Dear Alma, Should I get out more?
OrchestrasFrom our agony aunt’s mailbag:
Dear Alma,
I have been playing my instrument my whole life. I went to college in my town, play in the local orchestra, and teach some students. I am happy here, and have been doing this kind of thing for 7 years now. But should I go out and see the world? My students need me, and my orchestra depends on me. I would feel like I am abandoning them.
Not sure if I should go.
Dear NSIISG,
The answer is, YES YES YES and more YES. Go. Please go. They will miss you. But if you don’t take a deep breath and walk out that door, you will end up a shriveled shell of a human, the only thing holding up your sad little head will be the layers of regret piled up in your body. Of course you will miss them. Of course they will miss you. Maybe you don’t know where you will go, or what you will do, or if you will ever be back, or when or how or who. You will get in some sticky situations, you will find a new path, and your music will be with you the whole time, if you want it to be. Pack you bag, and your instrument, and YES YES YES. Send us a letter from wherever you end up – La Paz, Marseille, Jacksonville. A life lived with regrets is a life missed.
Go Thither!
Travel when you are young. Many health issues
Can occur when you reach retirement age.
Go now!
No, you should definitely not go out. As you mentioned, your orchestra and your students need you, and it just would be wrong to let them down. Chances are you won’t see much of the world anyway, as most orchestra musicians are usually addicted to an unending cycle of rehearsals, performances, and teaching — even signing on for some festival or summer academy when they happen to have a couple of months off, because most of them just feel terribly lost when they don’t have a rehearsal to go to, with a conductor telling them how to play a piece they’ve already performed dozens of times, or when they don’t have a summer teaching job coaching students planning to enter a ridiculously saturated and cutthroat job market. Going out and discovering that there actually is an entire world besides the drudgery of instrument practice and orchestra rehearsals might turn out to be a very scary experience — it’s best to stay away from that and keep safely within your comfort zone. As Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” but it sure feels pretty comfy, and who wants to start examining and digging all that crap? Your identity might be shattered if you happened to realize that you are much more than the countless hours of practicing, playing and rehearsing you already invested in this. What might happen then? If you do take that dangerous leap, however, be prepared to experience much turmoil, although there might be countless rewards in store for you…
Extreme irony, I assume.
That comment is really nasty and degrading
Agreed! Life as a musician holds many unexpected adventures!
Absolutely
Yes!! Don’t be a slave to anything or anyone. Music, whether it’s your profession or your number one hobby, can easily swallow you up and use up all of your energies, and can result in burn-out over time, if you’re not careful. Getting away from one’s routine, even if it’s only for a short time, is necessary and refreshing to maintain your sanity as a human being and will help you become a better teacher and player, rather than just a Robot serving one’s duties. Sometimes, we all think we’re indispensable until we find out we’re not! So, go and live a little while you can!
It can only be good for you….
The risk with taking a sabbatical to travel is that the deputies engaged to cover for your absence might retain your teaching and performing gigs permanently, and you return home to an empty schedule. When one is doing a good job and being praised for it, it is easy to think of oneself as indispensable and unique. In reality, there are often others out there who could do an equally brilliant job (maybe a better job), but have not yet had a chance to shine (it can be very difficult to get noticed, especially if you are too young/old/inexperienced/experienced/local/distant/specialist/polymath). Many careers have been launched by being in the right place at the right time to “step into someone else’s shoes”.
Moreover, even if you are truly indispensable and unique, what matters is whether the people who make the hiring decisions (pupils, concert promoters, orchestra managers, fixers, &c.) see it that way. Frustratingly, the profession and the customers will often overlook brilliant artists and pedagogues in favour of people who are perceived as less demanding or more reliable (this can apply even in respect of an artist who is both brilliant in practice *and* has an impressive CV on paper: I know of an amateur orchestra whose committee was moaning about the fact that the conductor was often absent owing to his professional work as a principal player in one of the UK’s leading orchestras — they conceded that he always gave notice and sent a capable deputy to take the rehearsal, but still decided not to renew his contract).
Of course, the risk of losing hard earned opportunities at home may still be worth taking, provided that your plans to “go out and see the world” are optimised to furthering your career or artistic development, and not merely an aimless wander motivated by a blind conviction that “the grass is greener on the other side”. In other words, you should ensure you have some worthwhile professional opportunities (or, failing that, professional development opportunities) lined-up in advance, to make the gamble worthwhile. (Then again, if you feel you have nothing to lose…)
Life life now, you are young and it will only make your life better!