Great Resignation (Big Quit) 2021-2022

Started by Dry Brett Kavanaugh, October 10, 2021, 07:41:16 AM

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Karl Henning

Quote from: Herman on November 13, 2021, 11:17:55 PM
Any idea why?

I find myself in a state where I feel the world now is so ugly and steeped in falsehoods and us vs them that I need to get the motivation to write entirely out of myself. This is not a world I can contribute to. I should add though that this is how it usually works for me.

The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Herman


Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 04:05:31 AM
The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.

Interesting. I was assuming that aesthetic realization, more than social impact, was your motivation/purpose in your profession.

Btw, I listened to the Beatles' Revolution (the single version, B-side of Hey Jude) a few days ago. It is a nice song!

Karl Henning

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on November 14, 2021, 01:10:03 PM
Interesting. I was assuming that aesthetic realization, more than social impact, was your motivation/purpose in your profession.

Btw, I listened to the Beatles' Revolution (the single version, B-side of Hey Jude) a few days ago. It is a nice song!

Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?

Makes sense. A work becomes musical entity at receivers. Before that it is an ideational entity.

JBS

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?

Sometimes those ears on their own are enough to justify the fresh work.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Spotted Horses

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 04:05:31 AM
The feeling of powerless to do anything to change the general craziness in the country has intensified a feeling of powerless to do anything which would give me a profile as a composer. I hope that does not come across as self-pity, which I do not believe to be one of my faults.

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 14, 2021, 01:44:09 PM
Music is a social endeavor. Unless you're a solo pianist or organist, one makes music together with others. And not for the composer alone, but for the performers, making music is missing something without an audience. Put another way, the word for making music without an audience is rehearsal. Aesthetic realization is certainly an important part of why I have persevered in composing heretofore. (Is it a profession, if I pursue it solely in my own studio?) The question I am facing is, if the only ears in the world which require me to do fresh work are my own, why am I composing?

I understand your sentiments. Given the pandemic and the social/political disfunction in the U.S., I do not remember ever being so pessimistic about the future.

I agree that an audience is critical to the production of art. I feel that a desire to communicate at some level should be at the base of it, and feedback from an audience should be part of refining ones craft. But perhaps, making music without an audience at least involves the musicians performing for each other. Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.

I can recall expressing skepticism about Havergal Brian, who wrote 32 unperformed symphonies, many requiring colossal forces, although Brian found little or no motivation to write works on a scale such that he could reasonably hope for a performance. Of course, my reservations were met with contempt by the Brianophiles on the board.

In any case, I hope you will find the motivation to compose again, whoever the audience might be.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

greg

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 12, 2021, 05:26:36 PM
While at the moment, I experience no motivation to compose, I don't feel that will remain permanent. If/when I get writing again, I may not voluntarily retire from that activity.
Yeah, that's fine for now, don't worry about it. Giving yourself a rest from it can make you feel refreshed and extra focused and full of ideas when you get back into it.


Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 14, 2021, 09:13:13 PM
Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.
Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.

The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

Karl Henning

Quote from: JBS on November 14, 2021, 08:04:35 PM
Sometimes those ears on their own are enough to justify the fresh work.

Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 14, 2021, 09:13:13 PM
I understand your sentiments. Given the pandemic and the social/political disfunction in the U.S., I do not remember ever being so pessimistic about the future.

I agree that an audience is critical to the production of art. I feel that a desire to communicate at some level should be at the base of it, and feedback from an audience should be part of refining ones craft. But perhaps, making music without an audience at least involves the musicians performing for each other. Writing music which is not performed, even without an audience, seems like study, rather than composition.

I can recall expressing skepticism about Havergal Brian, who wrote 32 unperformed symphonies, many requiring colossal forces, although Brian found little or no motivation to write works on a scale such that he could reasonably hope for a performance. Of course, my reservations were met with contempt by the Brianophiles on the board.

In any case, I hope you will find the motivation to compose again, whoever the audience might be.


Thanks, gents.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: greg on November 14, 2021, 09:34:43 PM
Yeah, that's fine for now, don't worry about it. Giving yourself a rest from it can make you feel refreshed and extra focused and full of ideas when you get back into it.

Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.

The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.

Interesting.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Spotted Horses

Quote from: greg on November 14, 2021, 09:34:43 PM
Interesting, to me it isn't that way at all. I do it entirely for my own entertainment, I want to unlock the secret possibilities that music has to offer, feel new vibes and explore, as if exploring a new country or planet.

The sharing (social aspect of it) is entirely secondary, but what I find important about sharing is imagining a world where my favorite music wasn't shared by the creator, and I never knew of it. Don't wanna do that. So it's really a net benefit for potential fans.

My own experience is that I never approached creating music as a serious vocation, did a lot of playing for myself, doing bounce back recordings, or with a four-track in the basement, but always with the idea of working my way towards something I'd want to present in public, or at least to friends. Eventually I did do some performances by myself or in small groups, at college student venues, etc. But when I got a real job and those possibilities drifted away my interest in creating music also drifted away.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Karl Henning

Quote from: Spotted Horses on November 15, 2021, 05:52:31 AM
My own experience is that I never approached creating music as a serious vocation, did a lot of playing for myself, doing bounce back recordings, or with a four-track in the basement, but always with the idea of working my way towards something I'd want to present in public, or at least to friends. Eventually I did do some performances by myself or in small groups, at college student venues, etc. But when I got a real job and those possibilities drifted away my interest in creating music also drifted away.

Another factor for me now, as I think What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Spotted Horses

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 15, 2021, 06:47:09 AM
Another factor for me now, as I think What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.

You have my deepest sympathy on that subject, and I hesitate to give advice on a subject so individual and of such importance. It is hard to stop myself from making the obvious comment that in an ideal world the focus on restoring your ability to perform wouldn't prevent you from exploring what can be done until the ability is reacquired. But it is absurd to think a person can be instructed on where they should find inspiration.
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Mirror Image

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 15, 2021, 06:47:09 AM
Another factor for me now, as I think What is different? is my forced separation from the clarinet. Normally (if I can use that adverb) I was able to play my music for even a small audience. Part of my brain is wondering if I need to move from I don't know when I'll play clarinet again to the clarinet is a thing of the past. I'm resisting any push that way. It would be an enormous disappointment.

I'd hate to see you stop playing the clarinet in which I know you love to do, but you, being a composer, I would think takes precedent over being a clarinetist or would this be too presumptuous on my part?

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Two contrasting news.

Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.

https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid


Airbnb says staffers can work remotely forever, if they want.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/tech/airbnb-return-to-office-update/index.html

Mirror Image

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on May 02, 2022, 02:29:32 PM
Two contrasting news.

Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.

https://www.vox.com/recode/23042785/the-great-resignation-older-tenured-higher-paid


Airbnb says staffers can work remotely forever, if they want.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/tech/airbnb-return-to-office-update/index.html

If more businesses are offering work-from-home for their employees then what we're really seeing is a disillusionment with going into the workplace. There are still jobs that take place in a cubicle, but these jobs are absolutely turning a company's workforce into mindless zombies. The whole work/life balance is completely out-of-whack and it seems this is why so many people are leaving their jobs in their late 30s/40s. People are not machines and this is what these US corporations are starting to realize and if they don't, then the CEOs are in big trouble.

My job is no big deal. I work retail, but have opted to only work four days a week with three off in a row. This is better for me and it allows me to actually enjoy the life I have. The drudgery of 8 to 5 never appealed to me and I'm thankful that I'm in a situation where work doesn't dominate my existence.

greg

B-buutttttt...... you are supposed to work 60 hours a week and die from a heart attack caused by stress and bad diet from having to work so much before you even retire, what's wrong with you people wanting to live your life? Working all day so you can make the CEO richer is supposed to be your soul's only true desire, if not then BAAAAAAAAAADDDDD ROBOT! BAD!   >:(
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

Brian

Quote from: Brian on October 12, 2021, 06:52:09 AM
My day job is becoming increasingly stupid, stressful, and demeaning. 4 of 6 people in my group have joined the "Great Resignation" so far, along with probably 25% of the people in the rest of our department. I definitely would love to find another job and rub it in all their faces, it's just very time-consuming to search, and I don't have a ton of free time. We'll see!

Quote from: DavidW on October 12, 2021, 02:26:25 PM
I thought you were a food critic for a major newspaper? ???

Since that conversation (sorry I never replied to you, David, now I will!), I have successfully quit my terrible job and started a better, higher paying new one. I'll fill in the backstory here first, and then a few lessons I have learned from the quitting experience.

Backstory:
Yes, I was the food critic for a major newspaper, but unfortunately that paper had already downsized to the point where the job was a freelance/part time role. My full time job was with a community college, doing marketing department things, writing stories to help convince kids to go to college, get degrees, etc. Food writing was lucrative as a hobby ($20k or so), but it occupied me for 12-15 hours a week on top of my 40 hour day job.

The college went through a corporate style restructuring, everyone was made to reapply for their own jobs at the 2020 peak of the pandemic, and the resulting layoffs caused obvious understaffing and overworking. However, the restructure was seen as a huge success by executive leadership, who then created a layer of middle management to cater to their every desire. Suddenly we were supposed to market deans and chancellors as celebrities, for example, instead of focusing on stuff that matters.

This is all of course a metaphor for America's economy at large, in which the people at the top have deliberately created a system which, to the rest of us, seems broken, but which is in fact functioning exactly as intended.

End backstory

I'm now the full time restaurant critic at a glossy local magazine. It came with a raise that almost gets me to the pay of my two old jobs combined.

Lessons I've learned:
1. Working from the office/cubicle is much more tolerable if your work is good!! I used to be so resentful that the college required us to go to the office when we were required, once there, to have all our meetings online in Teams. We were driving to a place, then hiding from people, then driving home. I spent probably 3 hours of 8 goofing off on the internet. I genuinely was running out of websites to read every day!

Now I work a fully flex schedule, about half and half. And I actually like going to work?? And I like talking to the people there?? And today for example I didn't spend any time at all going around reading all the usual websites?? It's crazy. It helps that it's a 21st floor office with a spectacular view.

But it really helps to like the job.

2. Same for commuting. I went from 22 minutes driving daily to 37, but I don't mind because I like going there.

3. Exhaustion and emotional fatigue set in very slowly and therefore are hard to diagnose. I was sick and tired of all those people and their drama and their idiotic "strategies." But I tolerated it day by day, assumed it was normal, and thought all jobs were like that. Moving to a new office was revelatory.

4. You have a little bit of paranoia when you leave a terrible situation. I keep popping out to lunch, which is literally my job, and expecting to get a call from my boss demanding to know why I'm not at my desk. Hasn't happened. Turns out, that was only my old boss! But I'm still scared of it.

5. Re: the comments about doing what's important to you. Previously I had a job doing what was important to me, and another job which paid the bills, provided stability, and didn't interfere with my other goals. That was a good deal for a while. It was nice to support my passion with an easy, pleasant everyday work.

But as that day job grew more stressful and more irritating, the calculus changed. One of my colleagues quit to become a pizza delivery driver. Another quit to make large scale woven tapestries. Another quit to raise her twins. Another quit to travel the world on his life savings at the age of 28.

The pursue your passion vs. have a stable job decision is not a decision you make one time, forever. You have to keep making it as your passion intensifies and your stable life becomes less stable.

6. I'm very very lucky!

steve ridgway

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on May 02, 2022, 02:29:32 PM
Now, higher-paid, professional and middle-aged workers are quitting job. "At the midpoint of life, we become aware of our own mortality, and it allows us to reflect on what really matters to us," one guy says.

That was me in 2020. When I started in IT it was exciting to learn on the job, come up with ideas, use my initiative and have a go even if things sometimes went wrong, there were also constantly changing systems to learn. It was really a great career for the talented amateur. Eventually though it all became so restrictive I was completely fed up with it and drained but was fortunately able to retire early at 58.

DavidW

Thanks for the detailed response Brian.  You've certainly had a stressful past two years.  Good to see you've come through it and found a good job again.