[Harp-L] Making music 'happen'

[Will Jennings <will@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't usually get this involved in threads on Harp-L, and  
especially threads
that border on the fringe of harp-related content.

The arguments about the conditions of markets for live music, the  
strategies or positions one can, should, or could
adopt in regards to these conditions.  Whatever I offer as evidence  
or argument should be taken with a
"your mileage may vary" premise.

Here's where my commentary begins to approach flammability.

The "Just Do It", "Quit Whining and Make It Happen", "You Control  
Your Own Destiny" response/position
suggests that those who report otherwise fail to grasp or understand  
their own experience,
and lack imagination for putting their own experience into  
perspective or context.
And that's a load of crap, I think.

Tim's description of Austin is a great example of reporting  
conditions that are complex
and contain both positive and not-so-positive consequences.  Tim is  
NOT making a
"Free Market" argument about supply and demand, per se.  If he were,  
then we'd have to view
the musicians who keep coming to Austin just to starve or work other  
jobs to support their musical ventures,
as either idiots, lemmings, or part of an endless train of naive, but  
ambitious, artists.

There is a vast gulf between engaging in activities for one's own  
amusement & personal pleasure,
AND engaging in these same activities in ways that require  
interacting with the broader public marketplace.

The "Little Engine That Could" narrative is potentially as abusive as  
it is inspiring.

I have an MFA in Creative Writing from a prestigious, world-renowned  
writer's workshop program.
It is highly competitive. The overwhelming % of applicants are  
rejected. Of those accepted, many go on
to win Pulitzer Prizes, international acclaim, and have highly  
successful and quite public careers.
Very few, including those who are very successful, earn a living  
solely from publishing income.
We teach. We edit. We are MDs, lawyers, pipefitters, part-time + part- 
time + free lance + temp employees.

I have students who come to my office hours telling me how much they  
want to 'become successful writers'...
and that this is why they have come to this specific University and  
why they are majoring in this subject
and why they want to know what classes they should take next, etc etc  
etc.

It would be extremely pompous and self-serving for me to discourage  
them, to tell them they are delusional,
that the 'real world' will chew them up and spit them out without  
breaking stride.  Instead, I ask them what they are reading.
I ask them what they are writing. Then I tell them to read some more  
and write some more and then to read and write
some more again.  I tell them it's good to be well-rounded and that  
they will need to be creative in finding
the time and energy to write in the years ahead.

It would also extremely pompous and self-serving for me to tell them  
that they have to have a 'fire in their belly',
they need to 'want it enough to sacrifice', and that they should  
follow their bliss and 'make it happen'.
When I hear people peddling this sort of bullshit I want to spit  
nails.  The larger public market does not
distinguish nor discern talent, ambition, desire, pluck, or  
determination.  These are self-defined terms
applied after-the-fact, or by those who either need to reinforce the  
current situation, or those who are
already relatively comfortable with the status quo.   The ambition or  
drive of writers does not determine
the state of publishing in America.  The 'fire in the belly' of  
musicians does not determine the number of
venues that exist, or can be made to exist, that will pay a living  
wage.  Meat packing workers don't earn
a decent wage in this country. It ain't because they don't work hard  
or don't want a better life badly enough.
And it's good to think about that when we munch a 99 cent hamburger  
on our way to an out of town gig.

-Will