Life in the Pit

In our orchestra, I think the number one issue for all of our musicians is the lack of guaranteed services. As I mentioned in my opening post, I have seen the number of services deteriorate over the years from 5 series plus a 3 week run of Nutcracker, to as few as 2 series and about 2 weeks of Nutcracker. Additionally, we have gone from 4 rehearsals and 6 performances per series to 4 rehearsals and 4 performances per series.

Both the dancers and musicians were affected when the ballet made the decision to reduce its season by eliminating one of the series. Over time, we lost a Saturday matinee, and then a Sunday evening performance. Renovation of our concert hall forced the company to a smaller venue for one series. The very limited capacity in the pit of that theater led the company to program works choreographed to taped music. Although the renovation of our main hall is long completed, the ballet continues to perform one series at the alternate venue. We have been able to secure work for some musicians, usually duos, trios, or quartets. For most of the musicians, the work for the 3rd series of each season is lost.

In good years we are still used for the remaining 3 series. Last year, after being scheduled for the 2nd series of the season, the musicians were told in September that the series had been reprogrammed, and our services were no longer required. This was after many of us had turned down work with other orchestras for the same week. The orchestra was used only for the opening and closing series, along with Nutcracker.

The run of the Nutcracker has been as high as 32 performances, with an average of about 23 performances. The last 2 years we have been at about 18 performances. One bit of encouraging news is that 2 more school matinees have been added for next season, bringing us up to 20 services. We also have lost rehearsals for Nutcracker. We used to have one rehearsal exclusively for the orchestra, and a dress rehearsal with the dancers. The past few seasons our rehearsal with the dancers is sold as a working rehearsal/school matinee.

Our current contract expires this summer, and we have been given letters of intent from the ballet, but no schedules. Rumor has it that orchestra will not be used for our opening series, which again leaves the majority of musicians playing 2 series and Nutcracker. In the past few seasons, management seems uninterested in negotiating with the orchestra until the opening of the season is looming on the horizon. This has lead to very charged negotiations and tense times for the orchestra as we exist in a sort of limbo waiting for a finalized schedule to be presented to us.

The president of Local 8 made a very apt comparison for us. “The orchestra is the company’s piggy bank. When they need money they break it open and take it out.”