Is it common for orchestra musicians to have other jobs besides being in the symphony?
Question from a reader
“Is it common for orchestra musicians to have other jobs besides being in the symphony? If so, what does that look like in the lives of Charleston Symphony members?”
Firstly, we must address the elephant in the room: the poor artist stereotype. It’s a stereotype—meaning not always true and also not completely untrue. Jobs in the arts can pay well, but interestingly you’ll find that even a musician making 250K/year in a top orchestra is likely to still maintain a private studio, at the very least. If your orchestra is paying closer to 50K—or even per service for one concert-cycle a month—piecing together few different jobs is important in making things work.
Teaching Privately
This is the most common supplementary job by far. It’s a natural fit for performers, it's flexible, and the pay can be good. It’s normal to have 5-10 students, but there’s a violinist in the Charleston Symphony who manages to fit in 27 private students! Each month she sends out the symphony calendar and everyone claims their spot for the next few weeks. Her calendar must look like Charleston real-estate: densely packed houses spooning each other to fit in odd little spaces. If you have this many students, organization is key, but also, as she explained, “all my students understand my crazy schedule as a performing musician and they are flexible with me which helps!”
University Teaching
This is also common. It’s more competitive to get a teaching position, but in a metro area there are usually a few institutions of higher learning looking for adjunct or full-time faculty. There’s about 5 of my colleagues who teach down the street at the College of Charleston and a couple at Charleston Southern. The upside of this arrangement is that the college provides a space for you to teach and brings students to you. It’s ideal if you can get your 5 students to meet back to back over one afternoon, but less ideal if, like me, you’re fighting rush hour traffic to get downtown for your single student who also could only meet at 8:30 AM.
Subbing
Playing with other orchestras is not the same as having other lovers. In our orchestra, many musicians utilize weeks-off to play in the Hilton Head Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Savannah Symphony and beyond. These opportunities are usually found through networking, and in addition to the extra cash, it’s fun to see friends in other orchestras and to play great music. The Hilton Head Symphony is nice because they actually build their performance schedule around ours allowing our musicians to make it back to Charleston in time for rehearsals and concerts up here.
Gigging
This is popular anywhere, but especially in Charleston where there are weddings galore. A violist in our orchestra started a company that hires out musicians for parties, receptions, events, etc… It’s become so popular that at this point she’s mostly just managing other musicians instead of doing the actual playing. Another scenario is church gigs. There’s over 400 churches in Charleston earning it the nickname of The Holy City. Sometimes congregations will want to hire a small orchestra to accompany their choir in a special program, but scheduling this can be tricky because every church is jockeying for a spot on Sunday mornings and Holidays. This month I got an email asking about my availability for a Christmas Eve service…That’s 8 months in advance!
Non-Music
Occasionally people do work on the side that has nothing to do with music. It’s always going to be a job that offers flexibility. I’ve heard of real-estate or therapy, and in our orchestra there’s one who has a beauty and self-care business and someone else who works part-time for a law firm.
Working For the Symphony
Some people do other, non-performance work for the actual symphony organization. Our personnel manager has the huge task of hiring—and finding host families for—scores of guest musicians each concert. Everytime there’s a concern about parking, being late, the stage being too cold, he’s the one to talk to. That’s all in addition to his role as the symphony’s bass trombonist. Occasionally, during a rehearsal that doesn’t have many brass parts, I look over and see him typing away on his laptop.
I also do some other work for the symphony beyond my role as Principal Bassist. During the summers I spend a significant amount of time writing the program notes for the next season’s Masterworks series. Additionally, I and two other colleagues work part-time for the development team, meeting with donors and growing the symphony family. There are lots of opportunities to pitch in, and, especially in a smaller orchestra like ours, you have the opportunity to wear a few hats.