The Free-Lance Musician as A Type of Non-Person: An Extension of the Concept of Non-Personhood

Abstract

Free-lance musicians are professionally trained artists who lack permanent membership in any musical organization. Although trained to be creative artists, most frequently free-lancers play supporting music for operas, ballets and solo performers on stage, or provide background music for dinners or receptions. As a consequence, their technical skills are devalued by audiences; they often play music below their skill level; spontaneity in interpretation is extremely limited or impossible; they are anonymous to the audience and their playing generally receives an impersonal response; performances serve a functional rather than an aesthetic purpose; and players are interchangeable between groups. As a result of treatment as non-persons, free-lancers hold a sense of low prestige for themselves, and the occupation in many ways serves as a negative reference group for its members. Wide implications regarding non-personhood are drawn for an increasingly mechanized society. Contrary to Goffman's examples, non-personhood is not tied to occupations of limited skill, but rather, can occur in any occupational group under conditions in which individual interpretation, decision making, and power are nullified. Shouldn't we tell her about musicians?All she has to know is that they keep them in a pit. . . and it's for a good reason! -4 n d StreetThe performance is about to begin. Ushers hurry latecomers to their seats as the lights dim and the doors close. The conductor, whose head is just visible above the orchestra pit, acknowledges the audience's applause. Turning around, he raises his baton; sounds of an orchestra swell up out of the darkness below. This scene, familiar to many concertgoers, contains an enigma, however: the purpose of pit musicians is to be heard and not seen, in contrast to the old adage about children.The musicians performing in this setting, as well as in many others are free-lance musicians, the focus of this article. FREE-LANCING IN THE MUSIC PROFESSIONTypical free-lance classical musicians are individuals who have studied their art for many years, including college and/or conservatory training. They are hired by any of a number of contractors on a one-time basis for a limited engagement to provide music for events such as recitals, receptions, horse shows, TV shows, TV or radio advertisements, pops concerts and dances. The majority of performances by free-lancers, however, take place in the orchestra pit where the musicians provide background music for opera, ballet, musical shows and soloists. By playing a sufficient number of these jobs, a free-lance musician can make a living, although the majority supplement their income with teaching. This brief description will be greatly amplified as we explain the role discrepancies for free-lance classical musicians.These musicians, socialized to an ideal of artistic accomplishment, recognition, and personhood, instead are required to play an artistically subordinate supporting role. This paper will refine the concept of non-personhood using free-lance musicia...

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