siness
Competition is stiff
among professional musicians.
Photo by Glenn Triest
SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Herb Couf made a
career out of music.
i
i onathan Hirsch started playing
the cello in fifth grade. He liked
the sound of the instrument,
and he practiced diligently.
Mr. Hirsch's elementary
school teacher was impressed
with his progress and recom-
mended a private teacher to ex-
pand his studies.
During high school, as he
earned spending money by
playing at weddings and dinner
parties, the cellist had to make
a choice. Should he pursue a ca-
reer as a serious musician or
should he become a lawyer like
his father?
"I thought a lot about it and
talked it over with my teacher,"
recalled Mr. Hirsch, who final-
ly decided he could have the
best of both worlds if he took up
law as his full-time profession
and kept up with the cel-
lo on a part-time basis.
Now affiliated with
the Pontiac Oakland
Symphony Orchestra
and the Farmington
Area Philharmonic, he
performs in five or six
concerts a year.
"I don't know if I
could have handled the
competition, and I am
happy I can play as
much as I want with-
out having to take the
financial hit," said Mr.
Hirsch, who has played the cel-
lo for 15 years and feels he
would continue for his own plea-
sure if there were no concert en-
gagements.
"I think young, aspiring mu-
sicians have to realize they are
not going to be a tremendous fi-
nancial success unless they are
truly gifted."
Mr. Hirsch's sentiments are
echoed by a number of profes-
sional Jewish musicians work-
ing in Michigan.
They agree that getting
ahead requires outstanding tal-
ent, a willingness to devote hour
upon hour to practice, possible
sidelines to meet economic
needs and the stamina to face
enormous competition from
other musicians.
"If I were on the faculty at a
music school now, I really would
have great difficulty encourag-
ing people to go into this field,"
said Robert Pangborn, princi-
pal percussionist and assistant
principal timpanist with the De-
troit Symphony Orchestra
(DSO) and former chairman of
the percussion department at
Oakland University.
"If the talent was just out-
standing and if that was all that
person wanted to do, I would do
my best to talk him or her out
of it. I would say OK as long as
that person knew what the odds
were going to be."
Mr. Pangborn, who has been
with the DSO since 1964, knew
he wanted to play drums with
a major orchestra since he was
a teen-ager. He went on to
.i.,udy at the Cleveland Insti-
tute, Eastman Schools of Mu-
sic and Juilliard and has
worked with the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra as well as the
Cleveland, Minneapolis and In-
dianapolis symphonies.
Never wanting for a job as a
serious musician, he still found
ways to supplement his income
by teaching and operating busi-
nesses. For 12 years, he had a
percussion instrument rental
service. Currently, he and his
wife, Brenda, do international
marketing for personal-care
and health-fitness products.
When Mr. Pangborn started
working, instrumentalists of-
ten obtained jobs by recom-
mendations from respected
individuals in the field. Now, as
positions open, notices are
placed in musicians' publica-
tions, with applicants for sym-
phony work submitting video-
tapes and qualified candidates
being called in to audition,
maybe more than once.
"Today it's much more fair,"
said Mr. Pangborn, who urges
aspiring musicians to be tech-
nically prepared, plan on years
of study and hard practice and
gain experience with all kinds
of music. "Auditioning players
are behind screens, and selec-
tions are based on what is
heard.
"In the '50s, there weren't near-
ly as many students and young
musicians wanting to go into
symphonies as there are now. It's
harder to get a job today."
Jerry Fenby, who has 20
years of experience with his
own band that performs every
weekend, and who owns the
Fenby Stein Talent Agency,
knows firsthand the importance
of practice and perfecting skills
for the one-night engagements
his agency books.
He also knows that competi-
tion often takes the form of
equipment.
"With the growth of DJs,
karaoke and electronic key-
boards, we find that even live
music is often joined with
sounds that are partially syn-
thesized," said Mr. Fenby, a pi-
anist and keyboardist who, like
almost every musician he
knows, has sidelines. In his
case, insurance and financial
planning are important.
MUSICIANS page 38