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Double Bass Day Jobs/Making a Living (DB forum thread)

#21
Marcus Johnson said:
Maybe an interesting subplot would be... How do single double bassists survive?
Click to expand...

Survive is exactly the right word...and barely, at that. But I live in NYC, so....

I work a day gig at a PR firm in the production department, which is a kind of utility infielder position - shipping, receiving, video/audio editing, etc., etc. Keeps things from getting boring, but it's a lot of hours spent that I'd prefer to spend practicing or writing...or sleeping.... It also makes it harder to find time to do sessions or try to book any of my groups (and it's a pretty crowded field out here). But again, I live in New York. I couldn't possibly live anywhere else and be happy, and the pool of musicians I get to play with (when that happens) is pretty amazing. So mostly I shut up and deal. Except for right now, of course. ;)
 
#22
I've been a lawyer since 1992. I run a small firm, which is a major time-sponge by itself. On the transactional side, we advise and represent a couple of hundred small businesses. On the litigation side I collect, I evict, I foreclose.

While waiting to post this note somebody told me that I was a jackass just like my client. How was your day?
 
#24
Marcus Johnson said:
What an ignoramus. Everybody knows we're all ASSHATS.
Click to expand...

I know that best of all. Rasshattar (asshats) pl.

I sell frozen seafood for a living. I got into it because my dad
was in it, my grandfathers were in it and even my great
grandfather was in it. Back in the early 1900's my
great grandfather owned 11 fishing vessels in Iceland, which
may have been the world's largest fishing fleet at the time.

Our company imports about 600 containers a year of
frozen seafood from all over the world. It is an interesting,
fast moving and challenging industry.

Anyway, the food business is not glamorous and sexy, but it
is steady. We don't have the tremendous upside of boom
times, but we also don't have the fall during glum times.

People have a nasty habit of continuing to eat. What they
eat and where they eat it varies a bit. The food industry
provides a fair amount of security and if you can sell food
products, you can make a very respectable living from it.

Being reasonably comfortable from the day job has allowed me
to pursue my musical endeavors without having to live on
Ramen Noodles like DURRL does.
 
#25
Seeing a few guys who make a living mostly through teaching and playing is really encouraging!

Although being single is harder...I'm also 22 so my expenses are still relatively low. I'm hoping that between teaching lessons (I play guitar too) and a wedding/party band I'm starting to play in, I can string together a sort of steady income over the course of the year.
 
#29
Mechanical engineer, aerospace industry, 29 years. I enjoy what I do. I am assigned to the development labs, so the challenges are new every day. Enjoying your work is a gift - I seem to have that gift.

Widowed, kids are grown, house is paid for, I can take vacation just about anytime something comes up. The pay (after nearly 3 decades) is very, very good, but that isn't assured as long as congress is in session.

I can't say I regret anything regarding the day-gig/music-career trade-offs. I have been able to write, record, perform, teach as well as pay the bills, raise the family, and be involved in my community. It wasn't the original plan coming out of music school with the mus. ed. degree, but I have no complaints.
 
#31
I'm a human resources planner, demographer and statistician at a large electrical utility. About 8 or so years ago I leveraged my unique set of skills with them and carved my job down to doing just the stuff that interests me and to do it in part-time hours. In other words, I threatened to quit and luckily it worked, praise Jah. I play music and do cabinet work with the other half of my work life.

I think it's interesting that we have so many engineers, programmers, physicists, lawyers, and other highly skilled and trained people among us. Not that there's any kind of necessary correlation between occupation and intelligence and talent, but I've noticed that musicians tend to be pretty talented in facets of life other than music. Drummers, of course, are another story...
 
#32
I run a home-shelter for up to six mentally disorderd children, together with my wiffe (she 's perfectly sane btw:-)

Before that I was senior manager at a educational company, but had to put aside that job to be able to expand our house and capacity/rooms.
Consequently my musical budget is minimized now because the salary is not comparable with the incoming $$-stream i was used to.
On the other hand, I have more time to practice and develop my playing, which is always a good thing hey?
 
#36
i'm a music copyist....it's a career that i never envisioned...it's a great way to learn about arranging/composing/orchestrating.....with a few exceptions i'm sure, you basically have to live in either NYC or LA though...

i've done it all though....when i was 19/20...i liked working in coffee shops early in the morning...you never had to worry about conflicting with gigs....you did, however have to worry about NEVER sleeping....


jk
 
#37
I was lucky to have played and/or recorded, movie, jingle, record dates and TV dates in L.A. some on double bass many on electric. I was also fortunate enough to have played & toured with many well known people.

Got married a bit late in life and at 38 when my first boy was born, I decided I could not leave on tour and be an absentee dad. It was the best decision I ever made. Somehow during this period, through serendipity, I became a real estate appraiser and was able to make a nice living, stay married (at least so far) and be an active participant in raising my 2 boys, both are now grown and off pursuing their own dreams.

The family moved to Kauai about 10 years ago where the boyz grew up and had a very positive, out of doors upbringing. Because of my educational background, I was able to teach economics, sociology and U.S. history at Kauai H.S. I will retire from this gig next year and again pursue musical endeavors full time.

I have to say, in many ways not having to choose a musical situation based on maney is a luxury not afforded many professional musicians. I took a few tours based on how well it would set me up financially. I never took a gig solely based on money but art was certainly not the only consideration. Now I play 3 0r 4 times a week and they are all jazz gigs where I can play double bass (my first love). I still practice every day just not as long as I would if I did not have a day job. However, I do enjoy the day job!
 
#40
AFM International Representative, working with 45 AFM Local Unions from the West Coast to Minnesota & Iowa. In addition Alaska & Hawaii. As others have stated it's great to have a music related day gig.

Wally
 

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