hear all the details of a gig and take an objective look at my schedule before saying yes or no. I’ll return the call right away after hearing the message, but I like to get all the information before making a decision. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, I’ll say yes on the phone when I really should be saying no. Some contractors are quite convincing, and sometimes I’m just a dummy when it comes to the practical value of a gig.

Even if I do answer the phone, Ill usually say, “Let me check my book on that and get back to you later today. What were those dates again? How much is it paying? Where’s the location?” Taking a few minutes to get my head around a gig and determine if it will work in my crazy hectic schedule has saved me from some really stupid commutes and time crunches. I’m a “yes man,” and I therefore have to be careful to protect myself from getting into dumb situations.

10. You won’t be able to coordinate closely located gigs if you’re in Alabama one day and in Alaska the next – This is more long-term, philosophical advice, and there may not be a good way to immediately implement it, but it bears thinking about nevertheless. Are you a road warrior? Are you a local guy? Are you on the audition circuit, just filling in the cracks between auditions? Are you a student just looking to bolster your income? Are you a combination of one or more of the preceding roles?

If you’re on the audition circuit, looking to maximize your practice time, maybe spending all your time driving between different states for $75-100 a pop isn’t the best expenditure of your time. If you’re looking for long-term stability as a freelancer, cultivating those local contractor connections is paramount. If you’re looking to play on the side while maintaining another career, maybe you want to choose gigs that are close to home and only fall on the weekends.

11. Be friendly, but don’t let people walk all over you – Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a bit of a “yes man,” and I am liable to assume the best about my colleagues and employers. Though i’ve grown a bit more guarded over the years, I still assume that we’re all in this together and are helping each other through this world. I’ve found this to be the case 99% of the time, and I have had very few conflicts with my colleagues or my employers.

Inevitably, everyone in this business has a few personality conflicts with others, and I’ve had some from time to time. Many of them could appear as crazy gig stories sometime in the future, in fact! I tend to try and diffuse any tense situations with a smile and a wink, and this has mostly (though not always) worked for me.

I did completely lose it one time back in 2000 with an employer, and though I was more than justified in my reaction (like I said, this will make an excellent crazy gig story), I can’t help but feel a little ashamed at how I reacted.

12. Don’t talk smack unless you really know what you’re talking about (and even then maybe you shouldn’t do it!) – There are a lot of humorous, eccentric, highly strung, and just plain annoying figures in the world of music. Though these kind of people exist in all walks of life, there’s something about the type of personality that is attracted to a life in the performing arts (a topic I discussed in great detail in my 2007 series This Crazy Business) that favors the highly emotional sort.

In other words, there’s often a lot of smack-talk potential regarding our colleagues, and it’s very tempting to let loose about so-and-so or such-and-such.

I wish I could say that I’m innocent of this, but that is unfortunately not the case. In fact, a significant portion of this blog is dedicated to, if not outright smack-talk, at least a little humorous poking at my colleagues’ expense.

That said, I’d think twice before letting loose about a individual. This is a very small world, and it very easy for your words to come back and bite you where the sun don’t shine. This holds true for personnel managers, executive directors, audience members, and, to a lesser extent, conductors (sorry, conductors!).

I mean, c’mon–we’re musicians, and we’ve got to talk smack about somebody, right?

LEONARDO PRESICCI from ITALY and his new composition : CROSS OVER BASS (HR) for db. and orchestra

Dear Jason,

I’m happy to present you the new composition by maestro LEONARDO PRESICCI

“CROSS OVER BASS” for doublebass and orchestra.

Here the link to listen to all three movements well recording (live).

http://www.myspace.com/leonardopresicci

Maestro Leonardo Presicci is one of the most important doublebass player in South Italy. You can read his “curriculum vitae” on his MySpace. I’ ve played with him in the doublebass quartett called “Bass Sonority” (Michele Cellaro, Leonardo Presicci, Giovanni Rinaldi and Vito Liuzzi). It always was a pleasure to play with Leonardo and listen to his magic db. a Bedocchi 1901. Now this incredible composition.

I would be very and very happy if you tell me your opinion about everything regarding him (sound, technique and so on). As soon as possible maestro Presicci will insert one of his live concert on YouTube, so you will able to better understand his way of playing.

At the end some of my New Photos on my Italian Forum Contrabbasso Italiano I will talk about the my bow holding and exercises on free string to have a better and more focalized sound.

With all my esteem and best regards,

Vito

Vito D. Liuzzi
Professor of Conservatory – Doctor of Law
Journalist FreeLance

• Kennedy Expressway – 7 a.m. - jammed up on the freeway, riding the brake pedal, hoping to break 15 mph, desperately longing for an open lane
• Dunkin’ Donuts – 8:30 a.m.- loading up on my first round of tasty treats for the day
• Chicago Loop – 9 a.m. – sitting in the car in a parking garage deep below street level, coffee in hand, empty bag of donuts crumpled on the seat next to me, trying to shake out the cobwebs from last night’s concert
• Fine Arts Building – 10 a.m.- cramming bass, stool, and music stand into an elevator along with a handful of cranky colleagues, planning my escape route for after the rehearsal (to no avail)
• Starbucks – 11:30 a.m. - more coffee, more pastries
• Underground Parking Garage – 1:15 p.m. - speed-walking to the car with bass, stool, and stand, with just barely enough time (traffic permitting) to make it to the next engagement
• North Suburbs – 2:15 p.m. - dashing from parking lot to a local high school, late for my round of lessons, stomach churning from hunger and too much coffee, doing a little “lesson planning” en route
• Tri-State Tollway – 6 p.m. - sitting in deadlocked traffic on a multi-lane expressway, doing the commuting math mentally (How far? How much time? Do these numbers compute?) and hoping to squeeze in enough time for a quick drive-through before the evening gig
• McDonald’s – 6:45 p.m. - slamming on the horn and hoping that the car in front will move so that I can stuff my face with some burgers and more coffee before my fast-approaching evening gig
• Suburban Parking Lot – 6:55 p.m. - running with bass and eating burgers at the same time, hoping to have a second to unpack my bass before the tuning A sounds
• Northwest Tollway – 10:15 p.m. - sitting yet again in deadlocked traffic, this time because of evening road construction, heart pounding from too much caffeine, sugar, and grease, knowing that in a few short hours I’ll be on this road again, this time driving 300 miles south

I started doing this kind of work when I was fifteen years old, playing for both the South Dakota Symphony and Sioux City Symphony, plus doing jazz gigs, theater work, and a host of other paying gigs. I remember seeing older musicians and marveling how, though they seemed to complain bitterly about everything, they obviously loved this lifestyle and playing this music. Many of them had day jobs and got only a few hours of sleep a night, balancing this nocturnal lifestyle with the regular 9 to 5 world. Others lived completely in the world of music, bouncing around from job to job, eking out an existence as best they could in the punishing Arctic climate of the Dakotas.

Now I’m one of those old guys. Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn! Gramps is coming through with his bass.

Every time I try to get out… they pull me back in

This is both a completely exhausting and strangely addictive lifestyle, and every time I try to divorce myself from it I keep getting pulled back into it. Sometimes I hate it, especially when I’m driving home from a $75 gig in a snowstorm, but when faced with a week off or a week of crappy gigging, I usually opt for the crappy gigging, even if it doesn’t make a whole lot of financial sense.

Simply put, playing the bass makes me feel…well, useful. While outsiders may seem a week off from playing as a cause for celebration (after all, how many people in regular joe jobs daydream of the flexible schedule of the musician?), when this week off is a result of there simply not being enough work rather than an intentional vacation I feel myself getting antsy and feeling more than a little bit like a bum.

Maybe this is all in my head, but maybe not. I’ve had many conversations with fellow freelancers about this same exact topic, and observing orchestral musicians with full-time playing positions wedge extra work into their precious few days off makes me assume that the same mentality must exist within many of them as well. When I’m not playing, I kind of feel like a loser. I don’t know why–I have a lot of other activities that I do (teaching, blogging, podcasting, and managing new media projects for others) that generate income, and I love a real vacation just as much as the next person. Though I work hard when I’m “on the clock”, I’m certainly not a workaholic.

It’s like I was born to perform on the bass, and when I’m not playing for a stretch of time I feel kind of worthless. I wish that this feeling didn’t happen for me–I know that it’s not true, and I also know that I’ll probably be dreaming of having some day off while playing 10-12 services a week and cramming in teaching around that during the regular season. But those empty weeks inevitably roll around, and after a day or two I just feel like an old has-been, unemployed and useless.

Gigging your way through life

When I’m working these ridiculous 18 hour days (much of which is spent in standstill traffic here in metro Chicago), I dream of a less scattered profession, with regular hours, benefits, and consistency from week to week.

When I am not working, I relax for a day or two….. then start dreaming of working again!

It’s not that I don’t enjoy my time off. In fact, I tend to keep productive (doing writing, blogging, podcasting, and other such projects) during these stretches. I really enjoy the discretionary time.

But there’s always a nagging part of me, reminding me of what I should be doing–playing the bass. If I’m working as a bassist–even if the pay and conditions are wretched–that part of me is satisfied. If I’m not working as a bassist–even if I’m doing something profitable, fun, or valuable–that part of me keeps stabbing at me, making me feel useless.

Does music school do this to people? Is it the nature of musicians? Or am I just crazy? I don’t know, but as I mentioned earlier, I know a lot of musicians who feel the same way when faced with time off. What’s up with that?

Putting this book together has really been a great experience for me. Originally based on a series of ten blog posts in 2006 and 2007, it has been greatly expanded to cover the history of classical music employment, current and future trends, statistics on graduating student prospects, life as a freelance musician, and advice on the multitude of career paths laid out in front of music students.

Here’s a little video preview of the book. You can also check out the preface through the above link, and of course you can always read the ten-part blog series that was the inspiration for this book to get an idea of what’s inside.