[TPIN] "Leon's reply"

[William Graham]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Trent Austin" <trent at trentaustin.com>
To: <tpin at tpin.okcu.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 9:22 AM
Subject: [TPIN] "Leon's reply"


> Leon,  my fellow trumpeter and elder statesman...  I think you're
> taking a slightly slanted view of the current trumpeting world.
>
> I still keep (too well) fed,  my mortgage paid, my car payments going,
> and still spend time with my wife.
>
> My idol CT says "there's an ass for every seat".  I'm just working
> hard to make sure when I play there aren't empty seats,  when I teach
> no empty chairs, and when I improvise no empty bars.
>
> I play everything from Mahler,  Brandenburg,  to  Maynard, Woody Shaw,
> and Michael Jackson tunes.   Today's trumpeter has to be able to do
> everything EXTREMELY well.  Competition is fierce but not that
> different than when you were doing all your recordings and gigs.
>
> It beats an "honest" profession any day.

The problem with the arts in general is that for everyone who "makes" it, 
and earns a decent living, (or, in some cases becomes super-rich) there are 
a hundred who starve to death. Because of one Brittany Spears, thousands of 
teen age girls go to Hollywood and try to become famous....A few will, but 
the rest are just wasting their time and will end up as cocktail waitresses 
in some bar if they are lucky to be able to support themselves legitimately 
at all......
    I used to say that on every block in every town in the USA there is a 
housewife who is a concert pianist, or had, at one time that much ability, 
but is now just a housewife.....Probably an exaggeration on my part, but the 
idea is what counts....The nation is full of very talented people who just 
can't make it because of the competition of thousands of others who are just 
as good, but also have the ability and perseverance to stand in line an 
inordinately long period of time and to sell themselves to some agent or 
producer somewhere.