Overpaid brass players?!

James Yelland · Mar 24, 2004

From today's newspaper:

""

Strings want more brass for extra notes

The string section of a German orchestra has (said) it deserves more money than the brass section because it plays more notes. ... The strings of the Beethoven Orchestra claim to work harder ... and should get an extra £60 per rehearsal to reflect 'the extra notes' they have to read and play.

The musicians deny being pedantic (so no chance of them becoming bandsmen, then ). "We could have calculated the surcharge per semiquaver but we chose to take an easier course", one violinist said.

The horns (?!), flutes(!!!) and trombones are unimpressed....

"Of course strings are in action more than the brass", said a union spokesman, "but any violinist not happy with that should have taken up the trumpet at music school."

""

Who said Germans don't have a sense of humour?

onedrummeruk · Mar 24, 2004

Maybe the drummers could put in a claim cos think of the number of times a drum is hit during a drum roll..............

Well Worth It · Mar 24, 2004

Maybe the strings get taxed for sounding so fucking shit!

PeterBale · Mar 24, 2004

onedrummeruk said:
Maybe the drummers could put in a claim cos think of the number of times a drum is hit during a drum roll..............

. . and there's always the claim for the stress factor in counting all those bars rest and then coming in in the wrong place :shock: :wink: :lol:

midwalesman · Mar 24, 2004

String players !!!

String players get it easy!!! Sounds more like, more money for the snobs in the front of the orchestra and less for those who don't have an unhealthy relationship with the conductor. After all, they can sit in a section of 20 to 30 players, a wrong note can be well and truly hidden by the others, since I could probably drown out a violin with a burp, and it would be less offensive than the majority of less trained "scratchers"! Sticking behind our colleagues on this one, admittedly they play less notes than violinists, but a) the production on a violin is 10x easier than on any brass instrument, there's always a chance that a note could come out wrong, b) mistakes are noticeable since a loud trumpet player could obliterate the rest of an orchestra, this extra stress should mean brass players should get more just for danger money! c) brass players are far funnier than string players who are jealous that brass players have a generally good sense of humour!

On the subject of orchestras, I came across a story that one of the major conductors didnt like having women in his orchestra because if they were good looking they would distract the brass players, and if they were ugly they would distract him!!

I thought that was particularly funny!

Well Worth It · Mar 24, 2004

The Percs should get paid extra for having to sit and listen to it all.
The scratchboxes are just peeved that they can't get away with lager under their stands.

lynchie · Mar 24, 2004

surely it should be judged by the number of parts of the body used... strings one hand, one arm... trombones, both hands, one arm, both lungs... so we should get about double what they do...

Well Worth It · Mar 24, 2004

I'd be impressed if you could play a violin with one hand?!?!?! :wink:
Maybe some minimalist stuff, but it'd sound pretty rubbish even for a scratchbox!

PeterBale · Mar 24, 2004

lynchie said:
surely it should be judged by the number of parts of the body used... strings one hand, one arm... trombones, both hands, one arm, both lungs... so we should get about double what they do...

I reckon that should make the harpist on top whack - both feet and all ten fingers :wink:

Maestro · Mar 24, 2004

PeterBale said:
I reckon that should make the harpist on top whack - both feet and all ten fingers :wink:

Don't harpists just use 8 fingers Peter? Thought they didn't use the little finger.

Ah well, less money for the harpists then. :wink:

James Yelland · Mar 24, 2004

Well Worth It said:
I'd be impressed if you could play a violin with one hand?!?!?! :wink:!

You've obviously never seen a fiddler doing left hand pizzicato then!

cornetgirl · Mar 24, 2004

Well Worth It said:
The Percs should get paid extra for having to sit and listen to it all.
The scratchboxes are just peeved that they can't get away with lager under their stands.

You can! I've got away with 2 pints and a chocolate cake during a run of Carmen - it was all that kept me and my stand buddy sane!

The reason strings want more money is to pay for the chiropractor - most pro string players spend more time getting their back, neck and shoulders sorted out than they do playing!

[off topic] Nice to meet you last night Well Worth It - hope my inspired triangle playing was up to scratch, to say nowt of my flying across the timps! [/off topic]

Rach x

lynchie · Mar 24, 2004

Well Worth It said:
I'd be impressed if you could play a violin with one hand?!?!?! :wink:
Maybe some minimalist stuff, but it'd sound pretty rubbish even for a scratchbox!

i meant they only really hold the box with their right hand, it's the arm that does all the work from what I can see...

anyway... what's this about harpists using 10 fingers? they got 2 the rest of us don't or something? an extra couple of fingers instead of their thumbs perhaps??

Dave Euph · Mar 24, 2004

I don't care what the string players say, the fact that they want paying more is disgraceful, especially when:

#1 Brass players in general get paid pitifully less on a national scale (ie. less professional brass jobs available)

#2 They are demanding more money because they play more notes!

Why don't they just discount the fact that brass and woodwind players have to use their lungs (therefore increasing the chances that they'll be knackered!), that fewer players play their parts, meaning more pressure on their part to perform (and therefore requiring players of higher standards!) and that brass instruments are heavy ... so a pain to carry around! :lol:

Why don't the wind section go on strike? Refuse to play? See what effect that has on the orchestra. :evil:

iggmeister · Mar 24, 2004

I think the term "quality not quantity" springs to mind.

lynchie said:
anyway... what's this about harpists using 10 fingers? they got 2 the rest of us don't or something? an extra couple of fingers instead of their thumbs perhaps??

I was watching Tarrant on TV the other night and he had some footage of a doctor in Eastern Europe who had 5 fingers on each hand, (as well as 2 thumbs), and 6 toes on each foot. Don't know whether he played the harp though.

Igg

HBB · Mar 24, 2004

I saw that! It was quite odd!!

eckyboy · Mar 24, 2004

I thought we had done away with POUND NOTES :lol:

stevetrom · Mar 25, 2004

Surely music is sound

Sound is measured in decibels

Pay sections on the number of decibels created

Pay brass players more as the 7/8 brass players in an orchestra created more decibels than the 5500 string players combined

Bass trombone players will get very rich and drink themselves into an early grave

Darth_Tuba · Mar 25, 2004

Just thinking, if musicians are paid by the number of notes they play, or by the amount of sound they make, whichever way you look at it, conductors should be working for free! :wink:

Mike Saville · Mar 25, 2004

The reason that brass/wind etc get paid more than the string players is because each player in the wind/brass section is considered a principle (ie 2nd trumpet is called co-principle). This means that every player plays thier own part, which is not doubled by any other player. In ths sense they are a soloist.

String players on the other hand are not principles as they play the same part as many other players. Payment is based on this fact and not the amount of notes played!

Overpaid brass players?!

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