Lacking Perspective

This whole week has been one long conversation about perspective, and how badly people in the classical music world lack it. Also, how important it is to success and one’s general happiness.

More specifically: I met for lunch with the guy behind Proper Discord, which was quite a treat. A day later, he wrote this post about perspective, which touches on a lot of topics we discussed at lunch. I found his next post, about David Patrick Stearns’ review of Philadelphia’s digital releases, to be a specific example of how navel-gazing and self-criticism in the classical music world can be destructive and arrest creativity.

Secondly: lock-outs in the various cities with historically prominent orchestras. Somehow, the musicians’ statements always has some kind of argument about the organization’s standing within the national community. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, buddy, but NO ONE has money right now. Especially not to pay musicians who are more concerned about their egos than the fiscal health of the organization they work for. When someone presents me with an argument from the union point of view that demonstrates an understanding of the current economy, and is a compelling reason for higher pay rates, then I might be sympathetic. Right now, it sounds like the musicians nationally are living in a fantasy world where the house sells out every night, donor pockets are deep, and foundation grants are ripe for picking. Maybe if you don’t understand why you’re being offered less money, you should take a look at the budget and/or the publicly available financial statements on Guidestar (registration required. it takes 2 seconds).

EDIT (9/12/10): Please note that I am not criticizing musicians as a whole. Just the ones who are unwilling to face the fact that their orchestra simply has less money all around and that might mean some salary cuts.

Speaking of fantasy worlds we’re living in: you already know how I feel about AFofM criticizing the League. I’ll just add that the League isn’t really the right place to direct this anger anyway.

Third: my own stupidity. This week I lost perspective for about 24 hours. I was doing the same navel-gazing I’m criticizing above, and got mad at my colleagues. When I returned to work on Friday, I made the effort to assemble the necessary information to re-gain perspective, and got a much-needed attitude adjustment as a result. Ended the week on a happy note. Everyone should follow my example, especially when that information needed is publicly available (link above).

Fourth: the community of colleagues. I firmly believe that arts organizations (any industry, really) should work together to improve the efficacy of what we do. It seems that there are some administrators who are focused on their own success, to the detriment of their colleagues. This is a mistake. While one might experience some momentary success, the overall effect will be to burn bridges, and generally make the job functions of one’s staff more difficult. We all want the same thing – for their to be enough money to create the art we love. It’s not our place to decide which organizations are “worthy” of that funding” (that’s for the funders to debate). We all play a role in creating a sympathetic environment for the success of our product – when people have heard of what we do on a larger scale, specific asks (for funding, ticket sales, CD sales, etc) are SO MUCH easier. Think about that.

Lastly, going back to this post about EUOUAE. To further expound on Sven’s point about how musicians show up at church gigs thinking they can sightread: there is a sizable trend in the Bay Area of professional church musicians who are not believers, and believers who aren’t musicians (especially in the Catholic church here). This means that the godless heathens know more about the church traditions, history, and the significance of certain music and rituals. However, said professionals may not appreciate the importance to believers. This also has something to do with this bizarre argument I’ve encountered among church-goers about “not being able to sing.” Again with the navel-gazing and self-doubt masquerading as bravado. Discuss.