memory
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 8:23 pm
I taught at a big "kolij" for one year, promises were not kept, I saw what goes on behind the curtain (much as when someone works full-time at most any place, but - most distasteful of all - including recruiting people who were being disserved in their recruitment), I had walked away from a whole bunch of freelance bass and tuba work (to go teech kolij), and - taking a good long look in the mirror - I gave my notice in April, moved back the next year, and resumed what I had previously been doing (except without going to "kolij").
A couple of years previous, I had student-taught with a junior-high band director who moonlighted as a mediocre repair-guy, and worked with a "pretty good" repair guy.
The mediocre guy recognized my car (parked at a modest little apartment that I had rented - only a block from where the two of them had rented a place to open up a repair shop), stopped by, and asked what I was up to. I told him that I was going to go back to playing at two clubs (back-to-back every night), play a bunch of quintet gigs (with a guy who was "hooked up"), hit the church-gig circuit (way busier, back then - I actually had an every-weeker), go back to recording at the busy jingle mill, and do a season with the Memphis Symphony...
...to which he responded..."What are you doing during the daytime"? and I told him that I might play through a bunch of orchestral parts and do a few auditions...if any of the openings paid more than I was making with that palette of gig-age...
...so he roped me into working at his new shop.
I didn't know much, but - since about age 5 - my Dad had allowed me to make stuff in his shop (as long as I only used hand tools, and didn't use any power tools...BUT - when I was 9, and he told me I had to be the lawn-mowing person - I reminded him that the mower was a "power tool", so I then got use of the drills, the circular saws, and the other stuff), and I was also expected to fix my own bike (including repairing messed-up 3-speed hubs, 5/10-speed derailleurs, true wheels, replace stripped bolts, straighten bent fenders, etc...
...so I may (??) have had a few more basic skills than some...
I didn't work for them long (going out on my own) and they both smoked and drank a lot, so they both died in their 50's...but I remember what the (better of the two) repair-guy told me - once, when I was exasperated - trying to fix a sousaphone, with the limited tools on hand:
A couple of years previous, I had student-taught with a junior-high band director who moonlighted as a mediocre repair-guy, and worked with a "pretty good" repair guy.
The mediocre guy recognized my car (parked at a modest little apartment that I had rented - only a block from where the two of them had rented a place to open up a repair shop), stopped by, and asked what I was up to. I told him that I was going to go back to playing at two clubs (back-to-back every night), play a bunch of quintet gigs (with a guy who was "hooked up"), hit the church-gig circuit (way busier, back then - I actually had an every-weeker), go back to recording at the busy jingle mill, and do a season with the Memphis Symphony...
...to which he responded..."What are you doing during the daytime"? and I told him that I might play through a bunch of orchestral parts and do a few auditions...if any of the openings paid more than I was making with that palette of gig-age...
...so he roped me into working at his new shop.
I didn't know much, but - since about age 5 - my Dad had allowed me to make stuff in his shop (as long as I only used hand tools, and didn't use any power tools...BUT - when I was 9, and he told me I had to be the lawn-mowing person - I reminded him that the mower was a "power tool", so I then got use of the drills, the circular saws, and the other stuff), and I was also expected to fix my own bike (including repairing messed-up 3-speed hubs, 5/10-speed derailleurs, true wheels, replace stripped bolts, straighten bent fenders, etc...
...so I may (??) have had a few more basic skills than some...
I didn't work for them long (going out on my own) and they both smoked and drank a lot, so they both died in their 50's...but I remember what the (better of the two) repair-guy told me - once, when I was exasperated - trying to fix a sousaphone, with the limited tools on hand:
post script: A couple of decades later, I taught at another big kolij, wasn't lied to at all, but remembered some of the other reasons I had previously left, and - once again - gave my notice in April.Hey...This really is a pretty easy job. You're not supervised, you're just straightening out some thin/soft metal, and - as long as you can make something work, and straighten things out significantly better than they were before - people will think you're amazing...even though you will know that you aren't. You're not digging trenches in the rain, and you're not dealing with parents who all believe their children - who tore this stuff up - are "exceptional", and you're not on a chain-gang.
