Thursday, April 26, 2012
Do You Work for Free?
Elisabeth Hobbs: Musicians become musicians because they have a passion and a talent. They also have high levels of self-discipline and perseverance. To become a professional musician takes a lifetime of work. Most will have started playing by the age of ten: at that age, you might practice half an hour a day, but as you improve that soon becomes an hour, then three, then five hours (that’s per day, not week, on top of your schoolwork). By the time you’re at music college – if you’re one of the very tiny minority who make it through the highly competitive audition process – you are likely to be practising six or seven hours a day, in addition to a daily schedule of rehearsals and classes.
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4 comments:
Wow. Did everyone just forget that musicians are actually humans? Do a lot of people think that music comes from iPods not people? I'm shocked that there is that expectation for musicians to work for free. All of the stereotypes I've heard of musicians (at least those who play in live orchestras for musical theater) are really nasty. They seem to be known as apathetic, sloppy, stubborn, and inflexible. Of course that's just a stereotype. After reading this article I am in awe of how musicians are regarded in general. Not payed and insulted, that's pretty low. They are doing work just like everyone else and deserve to get paid, just like everyone else. Baffling.
Wow! This article is so true! One can substitute musician with anything. An example would be community theatre actors and technicians who volunteer their time for free because they love the craft. I'm sure they would love to get paid but they don't. They go to rehearsal everyday for weeks, usually after their regular jobs, and stay for three to four hours. When any art form is picked as a career, that is how they have chosen to make a living. Others do music, art, theatre etc...as a hobby but why shouldn't they get paid too if it is worthy? This article should be a message to all that people should be compensated for their expertise period.
What this article says is completely true. I think that the arts (be it musicians, theater artists, or whatever) are often thought to be jobs where people do things for free because it is something that more people feel is a hobby or fun activity. The fact is that many people work very hard in the arts to get recognition and to get where they are in the world, and they be deserved to be paid for that work. Just because we enjoy our work does not mean it is not worthy of pay and that we shouldn't feel like we should be paid for it.
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