Paid to Play

All summer I've been trying to find a local orchestra that I could play in and it's been a little tough because most groups are either

1.) professional and I wouldn't win the audition
2.) are my level, but the people have played in them forever so there's never any open spots
3.) they're a community band with 16 horns playing four parts and that's not very much fun

I wrote to several groups anyway, and it turned out that I got an audition with the director of the Cleveland Philharmonic which is supposed to be the best not-paid local orchestra. I played for him on Saturday and things worked out really well. While there are no current openings with the Philharmonic, I'll probably get to sub on at least a couple concerts with them, BUT, the better part is that he is also the conductor of the Cleveland State Orchestra and he asked if I would play with them this year. It worked out that he got me hired on as a "coach" and I'm getting $500 which is awesome because it'll cover my gas AND I get to play in an orchestra twice a week!