Dear Alma, The city has abandoned my orchestra

Some sound advice from our agony aunt:

Dear Alma

I’m a musician in an English orchestra whose subsidy has been abolished by the city council. It’s not an existential issue – just 5 percent of our budget – but after years of living on the breadline it feels like the executioner’s axe.

This is my city, and my city has forsaken us.

When I read that private donors in Cleveland have just given $4.6 million to the orchestra, I want to weep. We’d be lucky to get a new coffee machine from our patrons. There is no culture of philanthropy for orchestras in most of this country.

So what do I do? I can’t leave town. My kids are in school here and have good friends. My wife runs a small business. I could stay in the orchestra and endure inevitable decline or I could retrain for something else. I’m in my 40s. I’ve always fancied driving an ambulance.

What do you say, Alma?

One broken heart for sale

Dear One Broken Heart for Sale,

No two ways about it, this is a terrible situation. You have been in a vice, being slowly turned tighter, and then someone comes and slaps you across the face with a rotting fish. Already numb from years of scrimping, you are now in a serious bind. Nowhere to go and no options. But, you have a family and friends, and a decent attitude. Keep these close and you can find a way out of that squeaking vice.

There are two ways to look at this. Logically and emotionally. Let’s start with logic. And some hypothetical math.

You earn £50,000 a year from orchestra, your salary was cut by 5%, and now you earn £47,500. You need to make up that loss of £2,500. That’s £209 per month, or £52 a week. If you take one student, you can make up the loss. Take two, and get yourself that coffee machine you have been thinking about. With an hour or two more work a week, your family life can remain the same, and you might even enjoy the change. Heck, you might even like it so much that you take 20.83 students a week and entirely replace your orchestra income! Imagine the freedom, ability to work from home, variety, and happiness you can give to all of those families.

OBHFS, let’s take a look at the emotional side of the coin. You seem burned out. I am all for quitting things. I have never regretted it, and it has always lead to new and exciting things (if you can stomach the indeterminately long period of instability). You may need an entirely new career. You are young and haven’t given up the ship yet. It could be driving ambulance. Or something equally wacky. You might love your new life and live longer.

But just like playing an instrument, true freedom only happens when there is a foundation of complete control and planning. Retraining takes time and money. You may need to have saved two years of income in order to take the plunge. Research the ambulance career – go to the hospital and talk to some workers, find out the cost and length of training required, the pay, and if it is a job you will be guaranteed after you complete the training. I don’t mean to be a skeptic, but I can imagine that ambulance driver is a pretty brutal job, with erratic hours and a lot of emotional demands. And probably pays worse than the orchestra.

That being said, the idea of finding a new career is not altogether terrible. In fact it’s pretty darned fantastic. Look at me, just a musician, and I am having the time of my life reading and responding to letters from all of you. Way more fun than sitting on my tush all day making sure my mezzo pianos are exactly the same decibel level as my standpartner.

One Broken Heart, you’ve been dealt a rough hand. But, as any poker player knows, it’s the game not the hand. You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. Just make sure you have enough chips at home before you fold.

Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com