I'll reprint this post from another forum, because I feel very strongly about it. I am not a fan of unions, and this time - they have gone too far.

**********(re: Broadway strike)

I had a talk with a good friend tonight
(a theater player for many years) and we both think this will do irreparable damage to the music biz as we know it. The union has just sealed it's fate and the future of live music has been forever compromised.

Here's the scoop:

For many years, the union has had "required numbers" of players for each pit orchestra, but often, the contractor has taken the salaries for, say, 23 musicians .... only used 10 or 12, and collected the full amount of money for all 23 allotted players. SOMEbody was taking money for seats that were not being filled.

After many years of this abuse .... the theater groups started requesting fewer and fewer pit musicians. (It is very common to see 2 keyboard players in a Broadway pit instead of a dozen string players today.)

The latest demand was that the number of "live" players be reduced to about 7 (as a minimum) ..... and that's where the players called it quits. A few days later, the actors went out to support them. Now, Broadway is dark, and 42nd street is silent.
"C'mon along and listen to .... the requiem of Broadway ...."

This will just ruin everything. They should have compromised slowly and taken a small hit, and accept maybe, 15 players this year, and then 12 in 3 years, whatever. To just walk out was nuts. This will solidify the position that NO one needs these prima-donnas at all. Pay for ONE good session, record the tracks and get it perfect everytime. This will be the new mentality ...... all due in part, to the rise in KARAOKE type entertainment. Fast food mentality.

It's always been about the singers anyway ..... who needs the band? Keep 'em in the wings, or under the stage ..... or IN A BOX, for that matter. (Sad, but true)

This is sad. It's very, very sad. We, as artists need to recognize that our business is NOT a life and death occupation. We don't matter THAT much to the survival of mankind. Sure, we add beauty and grace to an otherwise cold, bland world ....but face it - ARTISTS are a luxury. We provide a service that is needed only by the soul. We need to stay in touch with the real reason that the art is necessary, and forget about the money sometimes. These union players have just screwed 18 producers out of MILLIONS of dollars of revenue, disappointed THOUSANDS of show-goers (ME included) and made a case for the whining, crying, egos that fuel them into thinking that THEY deserve these jobs. No job is THAT secure, and a job in the arts is a PRIVILEGE.

I am so steamed, and very saddened by all this. Unions had a place .... LONG ago, but in todays world - they are out of date and UNfair in general. Especially when nurses can walk out on strike, and compromise someone's health over money issues ........ something is very wrong. I hate to admit it, but when my generation dies (the Baby Boomers) there will be virtually NO real players left and NO audience that wants to pay to see one perform anyway. How many 25 year olds go to the symphony these days? How many kids are playing bassoon and oboe in the public school band? It's a dying artform, and electronics are creating a generation of "loopers" and "pasters" that think they are creating music.

I lost my second wife 6 months ago..............I can handle that.

The Redhead disappeared over a month ago ............... I'll survive.

My van was totaled last October ........ No problem, I got a new one

BUT - when they take away the theater, and screw me out of one of the few true pleasures that sofisticated society still has to offer ................ That really hurts.

Music died a little more today, thanks to selfish, lazy egomaniacs that think they are ABOVE the art. Art will find a way to survive, but it just lost a HUGE battle as a form of business. Pity......... I'm IN the music business.

Dave,

Excellent post! Its a sad state of affairs on Broadway with all that is currently going on. It has hit home here also. My wife's family, at least [10] of them all work in the theaters and are Out of Work due to the strike. I hope they resolve it very soon.

Well, it is sad indeed but not surprising to me. Being involved in the performing and fine arts literally all my life, one thing I have come to realize is that the majority of the US is artistically bankrupt and has been for the last 50 years.

What most (not me) cherish and pay through the nose for is watching grown men and women do battle like gladiators on Sunday afternoon while sitting on the couch munchin junk food.

And we wonder why we are about to embark on yet another war....that's the mentality of the majority. How sad.

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry,
I think that's quite a stretch, equating our situation in Iraq with watching football. And I don't believe the theater problems has anything to do with it either. It seems to be simply another instance of technology replacing people. We either move forward or get left behind.
As Dave said, the Union was at least partly responsible for abusing the system. Reminds me of the railroad union where firemen were still on every trip, despite the fact that it was no longer necessary to shovel coal.
Unfortunately or not, a synth can easily replace a string section at a fraction of the price.
I played a party at Barksdale AFB Officers' Club last night. They are used to having a
"full band" for their functions and were greatly impressed that one person could entertain a couple hundred people just as well if not better. Seems I may be knocking a few people out of a job there. But I have to eat too!
DonM

[This message has been edited by DonM (edited 03-09-2003).]

I agree with many parts of this post - especially about electronics creating a generation of "loopers and pasters" (I've often wondered if black radio's obsessions with rap hasn't cost us a potential generation of new Herbie Hancocks, Stevie Wonders, Duke Ellingtons etc.) but the other aspect of all of this is that keyboardists are taking athe bad rap in this issue for using today's electronics to their advantage, as they have for decades now. CNN's report on the strike said the cause of the situation was "computer-generated orchestras"... as if someone replaced a musician with a box that had no operator. The post above cites two keyboardists as taking the place of a string section... well, only if they were two VERY good keyboardists I'll bet.

The truth of the matter is that while keyboardists enjoy an advantage when it comes to using digital instruments, music technology is available to a broad spectrum of instrumentalists and even vocalists who choose to learn and adapt to it. There was a time when drum machines were thought to be the end of live drummers, but many drummers I know learned to program rhythms and adapt technology into their performances - for that matter, I've seen synths, samplers and sequencers used by bands to take the place of keyboardists! As a modern pro keyboardist I never felt threatened by that, but I probably would if I was one of those keyboardists who insisted on performing in the same manner as keyboardists did prior to the 20th century.

I enjoy a good string recital as much as the next person, but a symphony in a nearby city has just shut down it's entire season because they don't have the sponsorship to continue. Of the $900k they needed to operate this year they barely raised $10k, and the best salaries in the symphony were hardly more than $25k a year anyway. So what's a violinist to do? Here's something the unions had nothing to do with (we live in right-to-work states in the South where the Union is totally impotent): members of the symphony have branched off and formed their own smaller groups to play at local nightclubs and private affairs... yes, I mean at bars and with great success. They are playing innovative popular and comedic selections that may actually attract a whole new audience into nightclubs. They pack te place! This didn't happen before the symphony wnet under. Hunger can make you very innovative and I see nothing wrong with starving a few symphony musos out of their complacency. Instead of complaining that wrestling is more popular than a symphony, perhaps wrestling should be held WITH a symphony!

Personally, I could have stuck to the old ways and played piano without touching a computer or synth and I may have done okay - especially in some bands I know of thet loathe technology. But I wouldn't have fulfilled myself and become the musician that I am today. I learned to use technology to give myself and creative and marketable advantage, and given the chance I'd gladly take the place of a symphony. They in turn should seriously consider playing the bars I came up in to expand their versatility and audience, and maybe a few computer lessons wouldn't hurt either. The times they are a-changing - musos need to change with them.

Don,
What I was trying apparently unsuccessfully for you is to illustrate that 7/8ths of the world history has involved wars of all kinds, due to what I believe is an aggrssive mentality that puts more worth in gladiator activities than the arts.

That's really not a stretch, both are facts our history as a waring tribe and the greater emphasis on sports of all kinds pitting and setting up for winners and losers over the arts. There are probably more participants in one day at the super bowl by being there or watching on TV, than there are all year at some of our finest art museums or symphonies. I don't see football teams going broke like I do symphonies having to close due to lack of funds and participation by the public.

------------------
jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

You're right about symphony concerts. At the last one I went to here in Canada, most of the audience seemed to be Brits (I'm one myself) and almost all appeared to be seniors. I recently went to a chamber concert and the only young people there were players themselves. A sad state of affairs.

Bryan

This thread is a reminder of the articulation and talent of the people of this forum. I do believe that to survive, one must adapt, above all else. It's like everything else, advanced technology replaces jobs. The same is true in the auto industry and other areas. Musicians will survive because we at least have something of value that is sole deep. Now, since electronics is the way, I'm gonna get my solo act together and grab the jobs.
Zuki

I've been making a living with electronics for a long, long time and I'm sure some of my "purist" musician friends have felt less than thrilled. The simple truth is that all things change. we need to be flexible or we'll be left out. The position of the players on strike would hold more viability if they had not ruined it themselves, over the years. They screwed around with a beautiful situation, and now they've ruined it ..... for themselves, other players, and theater fans worldwide. I really believe that even if this strike settles soon - the Broadway experience will be compromised forever.

Many younger people will eventually drift back to the plays even if all the music is canned, but there must be true fans out there who relish the entire "experience" of a live show. I for one, will miss the extra "zest" that can only come with live players.

It's true that I make a living using "compromises" in orchestrations and "feel" .... but when I pay top dollar for a Theater package .... I want the whole deal. This "one man band" situation is ONLY a tool to make money with. It was NEVER my ideal situation, and will NEVER replace the feel, sound or class of real, live players who interact on stage and articulate their craft for an audience.

TV shows like "American Idol" are teaching the masses that the lead singer is the only facet of the performance, and while it IS the "quarterback" of the performance ...... they STILL need the whole team to perform their best. I'm really saddened by the attitudes of the players on strike. There have been electronic instruments in the pits for years. You never saw a trumpet player walk out on strike because they "thinned out" the violin section, by using a keyboard.

This whole industry is in grave danger of becoming a "hobby" oriented art. Why do the schools push sports so much more than arts?
(At least in the US, that is the case)
I would not want to live in a world without music, and it seems that someday ..... that could definatly happen. I may have to go back and sell cars after my crowd dies or stops coming out at night.

I'm sooooooooooooo sad.

Poor Uncle Dave, my sympathy goes out to you. Music is dead. Must be awful to live in that kind of an area with that kind of an attitude. Kind of reminds me of the story of the immigrant who migrated to this country during the depression years. He opened a little hot-dog stand on the corner. He took this plain old weenier and gave it a home in a plain old bun. Looking at it he thought, who is going to buy this homely looking thing? So he took the pale red dog and gave it a squirt of yellow mustered, alongside the mustered a bright red strip of catsup. Looking better he mused. Strips of yellow and red, let’s add some circles of green. Pickles, that’s it. And now a blanket of sauerkraut, everybody in my old country liked sauerkraut. Top it off with some nice juicy red tomatoes and let’s see. People seen. People liked. People bought. What a business. Every year was better and better. He sent his son off to collage. His son came back and said: Papa, things are bad, we are in a depression, business is down, people are being laid off. Do you think you should be adding to the house? I don’t know if it’s wise to be expanding your business. Things don’t look too good. Poor papa. He sold his new stores, cut down on the hot dog trimmings and went down hill. I think if your crowd dies or stops coming out at night you have talked yourself into it. Around here schools have great sport programs, that’s true. But! But they all have super music programs. These schools have jazz bands that scare me. Grade school and high school! When I was a kid, grade schools had no band whatsoever. High school had a marching band and that was all. The arts? Grade schools and high schools both have great drama programs. They give public productions of theater that almost rivals the pro’s. Frankly Dave I hate to see you get off into such a negative state of mind. Many of the unions in this area have shot themselves in the foot over the years. So what! Like the immigrant, if you base your life on what others are doing your going nowhere. If you stagnate, your crowd will die off and that will be that. Some of the guys in my old band have done that and dried up in the process. Come-on Dave, be your old up tempo self and give us something to live for. Just for the heck of it, what kind of cars do you think you will be selling?

Grandpa Doug