Dear Alma, I can’t afford to play any more
OrchestrasFrom our agony aunt’s postbag:
Dear Alma,
I am in a spot of trouble, balancing my life financially at the same time as I am trying to get a better job. I graduated a couple of years ago, with no money in the bank and just an internship to pay the bills. After the internship was over, I have been working paycheck to paycheck, playing a variety of gigs and waiting tables. Now I feel stuck because I don’t have the time to practice for auditions or even enough money to take time off of work or travel to the auditions. It feels like I can’t get out of the cycle.
- Hamster on the Wheel
Dear Hamster,
Yes, this is a difficult place to be. Barely making a living and not able to devote the time to improve your lot. It’s easy to just give up and accept your situation, because no obvious solution is presenting itself, and you are also probably exhausted and a little down.
First, I would investigate the specific jobs that you would like to audition for, that are a realistic first step job, and don’t require too much travel. Choose several, and make the commitment to do them, putting them in your big calendar. Have a variety of options, from performance-based to administrative, to teaching. Make sure you open your mind to locations and job types that maybe aren’t your ideal final location or level, but can be a good first job. Then do the following.
Find a way to just get a sliver of breathing space, to try to start fresh? What ways can we find to 1. make a little more money, or 2. have a little more time.
More money:
- Ask for a raise.
- Contact friends or old teachers and ask if they have any advice or have heard of any openings.
- Look for a higher paying job for waiting tables – put on your best clothes and go to the fanciest restaurants you can find (pictured).
- Lower your living cost – look at all of your bills and find ways to trim. Maybe you can stop having your daily pint, or take a roommate. Make dried beans, whole chickens, and buy a big bag of rice.
More time:
- Live with mom or dad for a couple of months so you have time to practice.
- Cut out any excess time-eaters like video games, and movies (within reason). Live like an Olympic athlete, with your eye on the big prize, using every moment towards your goal.
- Don’t underestimate how 10-15 minutes of concentrated practice time can make a big impact. You don’t need three hours in a row, like you had in school. Tuck it in wherever you can, for as long (or short) as you can manage.
The most important thing is to find a goal, and focus all of your skills to try to achieve it. Widen your career options: it’s not often that a person finds happiness in exactly the career that they were trained for. It’s surprising how satisfied you can be by just opening your eyes a little wider to the things all around you. Believe in yourself – your teachers certainly did, and all of the hard work you put in is still inside you, it just needs to find a way out.
THIS: Don’t underestimate how 10-15 minutes of concentrated practice time can make a big impact. YES.
Or even, as a mother of small children, 5 minutes! Y teacher would call this target practice. Know what you want to do and do just that in 5 minutes.
Dear lord that’s a lot of blind advice
What do you suggest?
Not easy to pick and choose if you are not well off.
I had to do shift work after my job as a bookseller
Finished. It paid my bills.
I did so many odd jobs during and after school. It built character and helped me relate to all kinds of people.
Unless restaurants have changed greatly since I waited tables in my youth, the base salary tends to be the same, regardless of the decor, ambiance and menu. The tips may be bigger in a high-end restaurant (but not necessarily, because tables don’t turn over as fast): but then, so is the skill set required by the waiting staff.
I can’t help wondering whether there is any actual life experience behind this particular piece of advice…
Anyway, my advice to the young musician is to start looking for teaching work that can be fitted in, in tandem, with your gigs. Teaching work should be better paid, per hour: is less exhausting than waiting tables; and will hopefully allow you more practice time – especially when pupils miss a lesson.
If you can start to focus your money-making efforts exclusively on music, that will help you to build up contacts within the profession, who can help move you upwards – both as a teacher, and as a player. Fellow-teachers may have gig-fixing contacts, and be able to help you to increase your freelance work.
It’s a hard life stage. I wish you all the very best.
Actually, tips can make a huge difference, as can the attitude of the clientele. Even careers can be helped by being in a higher level work place.
What absurd, in fact arrogant (not to mention worthless) advice. To “Hamster”: what no one will tell you but which you clearly already suspect yourself, is to accept that you will almost certainly have no career in music. Just like the great number of those who study it. Accept it and move on.
How do you even look at yourself in the mirror?
Sometimes the readers of this blog are more engaging than the blogger himself. Their inability to detect satire is very amusing!
Totally
Know what you are asking of yourself and others and leverage what you can when asking, without pandering; make sure where you put your time aligns with what you are worth (money comes when you make an occupational contribution many others can not); evaluate your current goals based on assessment of your entire life as a musician and surroundings, not just a single performance, a year of school, etc. Bears without mentioning… don’t break any laws unless you want an organization to see you as a liability.
Professionals get really good at getting their chops back after taking a honeymoon or looking after kids.
Beautiful advice, thanks!
Lol this is not advice. This is to consider alongside the “buy a bag of rice” comment. While this is valid…. Hardly worth the electricity to post.
Exchange musician with any other career option, kind of like madlibs, and it’s suitable.
Hello Alma,
This is Hamster. I was so relieved after reading this. I hadn’t realized how down I was feeling. The first thing I did was write to my old teacher. They offered supportive advice, and even invited me to come back and attend studio class. He put me in touch with the school career office and I am going in next week. I will keep you posted.
Hi Alma!
This is 13 year old cellist from a couple of weeks ago. School started and my new chamber group starts next week. I am super excited and thanks for helping talk to my parents about it.
Let’s not beat around the bush. Your financial quagmire and career woes are the result of one clear issue: priorities.
The cycle you’re trapped in is of your own making. Break free by putting your talent first, not your part-time job. When I was in your shoes I memorized a tasteless piano piece of Copland’s just on the off chance that I would get to play it for him.
It’s your passion for ego stroking the people around you that will pay the dividends, not the tips from serving dinner.
Sincerely,
LB
Again, more baggage!!!
I’ve been trying to break in for the last 30 years since graduating from the Juilliard School. I’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. It wasn’t part of the plan.
Dear Alma,
I’m applying to graduate schools and have no idea what to write for my personal statement! Do you have any suggestions? I’m no longer sure why I got into music except that I never really liked much else in school! Should I mention that I have had too many teachers to count in my undergraduate education and how that has impacted me?