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There was a sea of postwar youngsters who had time on their hands, and society was trying to figure out how to keep us out of trouble. As I recall, most of the gigs I played were sponsored by organizations, not by businesses.




There is still a large group of youngsters that needs to be kept out of trouble...and music is a skill that requires a skilled professional to teach it properly and guide newcomers. So you would think there should still be such opportunities - but postwar youngsters did not have the technology, 2 kazillion TV shows from cable TV, video games, and (at least for those whose parents are involved) - homework requirements of today's youth.

But your points are well taken - organizatoins

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what do you DO with a large demographic that needs activities



How about putting some of them to work - even if it is a 'losing money' proposition. For example, in my opinion, every well-abled body person receiving a welfare check should be on-call for work. Now many of these people don't have the work skills, endurance, social skills, emotional intelligence, and motivation to work given the ease of obtaining that, e.g. unemployment check, for just sending out a few resumes and going on a few interviews (and how hard is it to fail at those if you like the work/reward ratio of an unemployment or welfare check - e.g. zero work / money is sent to you = zero over a number = INFINITE ration !!!)

Now - here's the problem - unions don't like the idea of somebody working and taking away some union worker's job that could be doing the same thing for fair pay. So we have our American stalemate - and we just give money out for no work.

How about this - to keep unions from going in a tizzy, and keep professional musicians employed. Everybody receiving a welfare or unemployment check is on call for 'music lessons'. The portion of welfare checks going to each person is slightly reduced AND they have to show up for music lessons where they are graded. Music to teach responsiblity, accountability, socialization skills, teamwork, etc. So if you receive benefits, you are on call to receive less benefits and be accountable to someone to keep a regular schedule, and do homework. Good for society, good for keeping up the work ethic and moral of unemployed/welfare recipients, and good for all of you professional musicians to teach not just music, but all those other things that go along with it ; )