Posted by Matt G on September 04, 2003 at 07:39:16:
In Reply to: Re: Becoming a professional posted by real answers on September 03, 2003 at 19:21:06:
I think a few people understand your ideas, but probably won't comment.
I think a lot of guys are confused about some of the players winning today's auditions. Some of these guys do hold advanced degrees and such and are excellent players. However, because of the ratio of tuba players to full time paying jobs, a lot of these folks are staying in school to stay in that "conservatory" environment (especially in a Master's/Artists Diploma/DMA/ABD degree) to hone there skills and wait for the next opening to occur.
I think a lot of these people responding have good intentions, i.e. get an Ed degree or whatnot, BUT that does influence the amount of time you have to devote to your craft/trade. There are not a lot of jobs for a full time tuba player, where the player can live on playing the tuba only. A lot of guys who make enough money playing also teach and whatnot, but that is because they live in a capitalist economy and would like to drive a better automobile or live in a bigger house. Can you blame them?
Mr. Deck has had a fine career playing in the NYPO and teaching at Julliard. All without a degree. Even taking education courses does not make a person a better teacher. The 18 years of upbringing have a lot more to do with predispositionment to teaching than the four years in college and the 4-8 "teaching" courses you take.
So what does it take to become a professional?
1. Find somebody who is doing it right now.
2. Do exactly what they did, are doing, and will continue to do to keep up their abilities.
3. Do it better than they do.
If someone wants to be nice than they can make a nice post and inform the concerned parent that it is very tough to make a living as being a professional tubaist alone.
But, alas, that is not what they asked, and most of us do not have philosophy degrees that would "entitle" us to answer the original question thusly.
Matt G