Posted by Bandsman on June 18, 2003 at 09:53:18:
In Reply to: Musician's life in the Military posted by Curious on June 17, 2003 at 10:39:42:
I currently work on staff with one of the "DC touring" bands. I was out in a "regular army" band for a year and was brought to the DC area to work on staff. There is no reason why anyone in any of the DC bands should hate their jobs. First of all, no matter how many hours you spend out in the miserable weather, you still have a wealth of great players to gig and play with in the same building. You can put together quintets, duets...whatever and challenge yourself that way. You can't tell me with all of the down time that there is no time for you to challenge yourself musically. Also, with all of the symposiums and clinics in the area, there are more than enough performance opportunities for the average bear. I don't know too many "professional orchestra" musicians that don't do anything outside of the orchestra to refill theirs cups so to speak. It boils down to your own attitude and motivation about the gig and where you want to end up in the long run. If you want to just play the funerals every day and be miserable, then you can retire in 20 and go work at walmart when you're done. But, if you take advantage of the off time and practice practice practice with all of those magnificent musicians, then kudos to you and you can get out with the fulfillment that you took advantage of everything offered. Then go play with the symphony:)