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Classical music crisis: Author says schools today aren't building audiences [The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review](Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 16--Just as everyone who plays college sports doesn't go on to a professional career, the same is true for students in university classical-music programs. But college music schools aren't preparing students for a life that doesn't include a job with symphony orchestras, which are struggling with their own financial problems, according to veteran educator Robert Freeman. In his new book "The Crisis of Classical Music in America, Lessons From a Life in the Education of Musicians" (Rowman and Littlefield), Freeman says schools are giving intense instruction to classical-music students but are not building an audience for the music. Many big issues, such as financial distress and attendance problems for orchestras and opera companies, are seen through the lens of music education -- and not only what it means for music students. "The message of my book," Freeman writes in the preface, "is that the crisis in classical music comes in important measure from the obsessively narrow way we have trained musicians for more than two centuries. Adding to the problem is our continuing production of increasing numbers of music degrees, now more than 21,000 American collegiate degrees a year, in a field where there have never been many jobs, but where there are now fewer each year." Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison writes that Freeman's book offers some "hard truths. ... The new paradigm, so effectively introduced by Freeman while director of the Eastman School, requires new thinking -- practical, realistic, tough." Freeman, 78, who was director of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) for 24 years and now teaches at the University of Texas in Austin, is a longtime opponent of overspecialization. He says it's natural for kids to fall in love with music and that gifted children should be encouraged by their parents. "But it should not be so narrowly focused on becoming a professional musician," Freeman emphasizes. "The idea that practicing 10 hours a day is the path to heaven is a lie. A lot of kids fall into that trap." He says: "The world of music mostly encourages those who do not become professionals to put their clarinets in mothballs." Social media and technology Career paths and social media in general have changed a lot since his teachers entered the world of music, says Gabriel Colby, Carnegie Mellon University trombonist. His career began while he was an undergraduate. "In the past, there were recording contracts and maybe you could still have a career playing solo recitals, which a few of my teachers did," he says. "But it seems that's done, so we have to be a lot more creative." Colby is a founding member of C Street Brass, which the musicians began as undergraduates at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. The ensemble is now in residence at Carnegie Mellon, where Colby studies with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra principal trombone Peter Sullivan. Colby is one of the founders of another band, which plays techno dance music with electronic sounds. He also plays pops gigs and recordings. For Freeman and his generation, technology was a new language with new opportunities to be learned. Colby and other students today have grown up with it. Colby offers two interesting examples. "Some people were not available for instruction (back then) that you can find with a click on YouTube," Colby says. "As I entered college, I could find a lot of peers, like-minded people, doing what I'm doing, so I could learn from them and they could learn from me." He refers to a learning experience outside the university. "We recently performed at a middle school and asked who had Facebook. Two kids raised their hands. Five years ago, everyone would have," Colby says. "Then we asked about Snapshot and Instagram and everyone raised their hands. It's constantly changing and, as a chamber group, we can be really nimble." Duquesne University was one of the first in the United States to offer a degree in music technology, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music in 1982. The music technology department in the Mary Pappert School of Music, which has three recording studios, does a lot of fundraising to stay abreast of new equipment and software. "The 21st-century musician really needs technology, in all its aspects including social networking," says Bill Purse, professor and chair of the department of music technology. A guitarist, he earned his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at Penn State. "Even classical performers are faced with technical issues in recording," Purse says. "Musicians need to be familiar with both sides of the glass, writing and performing as well as recording." Duquesne's school of music offers degrees in performance and has a symphony orchestra and a faculty that includes members of the Pittsburgh Symphony. But it also offers degrees in music education, music therapy and elective studies in business. Creating balance Dennis Colwell, head of the school of music at Carnegie Mellon, disagrees with Freeman that there are too many people graduating with music degrees. "From my viewpoint, if I read the newspapers properly," he says, "the world needs artists more now than ever." He says Carnegie Mellon's school of music has changed greatly. "Students who come will not have the same sort of experience they would have had 50 years ago. They're not in a silo," he says. "It is critical for any educated person to immerse themselves in a place like this, to also enjoy what the drama school is doing, and take classes in math and languages." Colwell also emphasizes a constant in music education. "The biggest challenge is that, in order to make someone a musical artist of the first order, it still takes the same amount of time. It still takes the same number of hours to master violin as a hundred years ago," he says. "My challenge is to provide people with talent and intellect with a first-class education, from learning to play their instrument and music, as well as the need to have a larger world view that includes, at a minimum, what the marketplace rewards." Colwell is more optimistic than Freeman. "I think the world is a wild west as far as music is concerned," Colwell says. "The traditional way, such as the orchestral business plan, is becoming more marginalized. But people are consuming as much music as they ever did on Spotify and other things." He, like Freeman, believes that music students who embrace emerging opportunities in addition to or apart from traditional concert performance will have a big advantage. "We are the content providers," Colwell says. "At Carnegie Mellon, we have tech courses with a twist toward music. I can't imagine what they're going to invent. I think that's exactly right. I'm much more bullish about the future of music education than many others." Mark Kanny is classical music critic for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7877 or [email protected]. ___ (c)2014 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Visit The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) at www.triblive.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |