Musician Issues

#TBT Thinking Ahead On Overscale

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While the post-pandemic environment may not seem like an opportune time for musician stakeholders to think about overscale, rest assured, it is. If you aren’t familiar with individual overscale agreements, these are the contracts that certain orchestra musicians utilize to negotiate terms above and beyond those set forth in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). They are negotiated outside the auspices of the CBA between the musician and the association. In short, …

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Looks Like Concern Over COVID Related Injuries Has A Ceiling

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I am officially declaring defeat on finding a pair of CEO guests to for the executive decision maker installment of the series of podcasts I was doing about what orchestras of all budget size should be considering when planning for post-COVID concert activity. It is genuinely disappointing to see that this is such a third-rail topic among executives and if nothing else, that should raise the alert level among musician stakeholders. …

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Things That Keep Me Up At Night

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Last week, the news about a certain west coast orchestra with plans on performing one of the most demanding Mahler symphonies as their post-pandemic season opener arrived in my inbox. Earlier this month I launched a mini-series examining the dangers of musician injuries if an orchestra attempts this type of programming without first allocating time to allow musicians to reacclimate to those types of demands. Think of it as a type …

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The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

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There’s a superb video from violinists Brett Yang and Eddy Chen of TwoSet Violin where the duo takes the bold step of calling out a pair of dubious practices inside the world of string instrument dealers. Yang and Chen deserve a great deal of credit for speaking out on this topic and while issues run far deeper than their video examines, the topics they focus on are certainly of paramount importance. …

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The Risk Of Physical Injury Is Only Half Of The Equation

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Everyone is in for such a treat with tomorrow’s Shop Talk episode on the topic of what orchestras of all budget size should be considering when planning for post-COVID concert activity. This installment features a panel of musician stakeholders and one of them, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Principal Bassoon Catherine Chen, proposed one of the most thought-provoking considerations. Specifically, she was concerned not only about the very real physical risks but the …

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