[Fmpro] One step further.......scab? OT

[Tracey Larvenz]

Boy are you thick!  I'll keep things simple and use smaller words so  
you can follow.

Broken down by paragraph, my points are:

(a)  Don't take shots at people because they don't have the command  
of English that you think you do.
(b)  There are many first rate European orchestras.
(c)  Corruption isn't an intrinsic (look it up if you don't know what  
it means) part of anything.

That's it.

Somehow in this, you read that I:
(a) believe that work should be farmed out to the lowest bidder
(b) cannot see the difficulties faced by composers and orchestral  
musicians in the long run
(c) don't agree that there are difficulties and I am just out to make  
a quick buck at the expense of everyone else
(d) nod head yes to unreasonable requests.

For this, I believe that Karl Rove has nothing on you.
Up to now, you didn't address a single point on what I wrote.
Can you see the difference between my points and what you took away?
Know that I am a strong believer in the art of what we do.

Yes, I believe firmly that there is a problem with the way business  
is done.
Only by acting as a group can we change it.
Until we do, the art of composing will suffer.

When you start to look beyond the first letter of a sentence, you  
begin to understand it better.  Otherwise you might take away the  
wrong message.  The problem is not European orchestras.  The problem  
is not producers and directors shopping around to get the most value  
for their budgets.  The problem is really with composers.  We won't  
band together to form a strong composers union.  We let ASCAP  
negotiate away our services to cater to the songwriters.  We let  
producers or directors talk us into doing something for back end  
because there's always someone who WILL do that if we don't.  We let  
them talk us into flying to Europe to record our orchestral scores  
rather than pay what is a fair wage to U.S. musicians.  When we  
become A-List, we take the back room royalty deal rather than  
standing amongst the ranks to further the cause.   We don't fight for  
legislation to protect our rights.  We are the problem.

We need to form a union.  There is a united front for most skills in  
film and tv, with the notable exception of composers.  We need to  
bring composers' issues to the national stage, as SAG or the WGA do.   
We need to treat each other with respect and respect our art.  We  
need to make directors and producers understand why it is important  
to support our art form through supporting local talent.  We need to  
be team players.  We need to support each other when someone says no  
to a job that pays beneath what we deserve.  We need to stick  
together to make sure that no professional composer will take that  
job.  We need to agree amongst ourselves what the course should be,  
stop fighting each other, form a REAL UNION and ensure the survival  
of our craft.  Most of all, we need to understand that we are all in  
this together and that the "every man for himself" attitude must go  
away.

This is what I think.  Don't make me out to be something that I am  
not.  You can take your supposition and stick it in that dark place  
next to your head.

Tracey Larvenz
www.melodiousthunk.net



On Sep 11, 2007, at 3:13 PM, Chris Alpiar wrote:

> Besides saying that you are offeneded I referred to the eastern  
> european
> orchestras as "scab" and you don't like my spelling errors, what  
> exactly is
> your point? I suppose you would rather see all the jobs go out of the
> country to the lowest bidder, allowing the corporate heads to keep  
> their
> bottom line and next quarter's earnings in the black and continue  
> on this
> spiral until there is nothing left but a whisper of what was an  
> artistic
> form? This trend is the devaluation of our art, business and  
> livelihood. It
> is in literal free-fall at the moment and if we don't interject on  
> every
> level then we are the ones to blame for its demise and doomed to  
> live in
> poverty and all our lifetimes of training and experience be valued  
> equal to
> a burger flipper at McDonald's
>
> That is where we are headed, whether you choose to see it or not. The
> concept of short term gains without recognition of the long-term
> consequences is something that is abundant in our society. It is  
> extremely
> prevalent at the moment in the music and entertainment industries  
> which are
> in free-fall still from the sudden shift into the download era. And  
> in a
> larger picture unfortunately artistic endeavors will never be  
> considered a
> commodity or anything more then frivolity to the powers that be. So  
> we must
> find a way to unify and decide where we want to collectively be in  
> 20 and 50
> and 100 years and figure out what chips we have as a group to lay  
> down on
> the table. And as a group make our goals clear and put in place  
> mechanisms
> to enforce them. If you don't agree with that then I am afraid you  
> care
> nothing for the art of our business and are just another bean  
> counter trying
> to make a quick buck with no regard for the consequences of your  
> actions.
>
> If we don't do something soon... In 20 years, maybe less, there  
> will be 1%
> of the film score jobs there are today. The value of a composer who  
> spent
> 10-20 years preparing his/her craft will be equal to that of a  
> minimum scale
> computer operator that drags and drops loops onto a timeline. There  
> will be
> no more orchestras that have career master musicians, only students  
> that toy
> with a dead art like scholars that play with Latin text. Personally  
> I would
> rather see the opposite of that! I don't have a complete plan of  
> how to get
> there and I don't even know all of the issues involved, but I know  
> that this
> path we are on now is one of self destruction. And because everyone  
> is so
> scared to lose that next job, and prefer a life of obsequious hob- 
> nobbing,
> it needs us now to create a new wave. A wave filled with vitality  
> and energy
> and one that wont accept 100k films with oh sorry no budget for the  
> score
> can you do it on the back end only? :p Or 400k films that oh sorry we
> require a full orchestra recording but we can only pay 5k and force  
> us in
> bad positions.
>
> And lastly it has nothing at all to do with where the orchestras  
> are at or
> who sits in the room and plays. It has everything to do with the  
> willingness
> of our group of composers to *nod head yes* to unreasonable  
> requests out of
> fear. With unity those issues can be washed away.
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com
>> [mailto:fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com] On Behalf
>> Of Tracey Larvenz
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 3:03 PM
>> To: fmpro at nxport.com
>> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] One step further.......scab? OT
>>
>> BTW Chris,
>>
>> If you're going to take someone to task for their English,
>> I'd take a hard look at your own first.  "Then" should be
>> "than" in most places where you use it.  And I'd be willing
>> to bet you don't have the mother tongue excuse... Inherent is
>> misspelled.  It was fairly pathetic to take shots at someone
>> who speaks English as a second or third language,
>> particularly when your command of grammar and
>> spelling is less than perfect.  How many languages do you speak?
>> When I've travelled and attempted to speak languages other
>> than English, the native speakers were always gracious,
>> accommodating and thankful that I was trying.
>>
>> I thought that your reference to European orchestral
>> musicians as scabs was in poor taste.  While it is true that
>> "scab" can refer to non-union players, the common usage of
>> the term is generally derogatory with regards to quality, no
>> matter how you choose to frame it.
>>
>> I don't believe that corruption is inherent in anything,
>> politics aside.  It's thinking like that which brings
>> acceptance of corruption and disempowers people to take
>> action against it.  There's a difference between "inherent"
>> and "accepted."
>>
>> Tracey Larvenz
>> www.melodiousthunk.net
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 8, 2007, at 3:50 PM, Chris Alpiar wrote:
>>
>>> How specifically were you lied to by the UK Musicians Union?
>>>
>>> I am not saying that the current unions work for everyone, anymore
>>> then Mark's ideals worked in the Soviet Union, but it's the
>> IDEALS we
>>> must stand by and demand or else we just contribute to the
>> continued
>>> spiral down. In every EVERY organization corruption is an inherant
>>> aspect. I don't like to hear you were ripped off, but
>> saying FU to the
>>> whole thing and supporting anarchy will not get you anything either
>>>
>>>> Dozens of jobs these days for a rock production......  the
>> band, the
>>>> sidemen, the video folk, the sound crew, the catering
>> crew, makeup,
>>>> the guys who travel . riggers/drivers etc...... the folks who sell
>>>> concessions, the folks who sell the tickets, the folks who
>> print the
>>>> tickets, the folks who clean the auditorium etc etc.....
>> I'm sure you
>>>> get my point.
>>>
>>> Umm if you ever EVER find a rock concert that hires anyone
>> from out of
>>> town much less out of country for anything other then the
>> band and its
>>> entourage please tell me I will come take pictures lol
>>>
>>
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