myauditions.com blog

4/28/05

OK- here I go- I’m not really in the ‘correct’ demographic to be blogging, but this site has piqued my interest and I’d like to see if I can make a contribution.

Introduction: my name’s Paul Barrett, I’ve been principal bassoonist with the Honolulu Symphony since 1977 so I can ‘correctly ‘ be referred to as an old-timer. My wife, Judy, is the associate concertmaster with the HSO, we’ve got two kids - one, Colin is a freshman at the University of Maryland- majoring in computer science, the other, Meghan, is in 10th grade at the ‘Iolani School in Honolulu, one of the larger of the many private schools here.

I’m hoping to discuss issues revolving around the business and lifestyle of being a symphony musician in the 21st century in this blog. Issues such as how to keep focusing on making good music despite the declining standard of living for many of the smaller orchestras in this country. How to stay injury free- or more to the point- how to deal with the inevitable injuries that arise. What it’s like for those of us on the other side of the audition screen. How to pick a music school. Whether or not one should even try to attempt a career in this rapidly evolving (some would say DE-volving) profession. How to be a good member of the union. How to survive those pre-tenure years- and beyond.

I’ll do my best to stay current. This job is bipolar in nature- with a 30 week season we have a lot of layoff time, but within those 30 weeks of work our management has us hopping. Many of the HSO musicians (especially string players like my wife) have had to take on a heavy teaching load to survive the layoff weeks, so that increases the work load during the season. Some weeks I don’t have time to do anything but work, other weeks are a bit more relaxed, and I hope to write a bit more during those 22 weeks of relative calm.

Right now the HSO is on a four week layoff: ‘Cats’ and ‘Riverdance’ have hijacked our hall. Then we’re back for three final weeks of the season, followed by three months of layoff until early September. (A few of us will be hired for a ‘Pirates of Penzance’ run in July, but that’s it.)

I’ll write more soon.

-pb