Non-musicians think that musicians don't have "real" jobs.
On the other hand, musicians know first hand that being a performer takes a lot of hard work.
And yet, we're often the first ones to refer to work as "work."
That can't possibly help non-musicians get it.
Picture from http://www.lehigh.edu/~clb208/site/terremoto/earthquake_immag.html
It has taken me a long time to refer to what I do as work because I love doing it so much! I also tend to think of work as more steady, predictable, full time employment than being a freelance musician normally is. You're right though, it is up to us to instill on others the validity of what we do and talking about playing in professional terminology is probably a good place to start.
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