Typically, this blog covers issues related to folk music, but I will ask your indulgence on a topic near to my heart - the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. I have sung in the Columbus Symphony Chorus for over 15 years, and the fact that the lockout is over is both good news and bad news.
A little history - the labor talks between the CSO musicians and management have historically been, shall I say diplomatically, contentious. This year’s talks appear to have been doubly so. The Orchestra has been over budget for the last several years and the Board has found it increasingly difficult to go to the same large donors over again to ask for more money.
The Board’s negotiating position coming in was that, despite the musicians taking a pay cut in the previous contract, this time they were going to have to take draconian pay cuts and the number of full-time musicians was to be reduced to 33 from 51 and the season drastically reduced in length. The musicians flatly refused, and commissioned a report from an outside auditor that indicated that most of the reason the Symphony was in the red was because of administrative and production and marketing cost overruns, not musician-related expenses.
Meanwhile, negotiations broke down and the Board terminated the musicians’ contract in early summer, before it was scheduled to end (which is why I feel justified in calling this a lockout). Summer Picnic with the Pops performances covered by the contract were canceled. The musicians then rented out a local hall (Veterans Memorial Auditorium) and conducted several concerts to help the musicians earn some money to pay for expenses. They were helped by sympathetic musicians from other orchestras and several sympathetic conductors, as well as borrowed music (the Symphony locked them out of their music library).
During this period, the Musical Director of the CSO, Junichi Hirokami, came out very strongly in support of the musicians rather than management in a prominent article in the New York Times, a stance which may have put his job at risk.
So, now a settlement has been reached. Here are some of the salient details:
Cuts the weeks in the symphony season from 46 to 38
Keeps at 53 the number of full-time musicians
Reduces by 24 percent the average annual base salary for musicians (including reductions in the weekly base as well as the number of weeks paid). Base salary in the first year of the contract will be reduced to $42,180 from $55,200, though principal players can earn substantially more. The base rises to $44,610 in the final year of the contract.
Adjusts the health-care plan to save about 20 percent in insurance premiums
In addition to the pay cut, musicians will receive fewer pension contributions and a new health plan with reduced premiums but higher deductibles.
The bottom line on this deal is that it most likely marks the beginning of a slow artistic death for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Under Hirokami, the orchestra was making world class music, and there had been great hope that he would be able to take the orchestra to the next level. Now, there is some question as to whether Hirokami will fulfill the rest of his contract. Even if he fulfills the rest of his contract, it is possible that his support of the musicians has created such a split with management that he will not be signed to another contract and the orchestra will go on another search for a Musical Director, alienating the community, which has embraced Hirokami, and putting the orchestra in musical limbo, likely for another 2 years.
The other key issue is that the 25% pay cut will likely take its toll on the musicians. Already, it has been reported that several musicians have left Columbus for teaching or playing jobs in other orchestras. Given the reduced salaries under the new contract, it is possible that top-rank musicians may not be as willing to try out for the CSO, thus lowering the quality of the orchestra. In addition, many of the better players, having seen their salaries and benefits reduced so drastically, will likely bolt for orchestras elsewhere who compensate their orchestra more appropriately.
I sincerely hope that I am wrong and that the CSO can turn it around; however, all the actions of this Board leading up to and during the lockout, have left me with little belief that the current administration is capable of doing the job. The Board has not only continually alienated the musicians and its Music Director, but also longtime contributors and the classical music community in Central Ohio.
Administrator’s Note - Once again, we present the work of our correspondent Down Under, Sue Barrett.
Aussies on Tour - North America (Fall 2008)
By Sue Barrett
Over the coming days, weeks and months, people in North America have the opportunity to see a range of Australian performers, including:
Penelope Swales
“Full of earthy sensuality, poetic musings” (Rhythms)
Fred Smith
“The crux of his craft is a wonderful sense of melody, wrapped in some of the most accomplished songwiting you will hear” (Revolver)
Martine Locke
“She can be tender, she can be refined - but she can also cut loose with an amazing wall of sound that will blow you away.” (Desert Weekly Post)
Wendy Rule
“Wendy Rule creates dark, sensual sonic theatre” (Rolling Stone)
So without regard to such pressing matters as still-damp clothes, overweight luggage, instrument insurance and misplaced passports, FolkBlog interrupted the pre-tour preparations to find out more…
PENELOPE SWALES
www.penelopeswales.com
http://profile.myspace.com/TotallyGourdgeous
“Full of earthy sensuality, poetic musings” (Rhythms)
Tell us about your music (including with the band, Totally Gourdgeous) and the types of people who attend your concerts.
As a soloist, I work as a singer/songwriter/storyteller playing mostly original songs that range from love through social commentary and into left-leaning politics. Key themes are social justice, environment, democracy and Aboriginal issues. I find the Aboriginal issues particularly resonate with North American audiences as we share a similar post-colonial legacy.
I also write a lot of songs about people I’ve met in my travels. I’m particularly inspired by the courage ordinary people show in the face of adversity. A lot of these songs are about women, just because I’ve found a lot of women inspiring, but there’s songs about men and children, too. There’s a whole subset of my material that deals with love and sexuality. Whether I bring that stuff out depends on the crowd, and what I think they’ll enjoy or feel comfortable with.
Instrumentation-wise, I’m a guitarist (currently travelling with a guitar I made myself) and a flute/whistle player, and I also use a loop recorder in some songs. Not too many, because looping can be a little overpowering, but I find that if used sparingly and tastefully, looping can add a whole extra dimension to a folk concert, and allows me to play wind or percussion, add backing vocals, put the guitar down and walk around with the microphone, and generally free up where a performance can go.
I find myself playing in front of a great cross-section of people, from traditional-minded folkies to anything-goes folkies, to computer geeks to queer audiences to young rebellious types. And I love ‘em all. Playing before people from different walks of life keeps you sharp.
Totally Gourdgeous is a completely different style of act. It’s a comedy band, in which all the instruments (guitar, bass, drum, fiddle, mandolin) are made of gourds. I’m the maker of the instruments. I was trained by Jack Spira, who has made guitars for artists such as Sting and Deborah Conway. We wear bright costumes and play up-beat, funny songs with witty lyrics. We play a lot of festivals, and have just completed a two-month tour of Europe. We’re good for kids because we’re bright and colorful, good for young people because we’re dancy and good for older people because the lyrics are entertaining.
In what ways, if any, has your music been influenced by North American music?
Well, the singer/songwriter genre pretty much came out of American folk and blues, so I’d say there’s a fundamental influence there. I listened to a lot of North American artists as I was growing up - Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Dan Fogelberg, Ellen McIlwaine, Joni Mitchell, etc. I’ve never been consciously aware of their influence, but it must be there. More recently, some of my guitar playing has been influenced by Chris Smither. I just love his finger style.
When and where does your 2008 North American tour begin?
BC (Canada) in September, then heading down the West Coast of the US from Seattle to San Diego in October.
What can people expect from your performances on the tour?
The BC tour will be focused on my general repertoire of love, courage, human rights, environment etc. with some storytelling and looping thrown in.
The West Coast US tour is something of an experiment. I recently released an album of songs celebrating love and sexuality, and am playing a series of gigs to the queer/polyamourous/sex-positive community organisations that flourish in that part of the world. I contacted a few groups to see if they’d be interested and the response has been overwhelming. I have no idea what it’s going to be like, but they seem pretty switched on and interesting people and I’m looking forward to seeing the West Coast. People have been telling me for years that my music would go down well there.
Are there phrases/concepts in your songs that you might need to translate?
Oh, yes. The big one is “spunk” - which in Australia means a highly attractive person…I have a song that refers to someone as a “spunk” and I had quite a few shocked faces before I learned to put in a disclaimer.
I also learnt the hard way that the word “busking” is ambiguous for some. In Australia, a busker is a street musician. But a couple of people have thought it means prostitution.
Can you tell us the story behind your song, ‘Safe Home’?
I flew out of the US on American Airlines on the morning of September 11 2001, about two hours before the World Trade Center attack. Of course, we weren’t told of it while we were in the air, but when we landed at Sydney, Australia, they wouldn’t let us off the plane. After a long wait in which people were starting to get grumpy, an announcement came over the PA that said they were preparing a briefing for us. The minute I heard those words, I thought “someone’s started a war”.
They explained events to us, but it was quite garbled and I don’t think anyone really understood. But when we came out into the main foyer of the airport there were big screens up, pumping that footage of the planes flying into the buildings again and again, and Qantas [Airways] staff with mobile phones saying - “does anyone need to ring their family?”. It was like we’d been in a time capsule. Everyone else had been dealing with it since the previous morning, but we had no idea. When we got on the plane, everything was normal - then we emerged into a totally different world. I wrote the song over the next two days.
For me, ‘Safe Home’ was about two things - a deep dismay at the horror and scale of the tragedy, and a deep cynicism about the media hype and festival of political opportunism that would (and did) inevitably follow. I felt, and still feel, that it was a craven thing to exploit those deaths and the wound to one of the most fascinating, progressive and vibrant cities in the world to further political agendas that were already long in place. I also knew, even then, that a lot more innocent people were going to die as a result, and I was pretty unhappy and angry about it.
At the time, some people found the song very confronting, and I felt the need to be sensitive about when and where to play it, because it is critical of America as a political entity, and people were so bewildered and hurt by what had happened. But as time has passed, a lot of people seem to have come to agree with it, or at least acknowledge the validity of the points it raises. That means a lot to me, because to step forward and write about such an event as a non-citizen is not something to be done lightly. I think many people in the US grappled bravely with the sort of soul-searching 9/11 provoked, and there’s something to be proud of in that.
What have you been doing since you last toured North America?
I had to go off the road for a few years because my mother’s health was poor and she needed my support. In that time, I have been studying Law, Anthropology and Politics at Monash University. I’m about halfway through a double degree in Arts/Laws. It’s been really hard work, but fascinating.
Are there things that you’re particularly looking forward to on the tour?
Just being out on the road, and meeting people who love folk music. Seeing the world, having adventures. I’m going to Peru for six week to work as a volunteer English teacher in the Andes before I go home - that’s going to be amazing, I think.
How is your instrument-making going?
I haven’t had much time for it recently. I’m hoping to find a bit of time for it next year, as I have a long list of people on my waiting list.
What are your other plans for the next year?
I’m hoping to be given a place in the Aurora Project, which provides interns to lawyers and anthropologists working with Aboriginal people on Native Title claims. More study, and Totally Gourdgeous has planned a major assault on the Australian folk scene, as we have a new live CD/DVD.
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