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OUR SUCCESSORS: PERFORMING IN SOLIDARITY, OR AS SCABS?By Nathan Kahn ROPA President Emeritus AFM Symphonic Services Division Recently, musicians crossed an AFM picket line to replace striking Atlanta Ballet musicians. These musicians were union, non-union and students. This same situation occurred in the Miami City Ballet strike of 1993. When this happens, there is the expected outcry of "how could these people do this; don't they know any better?" We then begin to ask ourselves what more can we do to educate would be scabs about unionism. There is an alarming level of misunderstanding and resentment of "the union," and ignorance about the progress of our profession, among conservatory students and entry-level professionals. I hope to give some suggestions as to how we can begin to reverse this trend. Mark McConnell, ROPA delegate from the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra observed the following: "As I look back over the situation with the Atlanta Ballet I find myself thinking of my early union days and how much things have changed since then. I joined the AFM back in 1974 when I was a high school student in Lincoln, NE. At that time it was a given that if you wanted to be a musician, you joined the AFM. It was the way things were done. "Fast forward 26 years and we find the Atlanta Ballet fielding an orchestra of scabs to replace their striking orchestra. It would have been unthinkable in 1974 to cross an orchestra’s picket line, but times have apparently changed. "Several of the replacements told us that if we didn't want to work that they had no problem doing it for us. They quoted the management line about how greedy we were to turn down a 38% increase in wages, no matter that management was offering to increase salary just $4 a service. It was sad to see fellow musicians totally ignore what we were telling them. "One wonders what could motivate someone to take someone else's job. Is it greed, ignorance, or have these people received poor advice? Unfortunately it's a combination of all these things." Mr. McConnell's situation is not surprising considering the preparation students are getting. Ten years ago, I was playing a gig with some students from a major music school. We went out for a beer after rehearsal, and one student asked me the following question: "Suppose I get into the cello section of an orchestra and want to advance, what do I do?" I explained to him that if there is a vacancy at the front of the section, the orchestra may hold intra-orchestra auditions prior to holding national auditions. He responded that what he really wanted to know was how could get the Principal cellist's job, if he felt that he played better than the Principal. I gave him the expected response ending with the statement: "Suppose you were a highly skilled tenured Principal Cellist in an orchestra for 20 years, and someone was hired for your section, and some believed that this person played better than you. Should you relinquish your tenured position to this person?" Without batting an eye, the student responded, "Well, sure. The best player always goes to the top regardless, right?" Our culture teaches students to compete, and music students are certainly no exception. A high school music student must compete for chairs in the youth orchestra, the all-state orchestra, solo and ensemble contests, etc. Then off to music school where students compete for scholarships, solo and award competitions, summer festivals and outside musical employment. Then comes the musical Olympics - The Audition Trail. After several years of me-against-the-world audition efforts, BINGO! the student lands his first orchestral job. First day on the job in the X Symphony Orchestra the Union Steward come over to the new member asking for money to join the Union, and recites a short speech on solidarity. After some 20 years of conditioning that musician to compete and compete, solidarity and unionism (i.e. working together for everyone's benefit instead of competing) are totally foreign languages. Mark McConnell adds: "The most disturbing thing was finding out that many college professors, and some professional musicians encouraged some of these people to cross our line. It baffles me to hear what some of these people were telling their students. One teacher told a student who was coming to walk the line in support of the Ballet Orchestra 'Why do you want to help those guys out? They're just being greedy, and besides, free-lance musicians don't deserve a pension anyway.' With that attitude coming from a university professor it's not surprising that the ballet management was able to field an orchestra." Private teachers should be the primary person responsible for teaching students about the union and real life in the symphonic workplace. Students generally listen to their teachers, and their teachers' words usually have a profound, lasting impact as they go forward in their musical careers. But what, if anything, are students being taught about the union and the symphonic workplace? Norman Herzberg, retired Professor of Bassoon at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles, and mentor to professional bassoonists all over the world puts it this way: "... Asking private teachers to teach unionism to aspiring professionals is making the assumption that the teachers know what unionism is. Present day teachers are at least a generation away from what 'the old days' were like. They do not know or care how we got to where we are in this field, and why unionism is, and will be important to us as professionals. ... Of course, as private teachers, we are duty-bound to explain as best we can all of the facets of a professional life in music." If we had the opportunity, what is it that we would teach conservatory students, in order to enlarge their perspective on the musicians' union and professional orchestral life? History — where we were, and how we to got to where we are. How many conservatory students or entry level professionals are aware that:
If we are to begin to turn the tide on this issue, there needs to be a unified, industry-wide effort to educate our successors. This would mean an organized, multi-faceted plan involving all of the Player Conferences (ICSOM, OCSM, RMA, TMA and ROPA), the American Federation of Musicians, the AFL-CIO, and perhaps other interested outside music-related organizations. The following projects, if enacted, could make a significant difference: 1.The publication of a historical teaching publication that would document the evolution of AFM symphony orchestras. Such a publications might include essays, photographs, charts, and a parallel instruction video should accompany this publication. 2.The formation of a preprofessional summer institute for gifted high school and collegiate level musicians. Such an institute could teach students about the history and growth of orchestras, the union's role in that growth, principles of unionism, negotiation and administration of a collective bargaining agreement, etc. Seminars covering the aforementioned topics should be made available to major summer music centers (Tanglewood, Aspen, etc.) 3.A unified effort by the Player Conferences and the American Federation of Musicians to educate delegates in their respective conferences on the importance of these principles, and the importance of passing them on to their students and their colleagues who are teachers. Each Player Conference should devote some time to this issue at their respective national conference. 4.Continued, persistent efforts to bring our message to the conservatories. While some music schools have been open to presentations about the AFM, many have not. Shifting the focus of the presentation from the "union" to "the growth of orchestras," should make such a program more attractive. Dialogue on this issue between the leadership of the AFM, the Player Conference chairs and the leadership of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) should occur on an ongoing basis. 5.Orientation programs. Too many entry-level professionals come into an orchestra with little or no sense of their orchestra's history, and limited knowledge about the role of their union, and their orchestra's various committees, in that history. Orientation programs for new orchestra members can help bridge that knowledge gap. As an example, Laura Ross and the Nashville Symphony Committee have designed an excellent orientation program where, among other things, new orchestra members learn the history of the NSO, and how the orchestra has achieved what it has now, and why. The result of that program not only yielded a more informed orchestra about what the union is and what it means, but generated interest in service on the Orchestra Committee from musicians who otherwise might not have served. Charles Schlueter, distinguished Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and ICSOM Governing Board Member, expressed the following views: "When I joined the AFM almost 50 years ago (can you believe that??), it was a small local in Southern Illinois. Actually I had to join two locals, because I played the band concerts in 2 different local jurisdictions. The band concerts were under the auspices of MPTF, which paid the grand sum of $5.00 per concert. It wasn’t a question of whether joining the union was the thing to do; if I wanted to play those concerts, I had to be in the union. "It's hard to make young people today think 'collectively,' but then, it probably always was. There is so much of the 'me first attitude' around today, not only among musicians, but throughout the whole country. It is not surprising the Atlanta Ballet was able to entice students to be scabs. "So what do we do? I have been advocating these kinds of projects for years. If the player conferences and the AFM cooperated with the music schools around the country, it might be possible to educate the current students, many of whom will be the next generation of performing musicians, about how all the [improvements] in the professional musicians' life: salaries, benefits, job security, etc., came about because of solidarity." James Clute, long-time bassist with the Minnesota Orchestra, distinguished bass teacher, and former ICSOM Governing Board Member, adds: "I feel that the International Executive Board of the American Federation of Musicians and/or the Player Conferences should appoint a task force to research these problems and come up with some possible solutions." Mark McConnell concludes: "I think that all of us in the AFM must realize that we can't just assume that it will always be business as usual. We may have a whole generation of musicians about to emerge from music schools and conservatories who have no idea what struggles we have fought to get symphonic work where it is today. We need to let these people know what conditions symphonies worked under before we organized ourselves. As we enter a new century one of our primary goals as professional musicians must be to educate and inform the next generation of orchestra musicians. If we fail to do this we may all come to regret the direction that our industry seems to be taking." |
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