Blair Tindall has an article in today’s Los Angeles Times about musicians who excel in more than one career. Of interest to me was the appearance of a friend of mine, former OSO principal cellist Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos, who now is Chief Operating Officer of InstantEncore.com, an online source for concert listings, downloads, and streaming audio.
Blasting through stereotypical images of the starving artist, these top studio, symphonic and theater musicians explore multiple passions without compromising their musical integrity. In doing so, they also hedge their bets against the economic downturn that is eroding arts budgets and threatening employment.
“Dual careers are almost always a bonus — both for the income and for the variety and exposure to contrasting environments,” says Barbara Sher, author of the 2006 book “Refuse to Choose: A Revolutionary Program for Doing Everything That You Love.” “And the second job might allow them to use sides of their natures that aren’t expressed as musicians.”
… Manhattan Beach cellist Margo Tatgenhorst Drakos could be a poster child for Sher’s book. A former member of the American String Quartet, Drakos has taught at the Manhattan School of Music, summered at Vermont’s prestigious Marlboro Music Festival and worked as associate principal cellist with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
You’d think that any performer would be content with such a résumé. But in 2008, Drakos also earned a master’s in human rights from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs, and today she works as chief operating officer for instantencore.com, an online service in San Diego linking audiences, performers and music schools, while continuing her performing career.
I couldn’t agree more, and though I don’t have a second career (at least not a paid one), I find that embracing hobbies or avocations that steer away from one’s primary occupation provides an outlet for whatever isn’t being fulfilled in your daily gig, while also providing a theraputic effect in distracting the mind from the pressures and irritants of the daily grind.
7 replies on “burning the candle at both ends”
I, too, know one of the people interviewed in that article, former Sacramento Symphony Assistant Principal 2nd violinist Rae Ann Goldberg.
She is doing very well as a marriage/family/child counselor, working 32 hours a week, PLUS her occasional playing gigs. I don’t know how she does it all! But she lives a more rewarding and fulfilling life as a result of expanding her career horizons.
Drakos is also very attractive – a truth that might possibly be a bonus in both careers.
Then again, maybe i wasn’t supposed to notice that? Oh well . . .
ps
i went to school with Blair Tindall and got a real hoot out of her book in which she discusses sundry antics @ North Carolina School of the Arts. Blair has done a fine job in parlaying her musical life into a writing career.
Blair Tindall’s recent LA Times article is wonderful and thought-provoking. As I commented on Tindall’s blog, I believe music teachers owe it to their students (even the most gifted) to encourage them to establish other skills for practical purposes, such as job security. Classical music is risky. But yes, combined with another profession, one might have the best of both worlds.
If only I had known years ago what I do now..
I discovered your blog a while ago–I’m from Bend and often attend Sunriver Music Festival concerts…and I think I Googled the principal violist at some point. 🙂
I’m a double-degree student (viola/physics) at a conservatory and a university–an intense workload that comes with sacrifices. It’s often hard to justify to myself and my peers why I’m not “going for music 100%.” So many things (like practicing) lend themselves better to days without labs, classes, and homework. I guess it’s a delicate balance…but maybe a musician’s second interest/career is better pursued after his or her “chops” are in place?
Since the fine muscular movements that are required by a professional musician are often best developed through regular study at an early age, it’s much more common for someone to develop their “chops” first, then get that degree in law, medicine, etc (and that’s pretty common, actually).
There are also a lot of very fine musicians who have done a double-degree program as well. Though I didn’t do a double major, I did attend a liberal arts college for undergrad that had a lot of academic demands on top of my musical studies, which made for some very hectic end of semester (finals, juries, etc all at the same time).
Best of luck in your studies, and if you’re back at the SRMF this year, please come up and say hello!
Thanks for all your comments on the article.
Bob Priest — Where did we go to school together? I don’t recall.
Margo Drakos is a very accomplished person, earning her way into both careers. That she presents herself as an attractive person means that she understands this is a part of professionalism. No, she wasn’t served up jobs and opportunities on a silver platter because she’s attractive. She got herself into Curtis on the basis of an audition, and even though she was initially rejected from Columbia (because she’s attractive? You didn’t mention that.) she persisted, earned her degree, and has published papers (without a photograph by the way) that have garnered her speaking engagements at Yale and elsewhere. She’s earned everything through hard work. That she’s put-together and puts on a professional face speaks volumes about her approach.
Hi Blair,
Oh my, touched a nerve, did I? That really wasn’t my intention, but, as I said above, “oh well . . . ”
As for going to school together, it was NCSA. Johnny Reinhard might have briefly introduced us one day – you were in high school and i was close to graduating from the college division. I was friends with Paul Hatton before you encountered him. How is he these days?