I think that it’s fair to say that there are, in the orchestra world, a number of competing interests amongst the musicians. In an ideal world, we’d play pieces that were enjoyable to every one of us, not too terribly difficult to play while being challenging enough to be interesting, for a six-figure salary, and with a schedule that helped to prevent overuse injuries and fatigue.<\/p>\n
Sounds simple, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n
Every orchestra must balance the competing interests of those who are willing to do almost anything in the service of music, and those who have learned the hard way that some requests which are honored will result in fatigue and injury, and who also what to maintain a semblance of a normal life schedule – which is difficult to achieve since we, as entertainers, work when others by definition play.<\/p>\n
Because of these competing needs, and because of the abuses of autocratic conductors in the earlier part of the 20th century, orchestras have evolved complicated collective bargaining agreements which try to keep injuries to a minimum by setting limits on how many services (rehearsals or concerts) can happen in a 7-day period, the length of each service, and when and how breaks must occur.<\/p>\n
The problem is maintaining a balance between trying to accommodate the needs and desires of the artistic and management leadership while also trying to make sure that the pursuit of those needs and desires does not succeed to the peril of the orchestra’s musicians.<\/p>\n
This all sounds well and good – and for the most part, it is. But there are gray areas – and as with any other set of potentially contentious issues – the gray areas are breeding grounds for conflict, both between the players and management and within the ranks of the players as well.<\/p>\n
If you add to this volatile mix a situation where the pay of the orchestra has been lagging well behind that of other similarly situated orchestras, the battle lines become increasingly entrenched, as there is little in the way of dollars to be gained in contract negotiations, which leaves the working conditions and benefits to bear the brunt of the expectations of the orchestra’s players as to the negotiations’ outcome.<\/p>\n
What does this have to do with anything? Not much – but it’s a look inside the dynamic of a complex arts organization which is fairly standard throughout the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I think that it’s fair to say that there are, in the orchestra world, a number of competing interests amongst the musicians. In an ideal world, we’d play pieces that were enjoyable to every one of us, not too terribly difficult to play while being challenging enough to be interesting, for a six-figure salary, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[186,2],"tags":[585],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-issues","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-orchestras"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-cI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1459,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/21\/fatigue-factor\/","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":0},"title":"fatigue factor","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's that time of the season when the first wave of fatigue starts to set in. \u00a0We've had two back-to-back classical series, then the Inside the Score concert, and now we're on our second back-to-back classical run. \u00a0It feels like everyone is pretty much running on fumes this week, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":78,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/09\/24\/smells-like-team-despirited\/","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":1},"title":"smells like team (de)spirit(ed)","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"What does make an orchestra \"good\" or \"bad\" or \"mediocre\" or \"great\"? It seems like it should be a simple matter: better orchestras play with more precise and adaptable rhythm, pitch and dynamics than lesser orchestras do. But we've all been to a Big Five orchestra concert which was severely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":725,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/30\/columbus-symphony-musicians-respond\/","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":2},"title":"columbus symphony musicians respond","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Columbus Symphony musicians have issued a formal response to the planned cuts of both season and personnel by the Columbus Symphony Association. Central Ohio Federation of Musicians Local 103, AFM 1585 Bethel Road, Suite 100 Columbus, Ohio 43220 614-457-6371 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 29, 2008 HUNDREDS FROM AROUND THE\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7458,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/03\/29\/progress-in-louisville-lockout\/","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":3},"title":"progress in louisville lockout?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 29, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"This press release was issued today from the Louisville Orchestra Musicians' Association: Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association Proposes End to the Lockout LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, March 29, 2012 \u2013 The Louisville Orchestra Musicians Association is pleased to announce that they have taken a very positive step in ending their lockout, and returning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/16\/a-great-bench\/","url_meta":{"origin":788,"position":4},"title":"a great bench","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the sporting world, if you've got depth on your team, then you've got a \"great bench\". Supporting players that can come in at a moment's notice and make a crucial difference when one of your first string players is unable to play. 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For the first time in five years, the Oregon Symphony balanced its budget, although the exact numbers won't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "miscellaneous"","block_context":{"text":"miscellaneous","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/miscellaneous\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}