Re: Ouch! (A new payment scheme for klezmer?)

[Marvin Margoshes <physchem...>]

Remember that "he also serves, who only sits and waits".

The scheme would have to take into account the possible damage from one
substandard musician.  I once heard a performance of Beethoven's Ninth by a
semi-pro orchestra, with timpani out of tune!

- Original Message ----- 
From: <music (at) sterlingmp(dot)org>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 3:12 PM
Subject: RE: Ouch! (A new payment scheme for klezmer?)


> Herewith, for general edification or general wincing, a recent New York
Times piece on a, um, new
> approach to paying symphony orchestra members (plus two letters to the
editor that followed)  -- 
> Anyone want to try this with klezmer ensembles?
>
> (Only kidding -- I think)
>
> Beethoven: Unfair to Labor!
> By JAMES R. OESTREICH
>
> HIS is the last thing American orchestra managers needed to hear just now,
as several of the most prominent
> orchestras negotiate new contracts with their players.
>
> >From Bonn (Beethoven's birthplace) comes word that violinists of the
Beethoven Orchestra are suing to be paid
> more than their wind- and percussion-playing colleagues, because they
produce more music. In most of the
> orchestral literature, the argument runs, the strings play almost
continuously, but the brasses, for example,
> tend to play in bursts, often widely separated, when they play at all.
>
> The Bonn musicians are hardly the first to have noticed. There have been
steady rumblings in most orchestras
> about disproportionate workloads and the unusual demands of certain works.
But a grudging collegiality tends to
> hold sway, if only for practical reasons. Any attempt to quantify the
contributions of the various sections or
> individuals in an orchestra would soon bog down in a numerical morass that
would scare off even accountants.
>
> The reports from Bonn framed the issue, nonsensically, in terms of the
number of notes played. Why nonsense?
>
> Because there are notes, and there are notes. To stick with Beethoven,
take a simple passage, selected more or
> less at random, from the scherzo of the Ninth Symphony (measures 77-92).
In these 16 bars, the first violins
> play 34 notes; the second oboist, 16. But the oboist's are measure-filling
dotted half notes, tied together,
> demanding an almost constant expenditure of breath. The violinists play
three notes in most measures but don't
> play at all in four of them. Comparisons are not only odious, they are
impossible.
>
> And there are myriad other such trivialities. But there are also more
vital issues. Various instrumentalists
> face different strains, both psychological (an oboist's solo line is
mercilessly exposed, whereas string
> players can sometimes achieve anonymity in numbers) and physical (brass
players and percussionists are more
> susceptible to hearing loss from their own instruments than string
players).
>
> These are all imponderables, and that is how they are typically left. But
what happens if the German violinists
> win their case?
>
> American orchestra managers will undoubtedly pull out what hair they have
left in these economically trying
> times. And audiences in Bonn, who probably get their fill of Brahms to
begin with, may hear a lot of his
> Serenade No. 2, a charming piece that is not often performed, because it
is written for an orchestra that
> pointedly excludes violins.
>
>
> March 30, 2004
> A Penny a Note, but Nothing for the Rest?
>
> To the Editor:
>
> A March 25 Arts Briefing item reports that the 16 violinists in the
Beethoven Orchestra in Bonn are seeking
> additional pay because they have to "read and play `extra notes.' "
>
> What counts as a note? A string player should be able to make a few bucks
off a glissando alone, especially a
> long one. (Trombone glissandos can only go a tritone, so a trombonist's
lifetime earning potential would be
> more limited.) And should a whole note be worth four times as much as a
quarter note?
>
> Pity the poor percussionists: given how few notes are played on timpani
(or, worse, a triangle), how could they
> possibly make a living?
>
> This could affect concert programming as well. For example, if the
orchestra gets low on cash, that's the end
> of Bruckner for that season.
>
> And where does this leave the pianist? After all, a piano plays a great
deal more notes than a violin. Indeed,
> since each note on a piano is actually three strings, pianists could ask
to be paid on a "per string" basis.
> This could bankrupt an orchestra in no time.
>
> TONY ALTERMAN
> IAN ALTERMAN
> New York, March 27, 2004
>
>
> To the Editor:
>
> Those mercenary Beethoven Orchestra fiddlers in Bonn are lucky that Sir
Rudolf Bing is not around to respond to
> their lawsuit for more pay per note ("Beethoven: Unfair to Labor!," Week
in Review, March 28).
>
> I recall my first season (1961) in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra when,
to protest the seven-performance and
> heavy rehearsal schedule, I was on a hastily formed string committee to
appeal for "work relief or some
> financial compensation."
>
> Sir Rudolf welcomed us into his office with a wry smile, leaned back in
his chair and listened to our
> spokesman, David Berkowitz (a violist), explain that if we were paid a
penny a note, we string players would be
> millionaires after one Wagner "Ring" cycle.
>
> "Gentlemen," replied Sir Rudolf softly, "as far as I am concerned, I wish
you would stay home and permit me to
> mail you your paychecks."
>
> Crestfallen, we left, but not before Dave courageously expressed our
disappointment with our director's
> "arrogant" response.
>
> Sir Rudolf, to our surprise, did not castigate the violist for his parting
salvo. But in his 1981 memoir, "A
> Knight at the Opera," he listed all the Met singers, conductors,
choreographers and ballet dancers in an
> appendix, which, he wrote, "represents the total artistic roster" of the
Met during his tenure of 22 years -
> yet conveniently omitted the members of the orchestra.
>
> LES DREYER
> New York, March 28, 2004
>
>
>
>
>



---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+