[Dixielandjazz] Playing for free vs undermining the pros

[Nancy Giffin]

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:59:20 -0500
From: rorel at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Playing For Free

 I try to play for free whenever I have time. Many Saturdays, rather than
sit around watching the Hogan's Heroes reruns, I'll call a nursing home at
random and ask if they would like someone to come in later in the day to
lead a sing-a-long with the residents. On vacation, I usually try to stop by
the local nursing residence, and in the rural areas, they are more than
happy for any new face to be kind to the people there. Every Thanksgiving my
wife and I work a soup kitchen and, after serving, we play flute and piano
music during dinner. I believe that if you have a talent, no matter what it
is or how meager it may be, it is your responsibility to share it freely
with those in need.
 
 Promotion? Hardly. Does it benefit me? Oh yes, more than I can say.
 
 Respectfully submitted,
 Ray Osnato


REPLY TO RAY:

Hello, Ray,

While I admire what you¹re doing for the residents of the nursing homes, I
would only suggest that rather than calling a ³nursing home at random,² you
might only call nursing homes that never, ever hire professional musicians
to perform at their location. There are serious, full-time or part-time
musicians who look to nursing homes for much-needed income, and they can¹t
compete with kindly folks like you who give your talent away in exchange for
the satisfaction it gives you to do community service. Likewise, as a
graphic designer for both print and the Web, I cannot compete with artists
who give away their work for the satisfaction of seeing their work in print.
I certainly do my fair share of pro-bono work for the local jazz society,
but that is work that the STJS would not pay anyone to do. (Instead, the
STJS will find the most qualified volunteer for the job.) And certainly
there are professional musicians who will work for free while starting out
and needing to promote themselves and network (establish new contacts for
future paying jobs).

All this to say that ³warm fuzzies² are well and good (and I love them,
too), but nice people like Ray can unwittingly make life harder for working
musicians by limiting the amount of money they can charge or by taking their
work away completely in some locations. So, while it many be our
³responsibility to share freely with those in need² (as Ray says), let us
first make sure they are really ³in need² and not just looking for a way to
avoid using money that was already set aside in their ³entertainment budget²
for a talented professional with bills to pay.

Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Giffin