One of the aspects I don’t write about much is the consulting work performed on both sides of the management/musician fence with individual overscale contracts. It is actually fascinating work, right from the biggest budget principal contracts through the smaller budget groups. So when the folks at the Strad contacted me to ask if I had any article ideas for their upcoming “money” issue, I said yes; yes I do.
Musician Issues
Musicians Behaving Badly?
The 2/28/2011 edition of the Boston Herald published a review by Keith Powers of a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) or Mahler’s Ninth. What makes the review unusual doesn’t have anything to do with the music so much as what Powers wrote about behavior he observed in the violin section. More to the point, behavior he defined as “disturbing”… According to Powers, members of the BSO violin section engaged …
Orchestra Librarians “have some musical ability”
Let’s stir up some trouble:“Do you think orchestra librarians are musicians on the same level as violinists or bassoonists?”
If that question makes you uncomfortable, feel free to answer something easier like “do you still beat your wife?”…
A New AFM President And Why You Should Care
Following yesterday’s National Convention election, Tom Lee has been replaced by Ray Hair (president of Dallas Local 72-147) as president of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Lee garnered 44 percent of the vote while Hair secured 56 percent (figures via Robert Levine’s AFM Convention blog). It wasn’t a landslide, but a clear victory nonetheless. For some managers, this event might be best filed under the heading “Who Cares?” but in reality, it will have a substantial dynamic impact on the field…
Leave The AFM? “I Don’t Think So”
At least, that’s what Robert Levine writes in response to the AFM poll results here from earlier this month (here and here) at his blog The AFM Observer. In addition to stating his own position, Levine hypothesizes “The real answer that most orchestra musicians would give to a question like ‘do you think you and your colleagues should leave the AFM,’ if given a realistic list of potential costs and benefits, would be ‘it depends.'”…