A slew of sour notes are coming out of Hart House this week as a dispute over honorariums has left the Hart House Symphonic Band without a concert and without a conductor.

Keith Reid, a high school music teacher and alumnus, had conducted the band for the past 10 years, but was relieved of his duties on Wednesday. Hart House warden Margaret Hancock says Reid quit, while Reid claims he was fired.

The controversy stems from an inequity in honorariums between the conductors of Hart House’s various ensembles. “Historically, orchestra and choral got more,” noted Andrew Krupowicz, secretary of the Hart House music committee. According to Krupowicz, the orchestra’s conductor receives an annual honorarium of $4,500, while other conductors, such as Reid, receive $2,100.

Hancock said that the inequity is being dealt with, but there’s nothing she can do in the meantime. “The process here is a governance process,” she stated.

According to Krupowicz, Reid was seeking an extra $1,900, in order to even the playing field. That number was countered by Hart House with a $400 boost, as other conductors would have their honorariums bumped up as well. “So multiply the increase by five,” noted Krupowicz. Whatever the increase, it would not have been decided until January, and that was simply too long a wait for Reid, who originally brought the matter up in August. “In my mind, I thought it was unfair,” said Reid.

The final straw came last Tuesday, when the deadline to accept or reject the proposal passed. On that day, the symphonic band was to rehearse for a performance to be held Saturday, Nov. 29, and Reid was to make his decision.

Reid failed to show up for the rehearsal, however, claiming he was ill, and not in an emotional state to deal with the issue.

In an email addressed to the band, Hart House Director of Programme Laney Marshall wrote that Reid’s absence from the rehearsal was taken as a rejection of the proposal, and he would therefore no longer be conductor. This sentiment was echoed by Hancock. “People have a responsibility to let people know [if they are ill], and he didn’t.”

But Reid suspects there is more to the story. He said that he and the band had planned a protest at their own recital, in which leaflets would be placed on all the chairs in the audience to alert people of the perceived inequalities at Hart House. “Sometimes I wonder if she [Marshall] got wind of it, but there’s no proof of that.”

On top of Reid’s exit, the band’s Saturday recital was cancelled. They only perform twice a year as it is. “They ripped the concert away from 70 students,” said Reid.

For Hancock, there is no easy answer. “It’s not what anyone wanted,” she noted. “He quit. It was his call.”