The Hustle of a Percussionist in Boston
At 33, Tetreault was putting in 100-hour weeks on a patchwork of gigs he’d pieced together — simultaneously serving as the music director at the Galilee Baptist Church in Denver; teaching at the University of Colorado; and working various gigs with the Boulder Philharmonic, the Fort Collins Symphony, the Colorado Ballet, the Colorado Symphony, and Opera Colorado. Yes, he was doing what he loved for a living, but when he added it all up, it was barely a living at all. He’d made $55,000 the previous year, pretty good — until you factored in all the hours, and the fact that the salary had to support two since his wife, Rachel, had been laid off in 2010 from a communications job with the Colorado Symphony. The couple was living in a 625-square-foot one-bedroom apartment.
—A man prepares for a year (and really, his whole life) to audition for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I got so stressed out reading this that I skipped ahead to see how it ended, because I couldn’t take the suspense. If you’ve ever lamented a lack of passion in your life, this might be a good thing for you to read. Passion is terrible and torturous.
This article pretty much sums up why, after 10 years of piano, violin, guitar and harp, I decided not to pursue a music performance major in college. Even years later, it makes me sweat and shiver just thinking about all the anxiety and stress I used to feel before big auditions.
Holy shit.
Wow. I’ve never been more grateful for my general interest in everything, but lack of passion for anything.
This is why I’m pursuing a doctorate in piano performance right now. Because there’s no realistic way for anyone to survive gigging if they’re a classical pianist. Or as a classical musician really. But we don’t even have the option of orchestral jobs.