oboeinsight

I just finished reading a short article on doing taxes in the latest AF of M International Musician paper.

Side note: Why read it online and not wait for it to arrive in the box, as is the norm for me? Jason Heath is included in this month’s publication, and he wrote to say my name is mentioned in the article. (Thanks so much, Jason!) So between knowing he was appearing, and that my name was up there for all to see, I just had to have a look-see. (Or a read-see I guess.) I’m kind of vain that way.

Anyway … it’s a bit too late to get tax advice for 2007, of course, but I thought I’d read the article to see if there was anything I didn’t know.

Nope. Nothing new that will allow me some miracle and save me tons of money. Such is life.

But I did have to laugh. At one point the author talks about filing as both an employee and an independent contractor. He writes that, for instance, sometimes a player is in two orchestra and in one the player is an employee while in the other is considered an independent contractor.

Okay … that’s when I start laughing. Or at least kind of sighing. Or something. It’s not that simple.

Wanna know how many W-2s I have? Let’s see … counting … 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … yes … six. And that is down from years past. I also have my private studio income and a few jobs where I’m deemed an independent contractor (thus the employers avoid paying my social security and medicare taxes and I get the honor at the end of the year). (I’m sure that Jason has this issue, and I’m guessing he has even more W-2 forms than I.)

Doing taxes is absolutely insane. Fortunately I’ve done it so many years now I know how to go about figuring out percentages for schedules A and C, and as much as a grumble it does all get finished in time.

This is a crazy life when tax time comes around. As if it’s not already crazy enough before that! It’s the one time of year when I really wish I had one job, one W-2, and a simpler life. But then what the heck would I whine about?

“In any orchestra, there’ll be lots of wonderful, valid opinions. The thing that makes (the concept) work — or doesn’t — is a continuity of concept.” Going conductorless doesn’t mean a group can’t find it. “It just takes longer,” he said.

“It takes a grand bit of selflessness.”

(RTWT)

Musicians?! Selfless? Okay, okay … I know groups make this work, and they make it work well enough to put on great concerts. I’m impressed.

I wonder what the personalities of the players are like. I’m not one to speak up, and I’m one to quickly acquiesce for the sake of peace. In other words, I’m extremely wimpy. In a very pathetic way. And of course there are those musicians who are the opposite. They can eat me alive, and I have to be very cautious around them, so that that doesn’t happen.

So how do all the wacky personalities work in a conductorless setting? I know I’d be the … “well, whatever” sort who might be burning up inside but wouldn’t let it show. Not healthy. Others would not stop talking and telling people what to do. (I quit a woodwind quintet because one musician could never stop telling me how to play my part. It finally went so over the top even wimpy old me had had it!) I would think rehearsals could be long and painful. But maybe only a certain type of individual would agree to be in a group like that anyway. I wonder.