If Kimberly Preiss has her way, she’ll never have to work a day in her life.
“I never want to have a job,” said the 18-year-old Niceville resident.
Although the budding oboist spends countless hours practicing and cultivating her craft, Preiss doesn’t consider playing music a job.
Well, yes. Ms. Preiss isn’t the only one who doesn’t think what we do is a job.
They also think we should do it for free and have a “real job”.
I understand how she feels, but what we do is work. Honest. Just because we enjoy it (most of the time), and because we use the verb “play”, so many think we aren’t working. We are just goofing off. Having fun.
Oh well. This will always be a problem.
I wonder … if someone monitored us during a performance — if we were hooked up to something that would be scanning (?) our brains and monitored our heart rate — would a reader of that information know we were just goofing off? Would what is read look like a person at play or a person at work? I really do wonder about that. Has this been done? Anyone know?
(I found the article here. Video.)
Like most musicians, I get asked periodically to play for free, since, after all, it’s fun for me–right?
Of course it is. But I recently pointed out to one of these people that they were asking me to bring $10,000+ worth of equipment and put in 20+ hours of preparation (not even considering the value of my education and experience). I think they got the point that the “one hour” they expected me to donate was considerably more than that. I donate my work as a musician on occasions that I choose, but I don’t appreciate being taken for granted!
I see Ms. Preiss’s point, but I think she does a disservice to the community of musicians by trivializing the work of “playing” at a professional level.
I just chalk it up to age. I remember thinking something similar when I was seventeen (when I got my first professional job). I’m willing to cut her some slack. Now when a fifty year old says this, I get a bit frustrated. 🙂
I’ve been at this now since 1975, when I got my first job and had to join the union. I still think I have the best job ever, but it’s definitely work!