Many of us have heeded the siren call. “Come to Spain! (Or Vietnam! Or Tahiti! Or some other exotic country!) Play your instrument on an international stage! Vacation while you work for food! We won’t pay you, but it will be a blast! And a great networking opportunity! And good exposure!”

As someone who got duped into playing one of those tours in the mid-90’s, I urge extreme caution should you choose to accept any overseas tour.

In my case, the lure was a trip to sunny Spain.

I had just left a full-time job, had some money saved, spoke passable Spanish, and had friends in several of the cities on the itinerary.

At the time I got the call, I had been planning a short getaway to Europe anyway. I thought, why not incorporate this tour into a working vacation, save some money on hotels and food, and play a few concerts? Never mind that it didn’t pay. Never mind that there was no contract. It will be fun.

I could not have been more wrong.

The musicians were mostly students, the conductor incompetent, and the food inedible. Hotels were two stars at best. Imagine endless hours on a bus in 100-degree heat, sleep deprivation and greasy food, and you will only start to get the picture.

Our concerts started at 10 p.m. – and sometimes 11. Often we didn’t return to the hotel until 2 a.m. or later. People became sick and behaved badly, as human beings are apt to do when they have no control over their environment. At one point, the orchestra left a cellist at a rest stop in the middle of the desert and no one noticed for three hours.

This kind of thing is still going on. I recently heard of a “freebie” tour of Korea that went out last summer. Sadly, it all sounded too familiar.

The orchestra, which goes under the name New Jersey Philharmonic (not to be confused with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra), was supposed to supply room and board.

Unfortunately, “room” one night was a stay in what appeared to be a whore house, complete with assorted sexual paraphernalia in plain sight.

“Breakfast” consisted of a cookie.

Busses had no bathrooms. The orchestra played two, sometimes three concerts a day. Rehearsals were often scheduled between concerts, and at times the orchestra played four services in one day.

Remember, this was all for no pay.

Musicians became sleep deprived, were poorly nourished and became ill. One musician said: “I finally left the tour an emotional and physical wreck, at considerable personal expense.”

The musician had to be hospitalized upon returning to the U.S and still suffers from panic attacks as a result of this ordeal.

According to Steve Gelfand of the AFM’s Department of Touring, inquiries regarding unpaid foreign tours are on the rise. “Call the AFM, talk to the touring department – before the tour,” Gelfand told Allegro. “After the fact, there is nothing we can do.”

Although the incidents described above were truly terrible, tours can be wonderful and lucrative experiences. I hope that the musicians who played on the Korean tour last summer do not become discouraged from accepting another tour, as the positive aspects of touring can be genuinely life-changing. But one must proceed with caution and eyes open. For every legitimate employer, there is an unscrupulous management eager to take advantage of musicians’ fantasies, youth, desire to play, and goodwill.