<p>@simplelife-</p>
<p>The error I was talking about was claiming anyone was telling LMK that it would be okay for her D to skip the last night’s performance because she was upset at the way she was treated. Several of us, myself included, said if the pain was that bad and the doctor said she shouldn’t play, that she shouldn’t risk further injury, but that was it, no one said she should drop a commitment like that. And yeah, to drop it for medical reasons would mean the person literally couldn’t play, was in agony, etc. Again, no one said she should not go because she was angry at the way she was treated, we all simply said we understood how she felt but that commitments are important, and I said why (because working musicians’ reputations are critical to getting gigs). </p>
<p>Others have talked about having crappy jobs to pay the rent, and yes, that is true, I know a lot of working musicians in the NYC area, and they do a lot of things, including weddings, bar mitzvahs and occassionally a hipster dominated burlesque in Brooklyn (don’t ask), but that is to pay the rent and such. Quite honestly, if LMK’s daughter is serious about going into music, she probably would get a lot more out of working on repertoire and her own practicing then doing pit orchestra, you don’t learn a lot doing pit, and if they are dismissive about the pit musicians, to quote Jon Bon Jovi, tell them “Have a nice day” and don’t do it <em>shrug</em>. Put it this way, most of the musicians in the pit orchestras and NYC and elsewhere probably trained at music schools in performance and I would bet many of them never did pit work until they got to school or even when they were out and working…and they do just fine.</p>