AIBU to think this "wedding pianist" is unbelievably rude?

[Bamsmam]

We are getting married in April and have found a lovely venue which allows us to source music ourselves. I looked around options locally and they all charge a fortune for 5-6 hour packages which we don't really need - just someone to play a few tunes as guests arrive and during and after the ceremony, nice and quiet, nothing complicated.

A friend told me about a friend of hers who plays for weddings sometimes, not as a full time career because she does other music work too. So I got in touch with her, mentioned my friend's name, said what I wanted and asked for a quote. She came back to me with £220!! For a couple of hours piano playing! Surely this is money for old rope.

I wrote back and said I thought it was a little on the steep side and this is where the rudeness comes in. She actually messaged me back and said I should start taking lessons now myself and in ten years I'll be as good as her and can play for my next wedding! AIBU to think that this is extremely unprofessional and also a very unpleasant way to communicate with prospective customers?

You are delulu OP. It’s a specialist skill. It’s a day rate for a one-off occasion and it’s pretty reasonable.

quite.

@Bamsmam why is she worth less than a plumber?

You were very rude. I haven’t read your whole thread. Your initial response was quite enough.

I work in a very specialised field: Once when I was called out for a very urgent (and admittedly hazardous) task I asked three times my usual rate. The client paid me ten grand for an afternoon’s work.

Was that expensive for a few hours? No, not really, because it took me forty years to learn how to do it, and to be trusted not to muck it up.

Same thing really.

You’re not her mate though…. and you clearly never will be now 😂

Also, have you considered the fact that plumbing is actually a lot easier than playing the piano and takes much less training to become “professionally competent”?

Me!! Everytime I get 2 spoons out of the drawer and they come out back to back, I play a little tune! I'm rubbish and usually drop one, but hey ho, I'd be less than £220!

I was thinking the same. Or someone is having a laugh!

OP’s point - this pianist is charging more than a plumber

She’s going to get a shock when she needs a lawyer, doctor or architect. They, too, often charge more than plumbers.

Happily though I can suggest to OP that in order to bring the music in at a cost she can accept, simply ask the plumber to play piano, since their time is available at a rate you can tolerate.

enjoy the sounds!

I’ll come and play chopsticks and the Eastenders theme tune on repeat for £50 if you’d prefer?

Yabvu. Can't believe your cheek! You might have had a point if she was an amateur who could play a few tunes but she is actually a musician by profession.

Maybe you should take her advice?!

looks to me like you have no sense of humour or manners! and I wouldn't dust the cobwebs of my recorder for you however much you paid !

I'm still confused by the people who are saying that the high wage is because it's skilled work.

Rightly or wrongly, the overwhelming majority of skilled workers in the UK are paid average and below-average salaries. Spending years to hone piano skills is no different from spending years honing skills for any other career.

My 7 year old has been teaching himself from YouTube videos. He’ll do it for £50.

And to be fair, OP was actually offered mates rates. She's clueless. As well as her experience and skills, the musician is factoring in preparation time - she will have to learn and practice all the songs, coordination time - she will have to coordinate with the couple and venue staff, set up and take down time - she will likely be expected to bring her own equipment, lug it there, set it up and take it back and that's on top of travel time to and from the venue and the actual attendance time.

All of this and she must also use the professional skills she has spent years honing - OP casually mentioned she does "other music work too".

She is a professional musician who is likely sick to death of ignorant skinflints like the OP wasting her time with their moaning.

I'll join in on the melodica

It'll be beautiful

I’m fairly confident none of this happened tbh

Hold on- didn't virtually everyone in the UK learn 'Three Blind Mice' and 'London's Burning' on the recorder, at school?

We could set up an entire recorder orchestra!

(I bet there are some nifty triangle players out there too)

BRIDEZILLA!! Why should she devalue her services or time just because you have a mutual friend. Who else have you been trying to knock down you cheapskate??? £220 for a musician to travel, cart their gear to and from venue, learn/practice your song choices, be half decent and take guest requests is a bloody bargain. I hope youve not tried to get a live band to for evening do as you'd have had heart attack at the price of those. Our musicians for the day totalled over £1400 and they were worth every bloody penny at our wedding. String Quartet for ceremony and welcome drinks and live band for evening do and they were both around average price for hours they performed

Mates rates? Shes not your mate! And that could well be a discount already.
Brilliant response from the pianist, as someone else mentioned already, she knows her worth.

My first thought. It must be! 😁

Exactly, thank you! Everybody works! I work and I certainly don't get paid £220 an hour for it.

No idea, but I know a bloke who can get a tune out of a panel saw.

But he’s a competent chippie and would charge more than the pianist. 😀

I can do Chopsticks and the Eastenders theme tune? Can I join?

Mates rates = yawn
Shes has a skill. Whether she does that full time or as a sideline, it’s a skill she has. She deserves to be paid for it.
How would you like it if people wanted stuff cheap from you just because you happened to be friends.
She isn’t even you friend.
The reason she spoke as she did is because musicians, photographers etc get people trying to take advantage of them and claim mates rates all the time. It’s rude.
Shes right, if you think she’s too expensive it’s time you started learning to play yourself.