{"id":8000,"date":"2012-11-02T00:25:41","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T07:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=8000"},"modified":"2013-02-07T21:15:38","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T05:15:38","slug":"bitching-orchestras-and-professionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/02\/bitching-orchestras-and-professionalism\/","title":{"rendered":"bitching, orchestras, and professionalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote this over at my tumblr<\/a> blog as part of my DigiWriMo efforts.<\/p>\n

Musicians love to bitch. It is our favorite hobby. If we have nothing to kvetch about, then we are a sorry and miserable lot, even more so than when we have woes falling about us like the frozen products of a prairie hail storm. Largely, this is due to the fact that we have very little control over our environment. Even basic things can go awry. A coat rack appears in an already cramped backstage area used by an entire section of stringed instruments. Too bad – building management said it goes there. Like it or lump it. Or someone in an adjacent section ate an entire bulb of raw garlic and then went on a ten mile run. Then forgot to bathe before that evening\u2019s concert. Yes, something like this actually happened (I may be being charitable by assuming the body odor was caused by exercise). The conductor sprays sweat all over you during the scherzo of a Beethoven symphony. One of your strings breaks. A trumpet plays into the back of your head from six feet away – for an hour. Someone else\u2019s mail got put into your cubbyhole by mistake. The Starbucks was really slow and so you didn\u2019t get a refill during your strictly enforced 15 minute break. So many problems, many of them unrelated to the process of making the actual music. But they all are related to that process. Because we use our bodies to manipulate instruments – that take decades to even partially master to the level of the professional orchestral musician – and if we are out of sorts in our head, that will translate into our bodies, and bad things can happen.<\/p>\n

Now, there is that phrase said about some musicians – that they are \u2018true professionals\u2019. What exactly does that mean? It means that they play like motherfuckers (that\u2019s a good thing) even when the chips are down. They may have had a fight with their husband, had their cat die, lose their wedding ring, and have a very bad case of halitosis – all on the same day, and if they are physically able to play their instrument, they will show up and put the pedal to the metal and play solidly and dependably. That\u2019s why, for those of us who aspire to this level of professionalism, we are so wed to our instruments and our place in the orchestra (or string quartet, or dance band, or rock group) – that act of making great music with colleagues who we trust and respect can get us through the hard times that otherwise might bring us to our knees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote this over at my tumblr blog as part of my DigiWriMo efforts. Musicians love to bitch. It is our favorite hobby. If we have nothing to kvetch about, then we are a sorry and miserable lot, even more so than when we have woes falling about us like the frozen products of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[3177,3168,3663,585,3176],"class_list":["post-8000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-bitching","tag-digiwrimo","tag-musicians","tag-orchestras","tag-professionalism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-252","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7911,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/01\/right-war-wrong-enemy\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":0},"title":"right war, wrong enemy","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are what the Chinese would call 'interesting' times - as in the curse 'may you live in interesting times' - for orchestras and their musicians. As if coordinated by an invisible hand - cough, wink, nudge - a series of boards and their managements have made the decision that\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":5174,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/08\/17\/power-vacuum\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":1},"title":"power vacuum","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It is said that Nature abhors a vacuum, and the same could be said of human nature as well.\u00a0 This is especially true in orchestras of any budget size or artistic merit.\u00a0 The one truism that I've come to dislike very intensely? That those who seek to gain power in\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":24,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/02\/26\/dazed-and-excused\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":2},"title":"Dazed and excused?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's the latest in a series of articles about how undemonstrative and boring American orchestra musicans are. From the Chicago Sun-Times. Link to Article Here's my take on the phenomenon. I love watching European orchestras play, especially the Berlin Philharmonic. They move like a teeming coral reef of musicality, with\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":2856,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/12\/less-touring-for-us-orchestras\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":3},"title":"less touring for US orchestras","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Travel cases for the Oregon Symphony's double bass section sit backstage on tour in 2006. Photo \u00c2\u00a9 Charles Noble An article in Sunday's Times of London talks about the lack of US orchestras at the annual Proms event in Royal Albert Hall. Touring an American orchestra in Europe was always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "summer festivals"","block_context":{"text":"summer festivals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/summer-festivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"142349150_b3aec4ae6b_b","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/142349150_b3aec4ae6b_b-200x299.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":208,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/02\/14\/with-culture-responsibility\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":4},"title":"with culture, responsibility","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been doing a lot of thinking these past three days. Thinking of how the pointless, needless deaths of two colleagues might have prevented. It's a difficult process, coming to grips with the inexplicable - it makes one realize the value of a strong religious faith, and the comfort which\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":7630,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/27\/loyalty-vs-quality\/","url_meta":{"origin":8000,"position":5},"title":"loyalty vs. quality","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm married to a successful freelance cellist, so I have a pretty good knowledge of what freelancers face in the classical music world, and learn more everyday. The world of a full-time symphony orchestra is pretty insular, so it's quite possible to get pretty out of touch with how freelancers\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":"Photo: flickr\/wonderlane","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/5270109247_b55bc0062c_b-300x451.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000","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=8000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}