In Texas, More Orchestra Labor Trouble

-
The Richardson Symphony Orchestra in Texas has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the musicians' union, which put the band on its unfair list.

As Scott Cantrell reported last week, the orchestra has missed payments to musicians in the past and is trying to get them to sign a contract without union representation. That was the last straw for American Federation of Musicians local president, Ray Hair.

Being on the unfair list means that AFM musicians can face huge fines for doing work for the orchestra. The orchestra, led by executive director George Landis, is complaining that the AFM is acting arbitrarily and with malice by penalizing players and their organization.

Popular posts from this blog

What Are the New Models of Professional Musicianship?

-
On his own blog, my colleague Nate Zeisler describes two models for musical careers . In the first model, musicians are mechanics, creating within "a very narrow, accepted window of performance practice which has been dictated by your teacher, conductor and the music written on a page." In the second model, musicians act more like designers, and come up with "new ways of thinking about the art form" by drawing on new genres of music and artistic disciplines. For Nate, the path toward a successful career is to fuse the two: In the field of classical music, there is very little room for people who can’t infuse qualities from both sides of the aisle into their career. Great designers in music will have little to say and won’t have credibility in the field if they aren’t great mechanics. Great mechanics, for the most part, won’t have a sustainable career if they’re not thinking as designers. I agree that the most successful musicians will be able to be both mechanic
Read more

Taking a Break

-
I may return to posting, but, for now, I'll be packing it in. It's been harder than I thought to keep blogging up since moving to Los Angeles and taking on a new job at the Colburn School. If you want to get in touch, or just want to keep up with me, follow me on Twitter @berrymark, or find me on Facebook. Thanks for stopping by.
Read more