Maybe You SHOULD Audition For That Job...
Secure your bag, then build.
Is the risk of pursuing an orchestral career worth the reward?
Maybe.
Today, I’m weighing the benefits of pursuing this path against the risks I highlighted in last week’s newsletter.
I didn’t choose the traditional orchestral path for my career. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have merit.
If playing orchestra music is your life’s deepest passion, I want you to go ALL IN and have a plan for mitigating the many risks I spoke about.
By the end of this newsletter, I’ll finally be able to answer this question:
Is an entrepreneurial career safer than the traditional orchestral career?
Spoiler alert: they both suck lol. Just learn some Python.
I’ve never made it past professional orchestral preliminaries.
The following perspectives come from an outsider looking in (read: a terrible auditioner who refuses to practice excerpts).
I see 3 macro benefits to joining an orchestra. Each of these benefits have nuanced secondary effects that, combined with each other, can prove to be powerful.
1. Predictable Income
Predictable income is critical to creating the foundation for long-term wealth building. When you can predict your monthly income, you can more easily budget for life’s essentials. This creates a little bit of wiggle room.
With that said, I believe orchestra players must develop entrepreneurial skills as well.
I asked Nathan Chan about the pros and cons of being in an orchestra.
“I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of the freelance life. I saw a lot of my friends in New York going down that road. It gave me pause, financially. [The diversity of] music is great, but it’s rough. I was hoping that winning a job would be just the beginning.
Nathan has a good point. Not having a steady job sucks.
Today, I spent 4 hours answering emails, scheduling coffee meetings, filling out w9s, w4s, DE4s, i9s, inputting contacts into my CRM, and following up on projects in my pipeline.
The reality of the freelance life is: if the phone doesn’t ring enough times, you can’t pay rent. It’s just that simple.
I’m a madman and I just love the thrill. It’s engaging and always different. I love this lifestyle in a sick way.
You should only pursue the orchestral path if you love it in the same way. If you don’t eat, sleep, or breath orchestral music, you’ll need to find a way to use your orchestral job as a springboard toward your ultimate goals.
Just remember what I said about inflation and increasing your W2 income.
2. Tenure
Regardless of what industry you’re in, the risk of being fired is a constant threat. Winning a tenure-track audition job is the holy grail of classical music. This is what we all dream of as orchestra kids.
Employment opportunities that offer a shield against the specter of termination are few and far between. No matter how you slice it, a guarantee of employment is worth a premium when compared to the freelance, entrepreneurial path.
Money today is better than money tomorrow. Money today, tomorrow, next week, and 7 years from now is absolutely something you should ALWAYS consider.
If security is the highest priority in your life, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you weren’t taking every audition you could.
It’s just not what I would personally do.
3. Community
We can all agree that community is important. However, the true value of an orchestral community is under-appreciated.
When you win an orchestra job, you will work with the highest caliber of musicians outside of a conservatory setting.
Until I started getting major session calls, I was oftent disappointed by the difficulty and level of playing that my work demanded of me.
I assumed tens of thousands of dollars of student debt going to The Juilliard School…only to find myself playing whole notes for 80% of my career.
I constantly felt like I was bringing a Bazooka to a pillow fight, and that frustrated the hell out of me.
In a professional orchestral setting, everyone has an artillery piece, and there’s always a new hill to secure with your platoon.
When it comes down to it, everything is about people. Here are some hidden community benefits you might not have thought of:
You can build a tight network of benefactors who absolutely love what you do. Donors and patrons are the lifeblood of non-profit organizations. They often have access to lots of capital OR they are connected to people with lots of capital. Rubbing elbows with people in this community will create opportunities for you to build a sponsor base for your personal project(s). Remember to always go out and say hi to the audience after your show.
When you’re playing in a symphony orchestra, you’re playing with a team that includes 100s of people. It can be profoundly meaningful to work with such a large group of people. As the old saying goes: ‘if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’
Communities poo resources and band together during hard economic times. In my limited experience subbing for orchestras in New York, orchestra members would raise chicken, grow food, keep bees, sew and knit, and all sorts of other things. Orchestra breaks would be filled with people exchanging eggs, fruit and vegetables, honey, and other cool things. They shared and traded resources with each other. When times are hard, people band together and help each other see things through.
When I was in college, the ASO went on a series of lockouts for several years. They were facing pay cuts, benefit cuts, and were not getting paid while the CBA was being discussed. A group of kids, led by my friend Alice Hong, began a tradition of putting on a fundraising chamber music concert for a musicians' relief fund. We raised money that helped musicians that we looked up to. The amount of love and support that poured in from our community was overwhelming and it truly showed me how powerful community really can be.
My Final Thoughts:
Pursuing an orchestral path is less secure than you think, but its baseline is safer than the baseline of the entrepreneurial path.
Orchestra is for people who prioritize security.
The entrepreneurial path is for the restless thrill-seekers who are crave freedom.
All in all, I believe the safest path is the one that you will relentlessly follow. Regardless of headwinds and or negative outside opinions, the path that carries you toward the most ambitious vision for your future is the path you must take.
Takeaways
Take an afternoon to yourself and figure out which direction you want to go. Try this exercise.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where do I envision myself and my career in 2 years? 5 years? 10 years?
Will applying for an orchestra job help my achieve this vision I have?
What would an orchestra job be able to give me BEYOND a paycheck.
Could I use an orchestra job as a springboard for other opportunities.
If so, what does that leverage look like and how quickly can I achieve it?
Building in public
ThatViolaKid Productions
I spoke on a panel at Sphinx Connect with my colleagues DuMarkus Davis, Aubrey Bergauer, and Richard Lonsdorf. I promoted the newsletter and obtain a couple more subs!
I failed at promoting the newsletter on my social channels 2 weeks in a row, and I’ve noticed a sharp decline in new subs as a result. I really need to do better here. I just hate seeing people ignoring my posts because it’s outside my usual content.
It’s not all bad news. We started this year with 75 subs, and now were at 237. That’s a month over month increase of 316%, so it’s not all bad.
Special shout out to my boys Wynton and Clayton for KILLIN it at Sphinx last weekend!
I went to the dentist and then recorded for the Mind Over Finger Podcast. Keep an eye out for that later this month!
I’m still looking for adult beginner Korean classes in LA. I’m open to recommendations!
I caught up with my friend Lizzie Steiner. She encouraged me to share some tools that I’ve developed over the past few years. I just might take her advice!
Went to go see Lyris Quartet perform at Monk Space here in LA. It’s always a joy to see my colleagues crushing it.
I finally sat down and interviewed an editor and a PR agent. I don’t have the money to pay for these things yet, but I’m definitely looking to build my team in 2024. Mark my words.
Recorded for a movie called Possom Trot. Can’t wait for it to come out—its a powerful story and supports a great cause.
Performing John Williams’ music out in Palm Desert this weekend with the McCallum Theatre Orchestra. Both shows are already sold out! Gonna be wild.
wholesoul/Whole Soul Music, LLC
Had two meetings with Nic Yee. We’re going to be recording and shooting two 90s R&B classics, and I can’t wait to show ya’ll what we’ve been cooking up. We’re recording Feb. 4th and shooting Feb. 5th.
Wrote and organized some cues for one of the songs.
I literally did all our business’s taxes and accounting. I f*cking hate this part of the job.
Paid our tax partners to send out 1099s to 7 vendors. We paid one particular contractor more than $6000 last year. We’re puttin in numbers.
YoY, our revenue went from $13,000 to more than $87,000 from 2022 to 2023. That’s a 669% increase in year one. Sick.