London Calling

As I now live in London, my brothers the Jazz musicians are living in my house back in New York, and this is stressing out my wife. She was raised in mainland China, and she views life as a pure struggle for survival. My brothers current fiscal state (they teach a few days a week and place a gig every now and then) proves all of her darkest fears and assertions about music and choosing any career that does not maximize your fiscal chances. She tends to regard anything else as pure frivolity and selfishness.

On the other hand, my brothers really have never been very money conscious, to the extent of arguably jettisoning any kind of real responsibility. And even they are now starting to worry as they age and as it becomes clear that they are not heading towards some kind of musical nirvana.

One thing I do have to say for those who choose a career in music is that you really have to be prepared to work very hard and promote yourself like crazy, constantly pushing and shoving to make a enough of a name for yourself so that people will seek you or your music out. But this will not be a magic carpet that will sweep you away from the grit and hard work: You will have to work and suffer and push and shove as in any career if you want to have any chance of making it.

If I were my brothers, I’d be putting together bands and constantly bothering the downtown club owners to put my band on, even on monday nights, but just so that I could keep playing and getting my music out there. This is what it would take.

On the other hand, my brothers just plain and simply like making music, and they just don’t seemed to be very motivated to make a name for themselves. They just like playing: I can’t blame them for that, but that also does not remove the reality of needing to pay bills.

How to resolve this situation I am unsure. I don’t want to kick them out of my otherwise empty house, but the wife also thinks we’ll be stuck with them forever. I’ve been trying to engage them on getting trained in something else, but that’s not a role I feel comfortable in or want to take on.