Composers/administrators/conductors/musicians:
1. Don’t be bitter/defensive in an artist statement. No one finds you lacking because you are not more famous than you are or you don’t write atonal/tonal/trendy/untrendy music; you will make yourself unattractive by being defensive. 2. If you run a small and cash-poor group and you have a max amount you can pay someone that is probably low, tell them that amount first thing, don’t ask their fee, hoping against hope they will lowball themselves! I see this going badly many times a year, three times this week!