More liberal in music education?

Great stuff here from the Huffington Post about recent articles defending the Liberal Arts Education by Michael Roth, President of Weslyan University in CT. What may be lacking in traditional music school study is the liberal arts. I think there's the assumption that if a Music Conservatory or school of Music is located within a larger university then the liberal arts are taken care of just fine.

But I think we need to go beyond that and strive to make the liberal arts offerings work with the standard music curriculum. Like the New England Conservatory's Liberal arts offerings. Make them relevant and interesting. Link the context of Beethoven's music to Napoleon's wars.

Being close to the Liberal Arts isn't enough to make sure musicians are reaping the benefits. Students come to school to be guided and to learn. (There's a whole other blog post about the student who feels 'entitled' to a degree just for showing up, I'll write it eventually). One possible solution to improving the way we educate musicians is to really look closely at the non-music classes we're requiring students to take so that they have a degree, and not just a performer's certificate.

The context needs to be there. Because understanding how the arts fit in society and what environment led to their creation is crucial to keeping the arts relevant to our current society and environment now.

Arts courses crucial to students' success :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Commentary

Just wanted to throw this up here- with a couple of thoughts-

Our society likes the arts. Sales of Gibson guitars are at an all time high. Personal participation in creative activities is growing (writing, creating video/audio content for the web, Game design, theatre companies, music groups, etc). How do children even know what art is? And shouldn't art be a core subject as well?

Arts courses crucial to students' success :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Commentary

The Core Standards initiative has detailed their core standards for all K-12 students as to what should be taught and learned by every public school- from their website:

"These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs."

http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards

So we need to connect the two. Right now the Core Standards Initiative focuses on reading and math, but they will expand. For there to be a society that welcomes the artists we are currently training, society needs to place as much emphasis on the arts and make them part of the "untouchable" part of the day. In other words, we need arts to be seen as vital as reading and math because of the intrinsic value and transformational nature of the arts. And not let them become extras to be cut.

So what are we training our college musicians for? Well we need to absolutely train them to be advocates, for themselves, for their art, and for society to value art.

A thought about numbers

So in my last post I mentioned that the number of Music Grads each year could be 6k-30k. A new friend, Dr. Dave (trombone) mentioned that those numbers are probably smaller due to some of us getting multiple degrees in music. Another friend, Paul, brought up there are more opportunities for professional musicians and it's been growing (6 professional orchestras in 1950, vs. more than 200 now), but have the expanded opportunities kept up with the increase in well trained musicians graduating?

I work in Admissions and Financial aid. When Parents and students ask me what the graduates do after graduation, the message that gets passed around my school is 1/3 go on to grad school (mostly in music), 1/3 go to work as a musician, and 1/3 leave the music world completely. But I have no way of knowing if this is actually true. My institution struggles to accurately track alumni. So another research project to figure out a way to accurately track what happens after graduation? Perhaps that will provide a clue as to what the schools are preparing students for.

Another reason for this blog/writing project is I want to know that my career is more than just convincing students that this is a possible path for them, and not just a way to make sure I make my bottom line, keep my budget in check and keep the business of the school running. Am I really helping students to achieve their dreams? And are their dreams actually attainable? And do they even understand what a life as a professional musician is like?

More questions!

I do want to mention that with the Stanley cup finals starting tonight, I may not write as much as I'd like. I'll be back after the Hawks hoist the cup. . . Go Blackhawks!

Just how many are we talking about?

There are 625 Music schools, departments, conservatories in the U.S. who are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. (and not every school is a member school. Juilliard is not a member of NASM. And we all know Juilliard trains musicians). Entering class sizes vary, and the number of graduates are less than the number we accept in to these programs, however, if you figure that a graduating class can graduate anywhere between 10-60 students every year, that puts the graduating number of music students at between 6,000 to 30,000 new music graduates every year. So the question that I see before me, is this- because of the specialized nature of music training, are these skills transferable? In our efforts to prepare our music students for the highest level of music study, are we omitting other skills that they can use to support themselves? And are we preparing musicians for the realities of the music world? The music world today?

Perhaps the place to start is to get a realistic sense of how many music students we really are turning out- a 24,000 possible difference in numbers is a big one. I think that will be an ongoing research project. . .

All college graduates must face the question of what to do next. And there are plenty of arguments against the philosophy major, or the ubiquitous English major for the very reason that there are few professional philosophers out there. But I'm thinking there is enough room in the English major or philosophy major curricula for a broader based liberal arts education, and the nature of music study leaves little room for that.

I see this post has more questions than answers. Seems to be time for some research. . .

Introduction

There are over 600 music schools, departments, and conservatories cranking out music students each year, primarily in the genre of classical music. Yet we see symphonies continue to fight for a share of the discretionary income of music lovers. Perhaps we need to examine how we train these future artists and what role music plays in a cultured society? And when symphony musicians get criticized for not smiling on stage, we may want to ask why, or why not? This blog seeks to explore these issues and find a better way to train our young artists for the future.