How to treat your...musicians?

Dear people who have a musician in their lives,

I just want to make something clear, especially if you are not musical yourselves.When you hire a musician to do something for you - perhaps accompanying for a church service, teaching private lessons, composing a soundtrack for a music video, whatever - you are NOT merely paying for the ten minutes that is the final product.

Instead, you are also compensating the person for all the time it took to get there, to the point where the abilities become natural.  You see, being a musician does not involve turning a skill on or off, like putting a kit together or lifting something heavy.  When one of us does something that we do, it's that complete set of expertise we have gathered until then, concentrated into that moment.  There are years of private lessons on an instrument, music-skills classes in which one becomes used to sightreading, listening to countless ensemble rehearsals, and even the overall awareness of the space in which a piece is played, including recordings.  For every minute of perfected "actual" applied ability, there may very well be three hours from starting at zero to finish.

Because we put so much time behind the tip of the iceberg that is seen, you can also expect us to value the time we allot you greatly.  When a musician sets up a meeting with someone, he or she specifically carves out that chunk of time around practicing and other highly specific things that require attention - musical activities usually aren't like a book you can pick up and read on the bus, or a movie you can watch on your phone.  You have to be certain places at definite times with objects like a string bass that don't always lend themselves to convenient transport. Even if one thinks they can reschedule musicians to no end, it honestly does wear down our patience.  Please understand that our time with you means a lot to us.

Along the same thought, we do need breaks.  (What? Making music all day is tiring?  I thought it was supposed to be fun!)  Ensure that you know when and where those times are, and respect those limits. R and R is welcomed, and musicians probably love sleep almost as much as they do food.  Okay, other people love food, too, but musicians really love food.  It also means that they have to take a break from practicing, because it's generally difficult to do that and eat at once, especially for a vocalist.

Truly, we enjoy helping you out.  That's why we majored in that one weird field where you do all of these classes that supposedly don't help in real-world situations and earn no money post-graduation.  We have good reasons to be where we are.  So, please remember, next time you see us, throw us a pillow for the cardboard box in the alley - I mean, a little understanding, a hug, and maybe a giftcard or Almond Joy.  You know, something commensurable for lunch.

Sincerely,

Me (and every other person brightening the world with music at this moment)

That would actually make a great box in which to live.