The pedestal of the “full-time job"

In the arts, few people are considered “lucky” enough to have a full time job through an employer with benefits that is fully connected to our primary interest. Even fewer of those full time artists do not need any sort of supplementary income (aka, they don’t need to engage in the side hustle).

As I have wrapped my first week of summer theater workshops, I have been reflecting on the various and sundry jobs that I have had in my life: Babysitter, camp counselor (for generic camps, theater camps, piano camps, and music camps), student worker for the English department at my college, personal care assistant (PCA), music director, choral conductor, actor (touring and non-touring), paraprofessional, paid alto ringer and sub alto for many choirs in many locations, audition pianist, church pianist, rehearsal pianist, one-on-one virtual math and literacy tutor, choir section leader, public school music teacher, and even the really random couple month stint as a bartender at a Chinese food restaurant while I was in college in rural New Hampshire (I needed some extra money, but the few tips that I got went right back to the restaurant since I always got an order of crab rangoon immediately following my shift).

Currently, I work as a private voice, piano, and group voice teacher for two studios, I work as a private lesson booking coordinator for one of said studios, and I continue work as a PCA for two families, one whom I have been working with about 10 years. The other family I am incredibly fortunate enough to be employed by, is my own. Since COVID, the agency that my parents get funding from have allowed siblings to be employed as PCAs. This means that my 30-year-old autistic brother is able to visit me in Boston and we are able to go out and do fun activities together. This is something that we have always done and enjoyed anyway, but now I get paid for the time we spend together. While doing all of the above consistently, I take on singing gigs and fit them in whenever they are offered to me and when I have the availability and energy to take them on. During the summers, I work as a music director and counselor for one of the studios I am employed by during the year, continue my booking work, and then I fill in the rest of the time with PCA work. If I need extra financials, I am able to add on sporadic private lessons throughout the summer.

With the massive paragraph above, I am only talking about “paid time.” I haven’t even gotten into the prep work and professional development that goes into the above jobs (don’t worry that’s a topic that will be saved for another time).

When people ask me what it is that I do for the purpose of small talk, this makes my answer very complicated. I do say that I’m a music teacher, but then I have to specify that I’m a private music teacher, but then people get confused about that being “all I do.” Which results in me stating that I work for multiple studios, have about 40 students on average, and clarifying that I also do other work (but I don’t necessarily get into what it is I do, since people were already confused enough about what I do as my primary job). Even though I don’t have an easy full-time position that I can cleanly put on a resume, trust me, I am working full-time.

This leads me into the problematic nature of how the general public views self-employment, part-time work, and the gig economy as “not being real jobs” (unless you are famous - friendly reminder that all celebrities take part in the gig economy). Even though I don’t have a singular full-time job, I do have a common through-line through all my jobs; music and education. However, having these various experiences have allowed me to take bits and pieces from each of those not seemingly real “jobs” (even from my past employment) and given myself a focus on building my career as a musician and educator.

Regardless of what a person’s day-to-day job actually is (if it even is day-to-day), it is unnecessary and unkind to judge a person’s current situation and their choice of employment, especially if you don’t know them very well. A person’s employment is not an indication of their worth. This is why I try and avoid the question of “what do you do?” as being one of the first questions that I ask upon meeting someone. It is also incredibly diminishing to follow up with what they plan on doing for their future if you consider their current employment something that’s not desirable. The United States is an expensive place to live and recent inflation trends have been making it worse. If you’re making your living situation work in whatever way you’re able, huge kudos to you.

COVID also revealed that full-time employment is not necessarily more stable than self-employment. Companies will not, and did not, hesitate to lay people off regardless of how long they worked there. I am willing to bet that part-time and gig workers were more successful in their ability to pivot during such an unpredictable time, since that is the nature of our career. On Jameela Jamil’s podcast, iWeigh, I heard a recent quote from her interview with Cindy Gallop that resonated with me. Gallop was talking about how “evangelical” she has become since working for herself in her mid-40s. After all, “whose hands would you rather place your future in? Those of a large corporate entity who doesn’t give a s*** about you? Or somebody who will always have your best interests at heart, i.e. you?”

There are absolutely skills that full-time workers gain when operating for a singular company for a significant amount of time, but it’s also important to recognize that people that engage in the gig economy also have a multitude of skills, albeit different ones. Everyone is needed and should be appreciated with all the diverse work that is out there and available. There wouldn’t be enough room and positions available if every single person worked towards the job that society deems the “best” and most “successful.” Everyone should work where they best fit in terms of their strengths, works for their family unit (which could be themself as a single person), and is ultimately happy, fulfilled, and paid a fair and living wage. That is how living in a society works.

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Nasal Breathing