Musical Instruments For sale

Jascha Heifetz renowned violin virtuoso in the 1900's was asked one day to play for a benefit. His fee at that time was five thousand dollars a performance which was a respectful amount of money in those days.

He explained to the person, "Jascha Heifetz the "artist" does not work for "free." However if Jasha Heifetz the humanitarian wants to donate after being paid,  then he may be inclined to do so".

Now that the jobbing scene has somewhat disappeared (certainly to the extent of making a decent living) you hear of jobs (gigs) that pay close to minimum wage. It's a sad state of affairs. 

Factor in the amount of money the job pays,  the distance to and from the engagement, the number of hours performing and perhaps automotive travel, you can conclude that the job does pay close to this "minimum".

It almost makes sense to play for nothing, that way you don't feel demeaned or insulted by accepting this meager stipend.

It seems that Dixieland bands are still being asked to perform.  This style of music still has a following but alas the jobs don't pay nearly as well as they did not that many years ago.

However, the "older guys" that know this kind of music have gotten even older and still do it more or less as a hobby.  I guess, some money is better than "no" money. Besides it keeps one busy and active.  As you get older you welcome an opportunity to get out the door.

A friend of mine told me that some time ago he got calls to play Dixieland jobs that were recommended by an astute Jazz artist.   The Jazz player didn't like this kind of music and would recommend my friend.  

When my buddy got a call from the client for these jobs and was informed he was recommended highly by the recording artist "his" fees became significantly higher. He figured that if they were originally willing to hire this popular "star" then money wasn't going to be a problem.

Sadly the "good old" days have gone and musicians are found struggling to find decent employment. There used to be a saying that "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."   This isn't exactly true as you can sometimes find very talented musicians working these jobs and even working for the door.

I remember doing just such a low paying gig at some Mall. A woman approached us and commented how much she liked the band."By the way" she asked, "Do you guys do charity work?"    Hmm