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Frank Amoss, President Orange County Musicians' Association
(Used By Permission)
On The
Endangered
List
|
save
a whale, hug a tree,
heal the ozone layer;
have some respect for the saxophone player.
protect
the rain forest,
wear nothing made of fur,
don't pay to go where taped music will occur.
pro-choice,
pro-life, which is wiser?
don't replace the strings
with a synthesizer.
|
In the debate about which inappropriate behaviors are hastening
the downfall of our planet it is only we, the musicians, who recognize
and struggle with the degree to which live music is being withdrawn
from every-day life. In today's culture, which recognizes a deejay
as a performing artist, we, the true practitioners of musical
performance, must make every effort to make our presence known
and show some resistance to the general acceptance of music as
something that comes out of a box. Live music is a natural resource
that must be preserved, nourished and protected from erosion.
Pre-recorded musical accompaniment to a performance of dance or
voice is just as much a form of pollution as smog and litter.
It was former International President of the AFM, Marty Emerson,
who this writer first heard refer to musicians as an endangered
species. This epithet cannot be denied. With each passing year
there are less opportunities for live music to occur, hence, less
musicians engaging in the profession. Any of us who are ecologically
minded must be willing to devote some of that fervor to preserve
the live-music business as a viable means of livelihood for those
who choose it as such.
Hobby bands and under-scale union bands are a form of pollution.
By saying no to either one of these forms of musical outlet a
musician has the opportunity to increase the health of his/her
profession and to preserve it for future generations of musicians.
Those musicians who put forth the rationality that, by performing
competitive engagements for free or for peanuts, they are keeping
music alive, are misrepresenting (and fooling) themselves. It
is this writer's opinion that the reason behind such performances
is often for the purpose of the inflation of egos as these players
pretend to be professional musicians. Belonging to the AFM only
compounds the pollution. Such membership does not automatically
qualify one as a professional musician. There are non-union musicians
who behave in a professional manner and do less harm to the profession
than some of us.
Membership in the American Federation of Musicians avails one
of the access to an organization devised solely as a tool for
musicians to organize collectively and develop strength through
unity. To become a member of this organization and then to engage
in subterfuge to create an advantage for a buyer of musical services
is less than professional. One's degree of musical proficiency
is no standard of professionalism. The loyalty and support that
one exhibits to the profession is the standard. To stand up to
the potential buyer of musical services and make it known that
these services will be provided only when certain standards are
met is an act of professionalism and self-respect.
The AFM is not the profession. It is but an instrument devised
by those who pursue a living in the profession to uphold the standards
they, themselves, have established. It needs more advocates, especially
from among AFM members. The Union doesn't encourage its members
to be the equivalent of environmental whackos but it does (once
again) beseech them to look for and take advantage of opportunities
by which your Union can be included and used in the day to day
workings of the music business. Unionism is nothing more than
a philosophy, which is either resisted or nurtured.
Which do you choose?
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