anyone a professional ensemble players?

how much do you guys make? and how do they pay your wages? i'm sure it must me salary and not anything hourly, at least that's how it works with large symphonic orchestras and the like... i ask this because i just realized how easy it is to get paid for doing something you love. i'm playing in commencement band this year, and just for one rehearsal and two performances we all get paid $100 bucks each... basically just for showing up and playing for the graduation ceremonies... if this is how it is in the professional world, i can't wait.

 

I play the flute. I'm actually dream of being a musician - hope that's what I will be in life. I play for 6 years already. I recently started the Poulenc sonata for flute - it's beautiful!

 

I used to play with my county orchestra... but we only got one paid gig and it was only $50 a person for 3 practices and 1 performance at a gala. I ended up quitting because I was the youngest there by at least 20 years and all the other clarinetists used cheap reeds so I would always sound off because they were so flat

I know my old band director used to make upwards of $200 playing at weddings and stuff on his french horn. It's all about making connections.

 

i wont work for under $100. if im solo i charge at least $200. if theres more than 5 or 6 musicians, then i can go under $100, but i make sure everyone involved knows im not happy. its all a front really, i'd play for free, but you gotta keep a poker face up about it. if you start workin cheap, you'll get black-listed by other musicians.

 

I used to want to be an orchestral percussionist when I was in college; after playing in orchestras for a while though, I came to look at it as being a factory worker-- stamping out the same kinds of Classical & Romantic hits term after term. No one wants to hear adventurous stuff, the blue-hairs that fund the orchestras are too hung up on hearing Beethoven symphonies and whatnot over and over again. Seriously, if a community orchestra's musical director programmed something like Ligeti's Atmospheres or Stockhausen's Gruppen they'd be flipping hamburgers in a matter of months...

I'm actually happier not having to contend with playing music for a living; this way I can focus on music I'm actually interested in making without having to whore myself out for gigs to clothe/feed/shelter me and my family. Now if I gig it's purely for fun, and it's pretty much stress-free. If I get paid for doing what I love to do (ambient/drone stuff, avant-classical chamber music, wild spacerock jams, free improvisation, etc.) then that's cool; any money I get from gigging goes towards more gear, so it's not like I need it...

Disclaimer: I have the utmost respect for anyone who can make a living as a professional musician. If you can do it and support yourself and your family, more power to you: it takes a lot of discipline, hard work, serious chops, and a healthy dose of luck to make a decent living in that field nowadays....