Thought I'd add to John's comment regarding pay and start a new thread.

I have not shopped around to see what the competition is paying for jobs, i.e. Reading symphony, Scranton, NJ, etc.  

If others are offering more than ASO, it probably isn't a lot more.  I'd love to see a comparison of compensation for the local area groups.  Considering the financial situation of musicians even a little more might make the difference in a decision to take a job.  

Maybe what the symphony has to offer more than pay is possibly other perks which musicians need.  A room to record?  to rehearse?  What are the needs of the musicians?  The chamber music series that was started is a good addition to the opportunities the ASO has to offer.  If other needs can be met by the organization they can also attract good musicians that way perhaps.

Let's see if there can be some feedback about the salary issue.  

Until the symphony can be a full time orchestra which pays a living wage, anyone playing in it must rely on other income to supply the bulk of their living expenses.  With two girls still in college, I have to smile at the thought of making ends meet in music alone in the Lehigh Valley.  My one daughter is looking at 50K/year to attend the college she is going to this Fall.  Even without children in college, the current income from the symphony can only be 5-10% of a decent living wage in my opinion.  

If as you say the pay for musicians is such a small piece of the total pie, where is most of the money going?  In engineering, when you try to reduce noise in an electronic circuit, you only focus on the largest contributors to the noise.  I would assume in business as well, when expenses are high, attacking the areas of highest cost produce the most benefit.  

We need management to become involved in this conversation if these answers are to be found.  I would suspect that people who make the business decisions would prefer to keep details out of a public forum however.  Perhaps just a percentage break-down would be a useful contribution to the topic.

I agree with your comments Michael. However, ASO is not even close to other groups in pay. You mentioned Reading Symphony. I play there as well as ASO and so do a lot of other ASO players. Currently the per service pay for a section player is 25 -27 dollars more per service. Allentowns pay goes down even more when you consider the fact that it is a 3 hour rehearsal versus 2 1/2 everywhere else.

When I play in Reading, it involves a Thursday night, Friday and Saturday. There is one LESS service in Reading and I still come home with a lot more money (around $175 more) granted some of that is because it is 30 more miles for me to travel but still. . .

As far as any other group, just ask our orchestra committee. They did the research you are talking about and ASO falls short in every category by a lot. They even could tell you the percentages of the pie so to speak. I think you are right. There is a lot of room to cut and it is not in the musicians wages.

Well if others are paying more, I wonder what is wrong with our negotiating power.

-Michael