Let me do my behind-the-scenes work!
OC Transpo and the general public have to get one thing straight. And I’m not going to get into detail about this here, because I’ve already addressed this in depth on my Chalk Talk blog.
I am a musician. A working musician. By force of circumstance I happen to be living and working in a city that seems to want to go out of its way to reject any notion of becoming an entertainment town on the scale of Toronto or New York or LA. And illegal music downloading and sharing is threatening my very job enough as it is. As a result, I have to spread myself thin across several music projects. Since there simply isn’t time to write out lead sheets and music charts for every song in my repertoire, that means I have to review that material by listening to it and picking out my part. This is a necessary part of my job, a process that involves a lot more concentration than simply listening to the music passively. Because of my schedule, I have precious little time to review my material, except when I commute. And if you don’t want me to plug my iPod into my radio and blare it loud enough for the whole city to hear as I ride my bike, that means using my headset as I ride the bus, or wait at a bus stop for a bus to arrive, or walk down the street from one place to another.
I have no respect for people who ignore the simple truth that there are musicians trying to make a living in this city. The most blatant example of this ignorance occurs when they encounter someone wearing a headset listening to music, and they talk to the person. Where do these people get off failing to anticipate that the music lover might in fact be a working musician? He might well be in the middle of studying an important brass or keyboard line at that point. Who are these people to assume otherwise? Just because the majority of music lovers are not musicians, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a single musician among them.
When you have a demolition expert priming a building such as Van Eck House in Johannesburg or 1515 Tower in West Palm Beach, Florida for implosive demolition, would you disturb him while he’s busy setting up the explosive charges? Of course not--if you did, he might make a mistake that could cause the building to collapse improperly. Given that the public wants polished performances from professional entertainers, why then should the public interfere with their behind-the-scenes work?
I feel deeply disturbed when someone tries to talk to me while I’m listening to music on the road. As a musician, I cannot afford this kind of downtime. I realize that no one can determine from looks alone whether someone wearing a headset is a musician or not, but I always feel it’s better to assume someone might be doing something for an unexpected reason. Why not give us musicians--indeed, all performers--the benefit of the doubt?
I am a musician. A working musician. By force of circumstance I happen to be living and working in a city that seems to want to go out of its way to reject any notion of becoming an entertainment town on the scale of Toronto or New York or LA. And illegal music downloading and sharing is threatening my very job enough as it is. As a result, I have to spread myself thin across several music projects. Since there simply isn’t time to write out lead sheets and music charts for every song in my repertoire, that means I have to review that material by listening to it and picking out my part. This is a necessary part of my job, a process that involves a lot more concentration than simply listening to the music passively. Because of my schedule, I have precious little time to review my material, except when I commute. And if you don’t want me to plug my iPod into my radio and blare it loud enough for the whole city to hear as I ride my bike, that means using my headset as I ride the bus, or wait at a bus stop for a bus to arrive, or walk down the street from one place to another.
I have no respect for people who ignore the simple truth that there are musicians trying to make a living in this city. The most blatant example of this ignorance occurs when they encounter someone wearing a headset listening to music, and they talk to the person. Where do these people get off failing to anticipate that the music lover might in fact be a working musician? He might well be in the middle of studying an important brass or keyboard line at that point. Who are these people to assume otherwise? Just because the majority of music lovers are not musicians, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a single musician among them.
When you have a demolition expert priming a building such as Van Eck House in Johannesburg or 1515 Tower in West Palm Beach, Florida for implosive demolition, would you disturb him while he’s busy setting up the explosive charges? Of course not--if you did, he might make a mistake that could cause the building to collapse improperly. Given that the public wants polished performances from professional entertainers, why then should the public interfere with their behind-the-scenes work?
I feel deeply disturbed when someone tries to talk to me while I’m listening to music on the road. As a musician, I cannot afford this kind of downtime. I realize that no one can determine from looks alone whether someone wearing a headset is a musician or not, but I always feel it’s better to assume someone might be doing something for an unexpected reason. Why not give us musicians--indeed, all performers--the benefit of the doubt?
posted by Jamie at 1:07 AM
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