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Re: Defining "pro"



Well i realize through this thread that i suppose i
was a professional who recently turned amateur;-)
I was with a succesful band for almost 8 years and
quit last year partly for this reason.What started as
a passion,fun,challenge and learning experience for me
turned into business,commitments,stagnation and
boredom.We had steady gigs every year and sold lots of
CDs (and still are)shared bills with worldwide artists
and created our own record company.We were there at
the right time,we were the right team doing the right
thing, etc.
I can only say that i learned a lot from this
experience and grateful that i was able to support my
family through it.Before i came to europe iīd always
had a partime job to support the music i wanted to do
and never lived or depended on it.But coming here with
nothing,and having a family forced me to go out there
and use any skill i had to make a living.So it was
teaching my mothers lenguage,guitar and eventually
this band.Then 2 CD recordings followed and we were
rolling,so i stopped teaching and concentrated and
devoted all my time to this project.
As the band started making more money we also started
demanding more money which drifted us more into
playing for corporate private parties,weddings etc.It
was fun being at first winne and dine but we also
stopped rehearsing because we were playing almost
every weekend.Most of this parties demand that you
play when they tell you to, do crowd pleasers and even
repeat numbers.Then band disagreements follwed,i for
one wanted to pull out of this scene but the money was
to good for some of the others.For a couple of years i
had been playing with the idea of quiting but signed
commitments and lucrative financial offers kept me
from doing it.Then one day i just woke up and
thought,are you happy?
for the other members(and for a lot of people that
knew us)it was stupid and nonesense quitting something
i had worked so hard for years,but i just coulnīt go
on.Iīve also heard from other "pro" musicians who say
to me welcome to the real world we are eventually all
hores...
if thats the real world then i am content to have
gotten a partime job and turn amateur again;-)
i guess is also the saying "when you are through
changing,you are through...
Luis






> > --> I you choose the pro path:
> > There is a constant conflict between having to
> > fulfill business  
> > obligations and the need to dedicate quality time
> > into the creative  
> > arts (after all, that is "the product" that
> business
> > relies on). You  
> > might start to fear that you won't be able to hold
> > out and "stay true  
> > to your art".
> > Going amateur may look as an easy way to solve
> that
> > conflict.
> > 
> > As you see, this is a bizarre dilemma! The maths
> > doesn't work out.  
> > Personally I'm always eager to hear about how
> others
> > manage to make a  
> > living, especially when interested in obscure
> styles
> > that doesn't  
> > automatically call for investors. My own
> > "workaround" is to work in  
> > many other areas that are related to performing
> and
> > composing; like  
> > offering lectures in music, writing books and
> > articles on music or  
> > producing recordings of music.
> > 
> > Greetings from Sweden
> > 
> > Per Boysen
> > www.looproom.com (international)
> > www.boysen.se (Swedish)
> > --->  iTunes Music Store (digital)
> > www.cdbaby.com/perboysen
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
>               
> __________________________________ 
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited 
> Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
> http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/
> 
> 


www.luis-angulo.com


        
                
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