Posted by Jay Bertolet on November 28, 2001 at 17:28:11:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gross injustices posted by Rick Denney on November 28, 2001 at 13:02:04:
You know, I thought about doing exactly what you just suggested as a third option when I graduated high school. I really didn't want to study anything but tuba performance and it really bothered me that I had to take all those other (I thought) needless courses. When I graduated high school, my three college choices were (in order of preference):
Curtis
Northwestern
University of Michigan
Unfortunately, Curtis had no tuba opening that year. Also, Northwestern was having one of its "problems" with Mr. Jacobs teaching off campus that year. The story, as I was told, was that the university wanted him to teach on campus but he was settled in his studio downtown. Every now and then, they would have a tiff and decide to not work together for a year. 1979 was one of those years. Left with only my third choice, I seriously considered just moving to Chicago and studying privately. I decided against it because I felt I wouldn't get as much quality ensemble training as I might have needed going that route. Fortunately for me, Michigan turned out to be MUCH better than a clueless high school senior could have guessed and things worked out great. Had I chosen to just study privately and not gotten a complete musical education, I do not believe I would have been successful. There is just too much to learn as a musician that you don't get in private lessons.
My point here is that the typical musical performance degree (at least the ones I'm familiar with) include some hard core training that is very "real world" based. If the typical program could use any adjustment, I believe that it lies in the addition of classes that prepare the student for the business aspects of what we do. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the artistic training to this point as long as the situation is a good one. Right now, the electives required of the performance degree program could use some judicious tweeking to help students get a grasp of real world life as a musician. I don't believe broadening the vista past that would be beneficial.
Considering the lack of post graduate musical training situations (like the New World Symphony to name one), the typical music performance student would do well to focus on their music related studies and treat the college education they receive as if it were a sort of vocational school environment. In my mind, there is a very big difference between focusing more on the peripheral music course (theory, history, ear training) and some applicable electives (business, marketing, maybe even some acoustical science) then going for a more broad based education which includes many subjects that one would be hard pressed to apply to performing. Going for a broader based education, and the inherent time commitments that entails, can likely derail any chances the student might have to be successful in gaining employment after college. Please remember that we're talking about those students who are sure they want to perform for a living. Otherwise, the exposure to more disciplines is a really desireable thing.
My opinion for what it's worth...