Daily Kansan Wednesday, May 4, 1966
5
Composers agree music pay is poor
A panel of five composers agreed yesterday that composers are so poorly paid that few can make a living by composing alone. Although some make good livings, many live on the edge of poverty.
The five spoke in a forum on "Economics and the Composer," part of the Eighth Annual Symposium of Contemporary Music sponsored by the School of Fine Arts.
MODERATOR for the panel was Edward C. Mattila, assistant professor of music theory, who recently was awarded a research grant to compose an orchestra piece. Other panel members were Francis Thorne, a New York composer; Douglas Moore, Rose Morgan professor of music and composer of the opera "Carry Nation"; Gene Bruck, composer and worker for a composers coop, and David Bates, instructor of music theory.
Almost every composer does something else for a living, said Thorne. "One would think he was a composer on the side. I don't know of any full-time composers."
Moore said the economic situation of composers is better than when he began writing music,
but composing is still a part-time occupation. He called the necessity to make a living in some other way "a terrible waste of creative talent."
EVEN THE COMPOSER sometimes sees himself as a person who should suffer poverty, said Bruck. Literary authors expect their works to be published, while many composers feel lucky if one piece of music is published.
Foundations and organizations help by giving grants and fellowships and paying part of the costs of copying compositions. But they are not a real solution, Mattila said, because their help is sporadic. The real problem is the day-to-day living—how to pay for the groceries.
The panel members agreed that universities do a great deal to support composers. "We can see hope in the universities,"Bruck said. There the composer can begin earning.
But even universities cannot afford to hire composers to do nothing but compose. They are given teaching responsibilities that make it necessary to do most of their composing during summer vacations and sabbaticals.
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