Raine – I wanted to send this rant from a good friend of mine. I sing / perform with her at my church, and she has a lovely soprano voice:
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“WHY do people treat musicians as if we are not highly trained, educated members of the work force?! Just because what we do is considered “entertainment” does NOT mean we deserve to work for free, or that we will be SOOOOO HAPPY to play just to “gain exposure”, or that we ought to be kissing the ground you walk on just because you offered us a chance to play. We spend literally decades of our lives honing our art, some of us spend years in formal training and education, and we work just as hard as anyone else who works does. What, you think that because we generally enjoy our jobs more than you do that it means it’s worthless? Personally, I feel like YOU got the crappy end of that stick, if you spend every day working a job you hate. In case you can’t tell, I argued with someone over this point. One of his stances was that since musicians don’t create a tangible “solid product”, then we don’t deserve to get paid for our work, and we should just be “grateful” that we could theoretically get paid for something we love to do. “You don’t see me claiming I have a right to get paid for going to the playground,” was an actual quote. *sigh* This can’t be something that only musicians understand. Please tell me that other, normal people, understand the simple concept of “I worked, therefore I get paid.”
This concept is one of those that the layman never seems to understand. I always get “Oh you have a masters? Oh…its in…music?” Yes it is! I’m highly educated thanks and I put more man hours into my instrument than you’ve ever put into anything in your ENTIRE LIFE! You try going to class and then doing your hw/50000 pages of reading AND THEN having rehearsal AND THEN having to practice and THEN having to grade papers. The take that and translate that into real life, bills, rehearsals, teaching, auditions…etc….
Am I bitter though? No, cause like your friend said. I LOVE what I do. Every day. You can sit there and get papercuts and your desk ALL YOU WANT. Heh.
I like the cello, Rob Dougan’s Furious Angels is one of my favorite instrumental the string section with that drum counterpoint really gets my blood pumping. Excuse me while I get into my leather custume.
hahaha,chin gu!those messages show what you have to put up by being more in love with the cello!or that some people just don’t know how to appreciate it or are just plain dumb or that compared to the violin,the cello is low-profile sister. ^.^
Lisa Espinosa 
8 responses to “No, I don’t play the violin”
Raine – I wanted to send this rant from a good friend of mine. I sing / perform with her at my church, and she has a lovely soprano voice:
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
“WHY do people treat musicians as if we are not highly trained, educated members of the work force?! Just because what we do is considered “entertainment” does NOT mean we deserve to work for free, or that we will be SOOOOO HAPPY to play just to “gain exposure”, or that we ought to be kissing the ground you walk on just because you offered us a chance to play. We spend literally decades of our lives honing our art, some of us spend years in formal training and education, and we work just as hard as anyone else who works does. What, you think that because we generally enjoy our jobs more than you do that it means it’s worthless? Personally, I feel like YOU got the crappy end of that stick, if you spend every day working a job you hate. In case you can’t tell, I argued with someone over this point. One of his stances was that since musicians don’t create a tangible “solid product”, then we don’t deserve to get paid for our work, and we should just be “grateful” that we could theoretically get paid for something we love to do. “You don’t see me claiming I have a right to get paid for going to the playground,” was an actual quote. *sigh* This can’t be something that only musicians understand. Please tell me that other, normal people, understand the simple concept of “I worked, therefore I get paid.”
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This concept is one of those that the layman never seems to understand. I always get “Oh you have a masters? Oh…its in…music?” Yes it is! I’m highly educated thanks and I put more man hours into my instrument than you’ve ever put into anything in your ENTIRE LIFE! You try going to class and then doing your hw/50000 pages of reading AND THEN having rehearsal AND THEN having to practice and THEN having to grade papers. The take that and translate that into real life, bills, rehearsals, teaching, auditions…etc….
Am I bitter though? No, cause like your friend said. I LOVE what I do. Every day. You can sit there and get papercuts and your desk ALL YOU WANT. Heh.
Raine, that is a catchy slogan !
Love it!
The violin’s cool though as well.
I like the cello, Rob Dougan’s Furious Angels is one of my favorite instrumental the string section with that drum counterpoint really gets my blood pumping. Excuse me while I get into my leather custume.
hahaha,chin gu!those messages show what you have to put up by being more in love with the cello!or that some people just don’t know how to appreciate it or are just plain dumb or that compared to the violin,the cello is low-profile sister. ^.^
That was harsh. I know how to differentiate a cello from a violin, but not everyone has had the same privilege of doing so.
Kekeke…