Surgical Strike

From the blog of the violist Lev Zhurbin, a.k.a. Ljova, comes this sobering post about a life in the arts, which of course is not confined to music. To wit:

"Music is not surgery" I often say, but in fact the industries I'm involved in often elevate it to that very state. The trouble with making a living in music is - if you want to get paid like a surgeon, you have to do it "right". Whatever "right" means to whomever is paying you.

But nobody wants to pay for music - not even you. I'd love to pay for it, and (though most of it comes to me for free), I do.

The only people who pay for music are people who "have" to - TV networks, brides, and churches. All of them "need" a certain kind of music, but for all of them, music is surgery.

What to do? Not sure. But I think I have to keep looking - looking for this atmosphere where I can breathe and create freely, and still make a living.

Where is that now? I'm not sure. Hopefully nowhere I've already been. But it is equally dangerous - for every Bohemian, there are at least two other people suffering at his or her mercy.

Does this dilemma sound familiar? Given how busy and brilliant Ljova is, it certainly gives pause to a piker like me.