Dropped for Freelancing? Comments welcome!

I was recently dropped from a ‘professional’ ensemble I have been playing with, essentially because I’m a freelancer, and I can’t help but feel a little miffed at the decision.  It boiled down to the fact that I had depped quite a few of the gigs with this particular ensemble out to other trumpet players because the fees were very low, the gigs were often on the weekends, and I was eventually offered much better paid work on the same dates.  As a freelancer living in London, money can be tight, and I’m in no financial position to turn down well paid gigs; it literally makes the difference between being able to pay the rent and eat, or not – this is hardly a choice that is difficult to make when it comes down to simply being able to afford to live.  However, it’s never a decision I like to make, as the gigs I had to dep out would, I’m sure, have been much more fun and enjoyable than the better paid ones I was offered instead; a point I had tried to explain to the band leader, but who seemed to take the whole thing rather badly.

I had been very open and honest with said band leader about my position; that I rely solely on my work as a musician in order to pay the bills and while I enjoyed the gigs I played with their ensemble, if I was offered a gig that clashed and where the difference in fees was sizeable, that I would have no option but to take on the higher paid work and find a suitable dep for the original gig.  The next thing I heard from the band leader was that I had been replaced, probably indefinitely, as I wasn’t seen to be showing commitment to the group.  I think that if the band leader was made uncomfortable by the knowledge that I may dep some gigs out closer to the time after originally taking them on, that I was owed the professional courtesy of them discussing these concerns with me first, not just booking somebody else and telling me the next day.

I do understand that they want a core band of people who play at every rehearsal and gig, but if they are going to have freelancers in the band then I think it’s unrealistic to expect that.  As far as I have experienced, it is standard in the industry to dep out gigs if you need to – as long as the band leader agrees and the dep is suitable.  Yes, I did have to pull out of some gigs that I originally said I could do, but I never left anybody in a position where a dep could not be found and the part left unplayed.  Unfortunately I couldn’t commit more than that to the band – turning down higher fees would cripple me.  The band leader seemed to think I wanted ‘one rule for me and a different one for everybody else in the band’ – perhaps I was the only one there who wasn’t sitting on a pile of money – or perhaps the other musicians have more secure sources of income.  Either way, I told the band leader that the only way to secure your core band members who rely solely on playing for their income is to secure higher fees for the band (in one instance I depped out a £70 gig on a Saturday night so that I could take one for £170 instead, and passed up a gig for £30 on a Monday night as I would have lost more than that from not doing my teaching while at the gig).   I think when you’re working with an established band it is not unreasonable to expect a decent fee – or dep out the work appropriately as required.

So, now I’ve been replaced, and while I don’t have any hard feelings about it if that is the basis on which the ensemble is going to be run, I do think it’s a very dangerous move in terms of them maintaining the highest possible performance standards.  If they are only going to work with musicians who can commit 100% to all gigs regardless of the fee, thus essentially ruling out working with freelancers, won’t they essentially end up with a band of amateurs?  I don’t mean that to sound like a negative comment – there are many amateur musicians who perform to exceptionally high standards, of course – but if you want to run a band as a professional outfit, surely it would be best to use professional musicians?  I would appreciate any thoughts or comments you have on this – have I just got the wrong end of stick, or is my approach to working as a freelancer in line with everybody else’s?

Tweeting is easier!

I realise I have been rather slack on the blogging front.  I have to say, Tweeting is so much easier; I think micro-blogging is much more my style!  However, I will now attempt to condense the last 6 months into a sensibly sized blog post.

So, after a quiet January, February wasn’t much of an improvement.  Aside from my regular teaching work I had two function band gigs and a handful of rehearsals for The Bombshellettes and T.Mandrake.  On a positive note, I did have a couple of lessons with an old teacher of mine, Andy Mitchell.  Andy is principal trumpet with the English National Ballet and professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Junior Department (where he used to teach me).  I was put back in contact with him by one of my former RAM tutors, Mark David, who’d been working with Andy and suggested I get back in touch.  I’d not seen him in ten years, so obviously there had been quite a change in my playing since he’d last taught me!  We had a couple of lessons working on a recital programme I had coming up and it was so useful to get a new perspective from an old tutor.

Things started picking up a bit in March.  I had my recital – one of the highly coveted lunchtime concerts at Chichester Cathedral which went very well indeed.  The venue was full, there were literally hundreds of people there to see the concert, including my mother – my number one fan!  I also had a photo shoot with Cavendish Brass which was a really fun day and we got some great shots for our new website (http://www.cavendishbrass.com).  I played with Zone One Brass (ZOB) at the Regional contest and we failed to qualify for the National Finals – very disappointing indeed considering how well we felt we’d played and especially after listening to the recording of our performance.  Oh well, the politics of the brass band world are far too ridiculous to get into now.

April was a rather average month, although I did play a fun charity gig at The Parish Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch.  The concert was a fundraiser for the church, with many actors and singers involved, and I was booked to open the show with a performance of Let The Bright Seraphim along with soprano Eli Rolfe Johnson and organist Olly Lallement. 

The month of May was ZOB madness.  The band played in two contests that were two weeks apart; the first in Blackpool and the second at the All England Masters in Kettering .  The rehearsing paid off and the band did rather well – 2^nd in Blackpool and 5^th at the Masters.

In June I launched my new Live Music Night at a bar in Soho called El Camion (formerly El Camino).  The night runs every Tuesday and I book four acts to play a 30 minute slot each.  So far it’s all been going really well, and I’m trying to build up the reputation of the venue and the night as a respectable one to play on the London circuit for those looking for an intimate performance space. 

July was a very busy month – spent a couple of days up north with Oompah Brass doing some outreach work with them which was great fun.  The Bombshellettes opened the main stage at the Lovebox festival which was a big step forwards for the band.  I then spent 3 weeks in France for the Opera de Bauge festival, which was a great experience.  3 operas in 3 weeks (Mozart – Magic Flute, Verdi – Rigoletto, Handel – Julius Caesar), I met some great people, enjoyed the operas and in general had a wonderful time. 

So, that took me into August, and then it’s been all about the function band scene since then.  I had some Bombshellettes gigs too; a wedding that was basically a 3-day festival, as you do, and a fun gig at Floridita.  I’ve been Oomping again, with Oompah Brass at Katzenjammers in London Bridge for a couple of Friday nights, which is always great fun.  I saw their new show up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month – “The A-Z of Oompah” – which was excellent.  I had a fun few days at the Fringe actually, saw a few shows, played a jazz quartet gig, and it was sunny for a change!

Now it’s September, the schools are back which means I’m back to many hours of teaching and driving, but it’s good for paying the rent.  I’m off to Poland on Friday to see my boyfriend singing in a concert or two out there, and then back to London in time to run another night at El Camion.  I will, of course, attempt to blog more regularly, but life’s busy and I’m promising nothing!

New Year, New Start

Since I last wrote a blog entry I have quite literally taken my life apart and put it back together again.  Still, it’s a new year, “time for a new start” and all of those other impossibly optimistic New Year cliches.Anyway, the start of this year was not looking so good for me on the diary front.  The run up to Christmas and New Year was pretty busy, as it always is, but what with the credit crunch in full effect, this January has seen a decline in the function band work I have relied on in the past to get me through the lean months – no more corporate award ceremonies for “salesperson of the year” or Christmas parties in January (even though the venues are cheaper).

January was going to be a really tight month until I got a call offering me a gig – The Lifeline Gig – with a week’s notice.  It’s great when that happens.  One minute you’re looking at your budget for the rest of the month and wondering how you’re going to live on £1.52 for food and petrol (because it has snowed too much, so your teaching keeps getting canceled and therefore you don’t get paid), to breathing that huge sigh of relief when you get off the phone knowing that you are actually going to make it through to see February without having to beg (although I did have to buy cheap baked beans, and they were horrible).

In a way, the quieter months at the start of the year can be quite relaxing after the manic pre-Christmas workload, and it gives you time to sort out your accounts and file your tax return and generally get your life in order.  It’s also a great time to do some decent practice, rather than only having time to play during gigs.  And I’ve taken on the role of ‘Chief Ironer’ for my mum and sister as I have the time to do it and they have the cash to pay me for it.

And so tomorrow will see my playing for Guildford Philharmonic in a Magical Kingdom children’s concert.  The dress code is “smart casual and loads of bling and a mad hat if you’ve got one” but I’m not complaining, just happy to be out working!

Recital On Sunday 8th November

I’m performing a solo recital at St John’s Church in Fulham on Sunday evening and it would be lovely to see you there.  The concert will begin at 7.30pm following Evensong, doors will be open from 7pm.  Tickets are available in advance at a cost of £6.50 (for telephone bookings please call 08444 771 000 or to buy online please visit http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=xxx&query=schedule&promoter=heartoffulham).  Tickets can also be bought on the door at a price of £7.For health reasons (!) I have had to change my programme so it is not as advertised on the website, but I have a great evening’s entertainment lined up for you so please do come if you can.

St John’s Church is easy to find from Fulham Broadway Tube Station and is on the corner of the Fulham Broadway and North End Road.

Buses
28, 391, 211, 295, 14, 414

Tube
Fulham Broadway (Wimbledon Distict Line)

Postal

St John’s Church, North End Road, Fulham, SW6 1PB

Telephone
020 7385 7634

Fax

020 7385 7634

Email

admin@stjohnsfulham.org

A Painful Couple of Months

August and September were pretty painful from a trumpet player’s perspective, and October is proving to be no different.  Since the start of August I’ve been suffering with a cough that just won’t go away.  After the first month of non-stop coughing, and having pulled my intercostals muscles (an old coughing injury which is now re-occurring) I decided I’d better see a doctor.  The main problem for me here is not the irritating cough, it’s the fact that it simply hurts to breathe in and out under any normal circumstance.  So, imagine if you will, how painful it is to take in enough air to play a brass instrument and then be able to muster enough diaphragm support to blow that air back out again.  So, I went to see the doctor; otherwise I was soon going to have to start turning down work on the basis that it was just too painful to play.The doctor’s first assumption was a chest infection, and so put me on a course of antibiotics, which did nothing to help.  The second assumption was asthma, which they’ve struggled to test me for effectively as my ribs have been so sore that I can’t blow hard enough on the testing equipment for them to register proper results – an odd situation for a trumpet player to be in, I’m sure you’ll agree!  Still baffled by the on-going chest trouble, I was referred for a chest x-ray which came back normal.

Along side the asthma testing I was referred for physiotherapy on the NHS, which has been amazingly helpful.  The stretches and exercises given to me by my physiotherapist, Lorna, have been really very helpful, although without my doctor curing the cough she can only do so much to help me.  And the latest exercise of putting my fingers underneath my ribcage and pulling it outwards is pretty grim.  The intercostal inflammation (which was pulling my ribcage outwards) has gone down but now my diaphragm is under tension (which is pulling my ribcage inwards – hence the new exercise).

After a rehearsal with the Big Beer Band last week I have had two ‘remedies’ suggested to me.  The first was a homeopathic treatment called Bryonia, which is apparently excellent for clearing up coughs (cleared up somebody’s 10-month cough in 2 days apparently).  The second was to try changing my toothpaste…Apparently, toothpaste can contain irritants which can affect the chest and cause relentless coughing; a change in toothpaste brand may solve all my problems.  To be frank, I’m at the stage where I’m willing to try anything.  The toothpaste suggestion was a very interesting one.  I have been staying with a friend recently and using their toothpaste and my cough was much better until I went back home again.  However, a week on with different toothpaste and I’m still coughing, so I guess that’s not it.  I haven’t managed to find any Bryonia but am now trying an alternative homeopathic remedy for coughs and chest trouble.  In the meantime I shall just have to keep loading up on the “2x Ibuprofen + 2x paracetamol to be taken 1 hour before playing” method, which does work, but I’d prefer not to have to take so many drugs and just get the cough sorted once and for all.

Cancellations – A Muso’s Worst Enemy

July was a bad month for cancellations.  Between disagreements, misunderstandings, holidays and general disaster I lost out on about £400 worth of work for the month.  The missed teaching and function band dates I can live with, but there were two big disappointments for me.

The first one was a concert with a professional symphony orchestra.  I was booked through my diary service (MAS) to do a rehearsal and ‘proms-in-the-park’ style concert with Wesward Symphony Orchestra, based down in Torquay.  I was really excited about this gig, so I didn’t mind too much when I had to cut short a holiday in Corfu to get back for the rehearsal.  After a late finish at a gig the night before (squeezing in as much work as possible to make up for cutting the holiday short) I got up early on the Sunday morning to meet up with a couple of string players and share the drive down to Torquay.  The rehearsal went really well – it was fantastic to meet the brass section and make some new contacts, and since I was playing everything from 4th tumpet/2nd cornet to bumping on 1st, my playing was given good exposure and I seem to have made a good impression.

So, after a successful rehearsal (and ALOT of travelling) I was really excited about the concert the following week.  So, as you can imagine, I was so disappointed to hear only a couple of days before the concert that it had been cancelled as the promoters had not secured enough money to put on the event (Cockington Proms).  The orchestral contact who booked me through MAS has been very apologetic, saying that she’s doing her best to at least get us some of the fee due (for the rehearsal we did) and that she was highly impressed with my playing and professionalism and would definitely book me again (compliments I was very glad to receive!).  So, some good will hopefully come from the trip in terms of a part fee and maybe some work in the future, but I’ve heard anything on either front so far…

The second missed gig was a misunderstanding which resulted in me having to make a tricky decision.  I had been booked through a friend to do a rehearsal with Colombian percussionist Roberto Pla, who was doing some work in London.  I’ve never played any serious Latin-style music so the first rehearsal (and fundamentally audition) was always going to be difficult (and not helped by the fact I’d had a big T.Mandrake gig the night before and was hung over – not cool).  Despite being put well outside my comfort zone I really got into the music and Roberto is a very helpful and patient person to work with, and so we make a good enough impression to be booked for his London gig on 5^th August (‘we’ being my friends Nicki [sax], Kasha [trombone] and myself).  At the next rehearsal with Roberto, all was going really well until he mentioned the gig on 6^th August.  I nearly had a heart attack on the spot – 6^th August was my best friend’s wedding – OH NO!  What to do?  Give up the opportunity of an amazing gig or go to my friend’s wedding?  At the end of the day there really was no contest; she had been my best friend since we were 13 and there was no way I could miss her wedding (even when I heard how amazing the rest of the trumpet line-up was).  I was desperate that Roberto didn’t think I’d been unreliable and let him down but he completely understood my decision, and I’ve been in touch with him since, so I hope to get a call next time he needs an extra trumpet player in London.

My friend’s wedding was lovely – I did a reading in the ceremony and was a witness to their marriage, and I’m very happy for the new Mr & Mrs C!

I later heard from Nicki that the gig with Roberto went really well from a playing perspective, but it was an outdoors gig at the Docklands Festival and it rained (naturally) so only the hardcore fans braved the weather to hear them play.  Such is life!

The time has come…

The time has come to share the ins-and-outs of life as a freelance musician with anybody who may take an interest in such things.  Hopefully my posts will prove to be interesting and insightful (as long as I’ve got plenty of work on and therefore plenty to talk about – but we won’t go into that right now!)

Actually, I will go into that right now (how contrary).  Life as a freelancer is particularly tricky when you’re early in your career, pretty fresh out of music college as I am (I graduated in June 2008), and trying to build up your network of contacts and people who  can put work your way.  Sometimes opening the diary fills me with dread as I know there’s just not enough work in it to pay the rent this month; other times you’re so rushed off your feet that you live on 4 hours sleep a night and can’t even remember where your diary is (thank goodness for the iPhone/Google Calendar sync technology!).

Hopefully I’ll have enough fun work to blog about and which will be of interest to anybody other than me (and my landlord and my bank manager).  If this week’s anything to judge by (and I hope it is!) then that shouldn’t be a problem – more on that later…right now, I have to take my dog for a walk.  She’s been listening to trumpet practice and beginner trumpet lessons all afternoon and is now giving me ‘that look’ – the ‘please can we go for a walk now, PLEASE?!’ look.  I’d better take her out!