I have been listening to some podcasts that may be of interest to those on this forum.
“Stand Partners for Life” is hosted by 2 violinists from the LA Phil who are married to each other. They talk about their careers, music school, auditions and being a working orchestral musician and other topics related to their musical lives as well as occasionally having guests to discuss other topics of interest.
“Per Service” is hosted by four string players in their early thirties who are friends and are all trying to make their way in the world of gigging musicians. This podcast’s last episode was sometime last fall but it has been interesting for me to go back and listen through the series.
I find it interesting also listening to both these podcasts and hearing the contrasts at the 2 spectrums of the music world, the high end world of landing in one of the countries best orchestras vs. the paycheck to paycheck more uncertain life of a gigging musician especially since my S falls closer to the 2nd category as he makes a career as a musician.
Anyone else listen to these and anyone know of other podcasts of interest?
@cellomom2 It is always good to look at the reality for any type of musician. A good resource for vocalists would be the website middleclassartist.com. I don’t know any podcasts to recommend.
I was calling my D a “middle class artist” before I knew about this website. So much emphasize in performance is on “sink or swim”…you are either successful or not. The reality tends to be many artists in the middle.
When my D was in high school, I remember two things vividly:
1.) A group of theater professionals talking with high schoolers about a performance career. One of the professionals asked: What can feed a family of four better than an artist? Answer: A pizza.
2.) At one college in an MT presentation for parents as the kids got ready to audition, the head of the program laid out the stats and income level from performance in the first year and fifth year after graduation. It was LOW. Another job would obviously be necessary. I had the urge to raise my hand and ask if I could give them my D’s name and maybe they could NOT accept her.
Many years and a pandemic later, I’m glad that my D got a music degree. My only unsolicited advice is: use the time in college and during the summers to try/learn a variety of “things”. It can be hard to find time as music study can be all consuming and does sometimes (or often) present the narrow, devotional path as the only successful one. Just be careful about giving it ALL to the music gods as they don’t shower all their devotees with forture. AND the best musicians/artists are often multi-talented, multi-faceted people who seem to “dabble” in a lot of areas…despite the conventional wisdom, imho.