Re: Re: Gross injustices


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Posted by Steve Dedman on November 25, 2001 at 21:25:15:

In Reply to: Re: Gross injustices posted by Greg Crider on November 25, 2001 at 20:03:07:

And don't forget that for many students, those long hours of class prep time are on top of the jobs/work-study needed just to be in school in the first place. Many instructors seem to subscribe to the belief that if you're not in class, rehearsal, eating, sleeping or studying, you're not a serious student of the instrument. Unfortunately, a job is the reality for many.

I'm assuming that you (College Professor) are asking the question in hopes of seeing what your school is doing, and perhaps making some changes where possible. In that spirit, a few others:

Music schools don't teach enough about the business of being a musician. Go to icsom.org and read some of the back issues of Senza Sordino, and see if you don't get a different twist on the job of playing professionally than you got in school. Students need to know the answers to questions like: what are the tax ramifications of teaching a large private studio? Where can the line be drawn between what is steady-gig oriented and what is privately-oriented in terms of income and deductions? There are enough questions to be covered in a semster long course.

By usurping all of your time in three ensembles and half a dozen classes each semester (to get the required 12-hour full load to satisfy the financial aid office), the school severly limits the potential for expanding one's musical horizons. There needs to be more encouragement of "non-traditional" ensembles like dixieland ensembles, tubajazz ensembles, tuba/euph quartets, and others. Why force a player to do 8 semesters of two large ensembles per semester when the overwhelming majority of us will earn the lion's share of our gig money from these smaller type gigs? Encourage some substitution in terms of ensemble requirements.

Schools require students to attend recitals and performances by their peers, but how often do you really see the professors/instructors there? How often do they provide feedback? It means a lot to a student to walk into music history on Friday morning and have the instructor compliment you on your performance in Die Meistersinger from the previous evening's orchestra concert. To have another musician from a different field pay you a compliment is high praise, indeed. Knowing that someone you respect is paying attention can help alleviate some of the burnout that every music student feels at some point.

And lastly, schedule music theory at some time other than 8:30 in the friggin' morning!

Those were the things that always got me going while I was in school, and I guess they still do.

SD


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