I rarely post twice in one day, and this is now my practice time (so I hope I can make this snappy), but I am still mulling over the extent to which singers get offended to be asked to sing for free. I am not talking about real professional singers, the ones who when they're not singing in - at the very least - B and C houses are teaching voice. I'm talking about people in the gray area who do a little bit of professional singing, probably have a church gig for pay, but then think it's ok to crowd the amateurs out of all the no-pay community opera groups to get to do roles they aren't currently getting paid for and even sometimes do pay-to-sings! Hey! If you don't want me to ask you to sing for free, stay off the amateur turf, thank you!
Then I was thinking, well, would I be offended if someone asked me to edit something for free? I gave this some serious thought and decided that I would be offended only if that person (or company) 1) had paid other people to do editing; 2) had paid people to do things of comparable worth; or 3) had a huge budget and could jolly well afford to pay someone. But would I be offended if someone producing a charity event asked me to edit something? No. And if it was one or two pages I would do it. If it was 10 or more pages I would probably say I didn't have time. And I don't have time to edit anything like that for free because I am not madly in love with editing, which is why I for the most part will only do it if I get paid.
So the question is, why are people so threatened by amateur singers? It sounds a lot like people who think if gay people get married it will somehow "spoil" things for heterosexuals who want to get married. Now I grew up in an ultra-left wing household and take a dim view of scabs. But scabs are people who will do a kind of work for a pay scale below what is considered "kosher" at a workplace that is supposed to be paying a proper wage scale. No one is considered a "scab" if they want to make fancy wedding dresses for free and give them to their friends, because they love designing clothes and sewing, for example.
It's not like I'm calling up the Met and saying "Hey, I'll come here and sing Amneris for free".
I am producing the Verdi Requiem at a church as a charity event because it's the only chance I will ever get to be the mezzo soloist in the Verdi Requiem. If I don't sing that part in that production it's not as if they will pay someone else. The Requiem would never even be heard there if I weren't doing this. And the ticket money is going to the church's food programs, not into my bloody pocket! And any "fee" is going to the pianist.
This bass who couldn't even have the courtesy to tell me he wasn't interested in the project was paying a coach to learn the Requiem, so I really don't see how this is different, except that for 25% of the fee he can rehearse with a coach and the three other singers, and get to perform the piece (he could have just considered it one big bloody rehearsal for his glorious future career if he wanted to) in a beautiful sacred space.
So my practical problem is: when you're dealing with these inbetweenykins, how do you know who is "professional" and who isn't? They seem to pick and choose when to pay to sing and when to take umbrage, which makes it a little hard to tell who is who and which is which (again, I am not speaking of full-time professional singers here).
So I need to find a bass. And I am not looking for one on the bloody Forum. Well, there are plenty of other people to ask and network with, and I am a resourceful girl.
So now it's time to practice.
And to give my inner Maureen Dowd a little fun: maybe all those professional singers who are threatened by "amateurs" are not that different from the straight people who are threatened by gay marriage. They lack self-confidence in who they are.
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