Old guy rant

[WGWTR180]

Geez guys, I was just blowing off steam when I started this thread, not trying to start an inter generational conflict.

No fault of yours Mike. It's just where we are as society. To some a different opinion is read as an insult to someone else's opinion. Maybe one day healthy debate will return.

[CalgaryTbone]

Not sure it's wise to get into this flame-laden topic, but it is 30 below here in Calgary today, so maybe the heat will be welcome!

There are actually some good arguments on both sides here, but I think that when we're talking about offering employment, the contractor gets to set the method of contact. He/she should be sensible about what methods they use - my preferred smoke signals and candy grams might not reach everyone!

I use email for my University students, but as their teacher, I get to set the method of contact. I have also made them aware of that - it is in my course outline that is handed out to each of them every semester.

I know one local big band director that still phones everyone in the band every week and leaves voice messages to remind them of rehearsals - works for him (except when he finds the people that don't check voice messages and freaks out!). Still, he's doing the hiring, so he gets to set his terms.

Keeping up with the latest methods of communication does make sense, however, especially if you're doing a lot of hiring, and if you are offering much the work to younger players. I'm glad that I'm not freelancing much anymore, since I hate texting and still prefer my landline over my cell as a main contact point. I would have to change my ways if I was back in a big city hustling for work, because being "right" wouldn't cut it if I was not getting messages in a timely way.

My advice to music students that are just starting to get offered work is to check all of your communication devices every day, and respond as soon as you can for work related messages. Half of life is showing up!

Jim Scott

[whitbey]

Yup.
I am a realtor and find the same issue with agents returning phone calls and emails.
One of my selling points to potential clients is I can do something that most cannot, I can return a phone call. That has gotten me a lot of biz.
Funny how the gaming techno crowd does not understand how to use a phone or computer.
And I am very glad that I only give out copies of my quintet book and keep an original set to make the next copy. I have lost two books to University Horn players.

[BurckhardtS]

I'm not sure my point was super clear when I made my first post in this thread so I'll take another shot.

I don't think irresponsibility is limited to age or generation. Methods of communication changes over time, be clear as to the way you want communicate and use it. If someone doesn't show up, maybe don't hire them again. You can do something about it.

[brassmedic]

I'm curious about what you said before, though.

In regards to texting vs email, yes texting is way easier because it goes directly to us. Emails you have to check yourself and often are full of garbage (especially mine), and because of that some of the good stuff gets filtered out.

What do you mean by "it goes directly to us"? I have to tap an icon on my phone to see my text messages. Then I have to tap on the message that I want to read. I also have to tap an icon to see my emails. Then I have to tap on the email that I want to read. Exactly the same amount of effort (very little). I get as many junk texts as I get junk email. 99% of the spam you get can be gotten rid of by unsubscribing to that particular business. So still not understanding how texting is easier.

[BurckhardtS]

I'm talking about push notifications. I get push notifications from text messages and FB messenger, but not emails. Push notifications show up on the lock screen of my phone before I've even unlocked it, and I can read them before I've even unlocked my phone. Emails don't push on my phone and never have (and even though I have it set to), so I have to open the app individually.

I know that you can set it to have emails push to your lock screen, but it doesn't work on mine and I don't want it because of the sheer amount of spam I get. I probably get 50-60 emails a day, and probably about 10 of those are not garbage, and I probably only get about 15-20 text messages a day.

E: FWIW, that's what I thought was unclear about my first post.

[Doug Elliott]

And I thought I got a lot of email.

[brassmedic]

It occurs to me the reason your email is clogged up is because that's how so many people choose to communicate. If we get to the point where the majority of people communicate by text message, I imagine the situation will be reversed. Personally, I much prefer work related communication by email, for two reasons: 1. The text message app on my phone has no option to mark a message as "unread". I want to be able to read the message, but still have it shown in bold as a reminder that I have not yet replied. With email, I can do this easily. 2. I can very easily read email on either my phone or my PC. I'm sure there's a way to read texts on your PC, but why should I bother figuring it out? The way things are works great: I get text messages from my friends about personal matters, and emails for work or other business. It's so great having the two separate; I just can't understand why anyone wants all that lumped together and being constantly bugged by push notifications on your phone. Just my old guy 2 cents.

[Matt K]

I find it a lot easier to have separate email accounts for separate domains. But I have a bit of a unique situation basically having a few clients, each of which more-or-less mandate using their domains. At the time of writing, I count 12 email accounts. I probably get 500 or so a day, though most of those are either invoices/bills, meeting invitations/reminders, or server error logs. Probably 10 or less are actual humans, attempting to interact with me. I have one specifically for all my music stuff for this reason because otherwise it would get drowned out in all the other stuff going on.

Since I switched over to having a separate email address for music stuff, I've missed - as far as I know - nothing, although I'm sometimes behind or read something and don't respond to it and then since it was marked as read forget to come back to it. I haven't found a good system for that other than having it not automatically "mark as read" but that's really inconvenient to mark every email message individually as read... I'd recommend at least trying a separate email that has nothing but music stuff in it... no accounts, etc.... you can troubleshoot your phone issue that way too by emailing yourself to the phone to see why it isn't getting a "push". I invariably check that email account once a day; if something is more urgent than the 24 hour cycle, usually someone will just give me a phone call.

I actually have/had an issue with my phone with texts. I'd get them like, a week or even longer later. For the last decade I was basically getting the cheapest thing I could get my hands on but I upgraded to something a little nicer a few weeks ago and I don't seem to have the issue anymore. I also keep my phone in another room when I work and so I might not get just a text but I'll usually hear the phone ring because it does it for a few seconds. I might not look at my phone until I start to cook dinner.I'd imagine other people are the same too, particularly if they aren't working a job that day or something. No reason to carry it in my pocket all day if I have no reason to leave the house, afterall.

[mrpillow]

If I get contacted by any means about someone wanting to pay me play the trombone, I assume it's a joke at best.

[BrerCottonmouth]

Is this really an old guy thing? Could be. I'm old, but it seems reasonable to expect everyone—young and old—to be responsible and respond to necessary communications. Maybe you should have texted or Instagramed? I hope not.

[jazztonight]

Very interesting thread. I'm an old guy now. But in my younger days (late 50s, early 60s) I was a bandleader (mostly weddings), and had just gone back to college to get a degree in music. The students I went to school with were all 20-somethings and were terrific musicians. I began using them for gigs and helped them pay their rent for a few years.

Yes, there were glitches along the way, but these guys had calendars and never missed a gig, which was a source of "big" money for them. One drummer forgot his brushes--to me that was unforgivable, and I replaced him with another young guy who showed up at gigs 1.5 hours early! Another classmate, the bass player, turned out to be so good that I paid him double the fee to pick me up, load up the van, drive to the gig, set up the PA system, play, and then do the reverse. He was like a son to me, and today plays many jazz and classical gigs, and has a big teaching studio.

Email communication was never an issue. If someone was late, it was because of an emergency. Most of the time, people deserve a second chance. One guitarist--a really great player--showed up in his tuxedo, but had white socks on. Brother! I always kept an extra tux bow tie in my pocket.