Musician call

seems the frequency of companies and MD's looking for last minute musicians is on the up! could it be that Am theatre is drastically underpaid and players are simply refusing full seasons or not committing to full runs when better paid gigs come along.

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• 4 votes

Well, lets look at the cost of hiring musicians for an Amateur Theatre production:

Most companies pay between $0-25 per call.
Barely any companies still pay the "Basic" call rate of $30 per call.
There have been a few exceptions where companies have paid $35-$50 per call.

This is for 4 hours work (7pm-11pm) on a weekend (Friday-Sunday). I can't speak the same about other instrumentalists but for a keyboardist, this means leaving my gear and equipment at a venue for the entire run which will stop me from picking up work in other areas of music for the duration of the run. If I wanted to pick up more work, I would have to take my keyboard from the theatre which is a pain in the ass for everyone and a total inconvenience for everyone involved as time would be needed to be spent on resetting up at the following show.

Lets say I picked up work for $30 per call playing 9 shows over 3 weeks ($270). Add on 2 dress rehearsals and 2-3 band rehearsals ($150) and I would have made a total of $420 for the entire run of a performance. Only $420 no matter the complexity of the score, the time I may or may not have spent practicing, Petrol, Food, and being unable to pick up additional work for the last 3 weeks of the run. Seems pretty shit to me.

Food for thought.

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• 1 vote

Agree with 'Anonymous'.

We also have to remember that the dedicated cast normally pay a cast fee to be in a show ($70-$125). They attend 3-4 months of rehearsals and are lucky if they get to work with a great company that gets them a cheap 2 dollar chocolate as a thankyou.

I do believe musicicans are underpaid, but so is every member of every amatuer production. But we use these shows to meet people, learn new skills and build up our cv's so that we can potentially make it to pro and get paid slightly better.

I suppose at the end of the day its about working with the 'right' company and choosing what shows you want to do. The orchestra is normally one of the biggest expenses in any show.

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• 11 votes

I suppose it depends if you are playing cause it's your profession of just because it's a hobby. I know of some theatre companies that don't even pay their orchestra and the players do it for the love of playing.

I have been in stage roles for over 10 years but now with a young family find it harder to commit to 3 months of rehearsals. I have played drums for 15 years and can read music but getting opportunities to play depends on who you know a lot of the time.

Maybe thats an area that theatrepeople can look into, setting up a database of musicians that want to gain experience, do it for the love (or money), and get contacts in the industry

Just my thoughts

Daz

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• -1 votes

Guitarist wanted. Please email at stewartgarrettmusic@gmail.com or info@phoenixtheatrecompany.org if interested. Rehearsals start this weekend 9th November.

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• -4 votes