Interesting article on music training/careers

College Majors Music Major
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<p>There is an interesting article in this month's Listen Music magazine (Listen</a> • Fall 2010) called "DIY careers" that talks about the changes that seem to be filtering into the conservatories and music schools in terms of how they train students, that even the more traditional programs are changing the approach to how they train and prepare students. In the words of the piece, it is no longer simply training a student to the highest technical standards and to get that job as a soloist, it is about being in effect an entrepreneur and such. Some of the more interesting things in there to me:</p>

<p>-Juilliard's tuition between 2004 and 2010 went up 10 grand (I knew college coasts were soaring, but holy cow)</p>

<ul>
<li>That many music programs are making students aware of the video game industry, which quite frankly I didn't realize how big it was. The video game industry according to the piece is bigger then the music and movie industries combined....and they are teaching special courses in it and so forth to music students.</li>
</ul>

<p>-That enrollment in music programs, even with the decline in the music industry across the board, the loss of orchestras, etc, is at all time high levels. That to me is really interesting, because given the crappy economy in general, and the anxiety many are feeling, it really surprises me that this is so, you would figure enrollment would be declining. It also raises another question, if as we are told that kids today have no background in music, that there is no interest, then how can this be reconciled? I realize that schools of music include programs in popular music, audio engineering, video game writing, but from what I can tell the focus of most programs is still on more traditional forms of music, Jazz, classical, opera, etc..........so why are kids flocking into music programs? It also makes me wonder about the many young musicians out there who to me seem training for the world that was instead of the world that is (for example, training for a high level soloist career or high level orchestra career), what will happen to them?</p>

<p>Anyway, I recommend reading the article, when you go to the main web URL above, it is prominently displayed as a link for 'DIY careers'.</p>

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<p>This article was definitely worth reading. Thanks for posting the link, musicprnt.</p>

<p>I think that any music school student with a desire to have a full-time career as a musician would benefit from classes, seminars, etc. that can assist them with learning how to effectively market themselves as professionals.</p>

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<p>Perhaps it’s because classical music has for years been more of an integral part of the “music industry” here in California, but it is shocking that East Coast conservatories seem to be JUST catching up to this sort of professional cross pollination. None of this is new to music students at USC or UCLA.</p>

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<p>Having seen what appears to have been the dominant mode of training for performance careers and still is dominant in some/many places, it reminds me of a famous line about the military, that they generally are always training to fight the last war. Thus when they were training US soldiers to fight in WWI, they were teaching tactics and such that came from the US civil war (James Thurber wrote a funny essay about his experiences at Ohio State drilling for that war). </p>

<p>Seriously, I am glad to see that music programs either already have or are starting to reflect reality about what is out there. I read an article not too long ago by someone who had graduated from one of the big conservatories, and he said he was shocked that in the career seminars and such the focus was the same as what he had read in accounts by violinists writing 20 or 30 years before, about how everything was getting the eye of music agencies, getting recording contracts, building the solo career, about the need to be careful about doing any music “not classical” because it wouldn’t go over well with recording industry and music reps and such…when that world has died or is rapidly dying. Obviously there are still orchestra jobs out there, some will do recordings and end up doing solo work, but it is no longer going to be the dominant form I expect. Likewise, I kind of wonder about all those kids doing the competitions, winning them or placing high, and thinking that is the road to a career (if it ever has been).</p>

<p>BTW, I kind of like Listen Music magazine, it has a different take on classical music and music in general, I recommend reading it.</p>

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<p>From reading this article, I didn’t really get that training was any different, only that some things have been added, including both outreach (to build audiences) and entrepreneurship (partly due to the need to find an audience, but also perhaps due to more individualism among musicians).</p>

<p>This article mentions the International Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, Time for Three- all groups that created their own opportunities and have thrived financially as well as artistically. I can think of many others. The article also mentions the Tank, a funky venue in NYC where a lot of “new music” is played, in a “hip” (the article’s word) environment.</p>

<p>While the trend toward classes in entrepreneurship may signal financial worries and the decline of audiences for classical music, I also see it as a hopeful sign of the diversity and creativity that is being encouraged among music students, that is, once they have acquired some mastery of technique.</p>

<p>Students in colleges are also making their own opportunities, by forming smaller groups of musicians, starting composers groups, holding their own concerts, and so on. </p>

<p>I think all this activity is exciting, and while audiences in the larger venues may decrease, there are many new listeners drawn to some of these smaller venues. This should continue as some of these newly offered classes will increase the young musicians’ savvy for marketing and production.</p>

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<p>at least regarding eighth blackbird, they had a lot of support by Tim Weiss, who conducts the Contemporary Music Ensemble at Oberlin - and the environment at Oberlin which has been fostering to new music innovation - they frequently credit that support as having been instrumental (haha!) to their formation as a group.</p>

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<p>I suspect it isn’t the training as much as the emphasis that has changed, and that is because the world of music has radically shifted and the schools need to reflect that in how they prepare students. I don’t think the traditional emphasis on technical virtuosity and the like will change, but I suspect who they admit and what they steer them towards has and is going to continue to change. A lot of making it in music these days, even for the top level players, is about interpersonal skills, marketing, entrepreneurship, and most importantly, flexibility. The old days emphasis that doing anything other then classical music in an orchestra or ensemble or as a soloist is either dead or in its final stages of dying, for example, and students are going to figure out how to use their skills and ability to fit into many different situations. </p>

<p>It wouldn’t surprise me if in the end this doesn’t also color how they pick kids, that along with the audition for skills they also start looking at potential fit in terms of what other skills the kid possesses in terms of potentially succeeding in music as it exists today…rather then take a crapshoot that the kid with the superior skills has the other things it will take to make it.</p>