Yesterday, I walked in a Labor Day Parade in Wilmington. I am a member of the AFM (American Federation of Musicians), Local 47. It was a lot of fun to see many people I hadn’t seen for a while and meet lots of new people from the Actor’s Guild and other unions. The musicians are working towards negotiating a contract that has provisions to pay for streaming. This is such an important aspect to a new contract since how media is presented today is so different than it was only a few years ago.
It struck me, also, what a great community there is of performing artists and that I am so glad to be a part of that community at large and at La Cañada High School. Many of the people I spoke to reminisced fondly and specifically about their high school band and orchestras and you could hear how important these school programs were to them and their subsequent careers. Music is taught and handed down from one generation to the next. It’s a great tradition!