Posted by Sean Chisham on March 09, 2001 at 20:53:46:
In Reply to: Re: Re: HK Phil tuba audition open(high salary ) posted by Jay Bertolet on March 09, 2001 at 20:33:16:
I'ld have to side with Jay on this one. I have only been payed to play for about a year now, but once you get the position, perspectives always change. Before you get it you are very hungry and can't understand how anyone could possibly leave a position you envy so much. Once you get there the "position" becomes your "job". If you are going from college to the "job", then suddenly you have bills to pay, such as housing, food, student loans possibly, transportation, etc.
With this particular job you also have to weigh in how expensive Hong Kong is to live in. That $65,000/year in a US city such as San Francisco or New York ain't like $65,000 in Kansas City. Rent in some of these cities can run $1500-2000/month unless you are willing to commute great distances to work, which brings up another issue to consider.
Hong Kong is also part of communist China. We Americans don't fully understand what it can be like living in such an environment. You will also be living 7,000 miles from the west coast of the USA. If family is an issue than that is a long way to travel for Thanksgiving or a funeral.
Also look at how long that list is of vacancies. That alone should shoot some major red flags. Why the huge turnover? Well, someone pointed out that the music director did a massive firing. The AFM ain't gonna do you a lot of good in China. I am sure at least of few of those people were excellent contributors to the organization, but they have no collective voice like they do here.
These practical issues are easily overlooked when one is an aspiring musician, but they become very important when you become a professional musician. At that point you begin to spend more time living a life and not as much with the blinders on needed to attain the position in the first place.
sean