VIDEO NO. 3: REPEATED PAY CUTS ARE DRIVING MUSICIANS AWAY FROM THE FWSO
How good is an orchestra? As good as those who audition for its open positions.
Orchestra auditions are publicized nationally. Musicians everywhere have the right to audition, but not every qualified musician attends. Why? Because it is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Months of intense practice are required to be prepared appropriately for an audition. The cost of travel and accommodations can be expensive. (Just imagine a cellist buying two plane tickets – one for her, one for the cello – just to take an audition across the country!) If the musician is already a working professional, there are usually employment conflicts, requiring him to use leave or lose money in order to audition.
Therefore, a musician must choose wisely when looking at audition opportunities. The music world is a very small one, and word travels fast. Will the most talented musicians choose to audition for an orchestra that is repeatedly cutting salaries? No. How about one that is cutting weeks or health benefits? No.
The rate of musicians leaving the FWSO since 2010 (the first pay cut) is twice that of last decade. Principal players are even accepting non-principal positions in other orchestras in order to leave. Who will replace them? Certainly no one who is already employed with an orchestra of equal or higher salary than the FWSO. One particular FWSO position required three auditions before an acceptable candidate was found. Others have had significantly fewer applicants.
The FWSO management’s current plan of “cutting to prosperity” devalues musicians and their expertise. As one musician states so clearly, the situation at the FWSO makes any musician “hesitant to want to spend the rest of their lives being treated like an obstacle instead of an artist." They’ll save their hard-earned money for another audition.
In summation, the artistic product of the FWSO will only decrease in direct proportion to the salary cuts. The lack of talented musicians coming to audition for the FWSO is a message – one that speaks to the decline of Fort Worth’s cultural reputation. The country now believes the FWSO is no longer a “destination orchestra”. This not only hurts the musicians in the FWSO, but it also hurts the Fort Worth community at large.
Orchestra auditions are publicized nationally. Musicians everywhere have the right to audition, but not every qualified musician attends. Why? Because it is an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Months of intense practice are required to be prepared appropriately for an audition. The cost of travel and accommodations can be expensive. (Just imagine a cellist buying two plane tickets – one for her, one for the cello – just to take an audition across the country!) If the musician is already a working professional, there are usually employment conflicts, requiring him to use leave or lose money in order to audition.
Therefore, a musician must choose wisely when looking at audition opportunities. The music world is a very small one, and word travels fast. Will the most talented musicians choose to audition for an orchestra that is repeatedly cutting salaries? No. How about one that is cutting weeks or health benefits? No.
The rate of musicians leaving the FWSO since 2010 (the first pay cut) is twice that of last decade. Principal players are even accepting non-principal positions in other orchestras in order to leave. Who will replace them? Certainly no one who is already employed with an orchestra of equal or higher salary than the FWSO. One particular FWSO position required three auditions before an acceptable candidate was found. Others have had significantly fewer applicants.
The FWSO management’s current plan of “cutting to prosperity” devalues musicians and their expertise. As one musician states so clearly, the situation at the FWSO makes any musician “hesitant to want to spend the rest of their lives being treated like an obstacle instead of an artist." They’ll save their hard-earned money for another audition.
In summation, the artistic product of the FWSO will only decrease in direct proportion to the salary cuts. The lack of talented musicians coming to audition for the FWSO is a message – one that speaks to the decline of Fort Worth’s cultural reputation. The country now believes the FWSO is no longer a “destination orchestra”. This not only hurts the musicians in the FWSO, but it also hurts the Fort Worth community at large.