<p>DS played in a pit band last month. He was incredibly excited at the prospect of earning money playing his instrument. It turned out to be a great experience. He loved playing with pros. He was told by his teacher, who recommended him, that kids are usually paid although at a much lower rate than pros. It’s been over a month and he hasn’t received payment. He emailed the band leader a while ago but didn’t receive a response.</p>
<p>It is obvious that he is upset about this. He feels that the experience was worth the time, but it stings not to be paid. This was for a professional theater company, not a school show. There were multiple performances and several long rehearsals. And we had to drive 60 miles round trip to get there.</p>
<p>Its a sad fact that musicians are not always paid. I expect even the theatre performers were not paid much.
Was he told he would be paid before his performance?
How far he had to go for work doesn’t have anything to do with whether he would be paid or not.
It sounds like a great experience for him, and its too bad that his teacher gave him the impression he would be paid when its not evident what he was basing that on…</p>
<p>If he wasn’t told ahead of time he was going to be paid, I’m not sure he has any recourse here. It’s a life lesson - ask ahead of time if there is any recompense.</p>
<p>Not only if there is any, but how much and when. It may be one of his non-fatal error life lessons. When gigging, always nail down the specifics ahead of time </p>
<p>I have a similar experience. Not a musician, but as a DJ.
I would find out beforehand what I’d be paid, if anything. Some charity fundraisers I played for free, but the key for me was that I could make the choice.</p>
<p>In this case, if I were the OP, I think I’d reflect on *exactly what teacher told student, what student asked, and how parents advised student to proceed, too.</p>
<p>I’m not looking for a way to compel the guy to pay DS - I know that there is no recourse and even if there were, DS would not want to do anything. I was just wondering whether this is usual. He would have done it, and I would have encouraged him to do it (and spent hours and hours of my time and driven those several hundred miles so that he could have the experience. It’s just hard to see him downcast about not having been paid when he was expecting to. The teacher told DS that he’d probably be paid about $100, so it was not a huge amount, but the idea of being paid loomed large in his mind. </p>
<p>Next time, he’ll know that he should ask ahead of time or be prepared not to earn anything. It’s hard to see this happen to him. He is a really sweet kid. </p>
<p>Too bad, this must leave a bad taste in your son’s mouth. I played in pits several times in high school and loved it (even spent a summer at a musical theater camp playing in the pit, one of the greatest summers of my life). I think the only time I ever got paid was at a local community college production. So out of maybe 10 productions I played for, I got paid once (but they DID pay me as promised). Although room and board were free for the summer camp pit, so maybe that is “payment”. :)</p>
<p>He could try communicating with the theater company itself or director, not just the band guy. Being polite, of course, but saying he had understood there would be some payment, and he had traveled some distance and put in quite a bit of time, and would appreciate hearing back from them. They might want to know if they paid the band guy and he did not pass the payment on… or maybe the band guy doesn’t even handle the money (very possible). Or maybe there has been some other delay and the money is coming. So he should probably start his communication saying maybe there is just a delay in the payment, and he wants to make sure they have his contact information.</p>
<p>I agree with intparent. He should contact the artistic director of the theatre company. Ultimately, he/she is responsible for all involved with the production. </p>
<p>Thanks, EPTR. He did actually email him twice. The first time was immediately after the job was over, and he thanked him for the opportunity to play and said that he’d enjoyed it. The second was several weeks later, asking about payment. They had been communicating by email before the job, exchanging information about rehearsal schedules, etc., so the guy does use email. </p>
<p>He would never go to the theatre company, or do anything aggressive. What bothers him is not the money, he would have played even if he’d been told that kids in the band are not paid, it’s just the feeling of being treated badly. Even if the guy had replied to his email and said that it is not his practice to pay kids, and he is sorry for the misunderstanding, that would have helped a lot. </p>
<p>It’s too bad, because he was hoping to play for the guy again. He’s very good, and he was nice to DS. It was a very good experience, except for this.</p>
<p>Speaking to the artistic director of the theatre company would be, in no way, an aggressive act! I served on the board of a theatre company for many years and the artistic director is absolutely who he should speak to. It is he/she who hires the musical director for shows and it is he/she who is ultimately paying the people involved. It isn’t the musical director who pays the musicians.</p>
<p>I would speak to the teacher who recommended him, not that he’s responsible, but if he knows the music leader he could touch base. The teacher should also be aware if they don’t pay, so he can decide whether to recommend other students. Going to the artistic director of the theater isn’t a bad idea either. Just tell them you tried to reach the music person and got no response.</p>
<p>Sometimes a parent cannot help a toddler that stumbles. Sometimes a parent may let a toddler stumble, in hopes they’ll learn from it. Sometimes people learn more from mistakes than they do when all goes right. Op doesn’t have a toddler, but I suspect the same principle is being applied here. Apparently, the parents chose to let the youth handle this himself without advising him to be more sure of a payment. Now the youth is disappointed things don’t seem to be working out as he had hoped. It seems as mathmom said, youth is learning a life lesson. Now he’ll know more than he did. When he reaches adulthood he’ll know what adults know- to find out about pay beforehand.</p>
<p>He needs to ask the person who told him he was getting paid (teacher?) where the check is. And, he needs to do it fast if it’s already been a month. This is easy.</p>
<p>He may be uncomfortable wording such a request… if it were my kid, I would probably draft something to give them a a starting point, then let them modify it as they feel comfortable before sending it off. </p>