Posted by Matt A on March 24, 2003 at 07:56:26:
I had just finished my junior recital. Although things didn't go perfectly in any way, I was happy with many parts of my performance.
I was talking with friends afterwards, when my accompanist pulled me aside. She was upset over the fee that I had paid her. I had given her an amount we agreed upon a week prior. In that prior conversation, she approached me and demanded $40/hour, over the initial $30/hour she had told me due to difficulty of the music. I had explained to her that I was a poor college student and didn't have the money. The conversation ended with me saying, OK, "$135 then?", to which she agreed. Now, she is demanding $60 more dollars. Yes, we had rehearsal about 40 more minutes than initially planned, but she didn't have 2 of the 3 pieces ready until last Monday! Her arguement was that you can't have everything ready for the first rehearsal. Mine was that at $30/hour, for a student, you have to have EVERYTHING prepared for the first rehearsal. After all, it is a rehearsal, not practice! (we had 2 rehearsals where she couldn't play Effie and Strauss) A side note, a majority of the rehearsal time spent was on her not rushing triplets! Anyway, this kept me up all night, last night. I need some advice. Should I pay her the additional $60 that she wants? Should I pay her a smaller amount? What should I do?
Any help is much appreciated!
Matt