 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-22 05:45
We've talked in a number of recent threads about how bad it is out there for clarinet players (in particular, but not alone) who are majoring in 'applied clarinet.' With so many players graduating and so few orchestra seats and college professorships, this is getting to be a more and more unrealistic career area every day. Is there anything anyone would do to change this curriculum to better prepare the student for the real world?
As I have stated a few times in the past, it's my belief that we've arrived here because band and orchestra musicians received a very limited education in practial real-world musicmaking and this is perpetuated and intensified as some of those same students become teachers with too narrow a view of the world around them. What could some of us learn from a country guitar player, I wonder?
Here are a couple things that I would advocate:
1 - Pop music styles. This is more and more important for those who want to do pit work. Swing feel in particular is something that has to be absorbed. At most colleges this would be best taught by someone on the jazz faculty. The "Jazz Conception" books by Jim Snidero would be a fine basis for this kind of study.
2 - Improved ear training. College ear training tends to get very esoteric, and a lot of students completely miss the point, as they mindlessly struggle to conquer tone rows with immovable do. In a real world where most musicians are expected to pick up parts by ear, we need to have more integration of the instrument with ear training, and more emphasis on concepts like identifying key centers. I would stop assigning this subject to junior profs and grad asst's and consider giving it to jazz faculty or an adjunct with some common sense.
3 - Deeper examination on non-classical styles for the major instrument. Maybe not practical as an academic course, but possibly as an offshoot of the studio instructor's masterclass. In addition to stylistic basics, there should be some exposure to essential repertoire. Much of this could probably be taught from YouTube.
4 - Design of theory curriculum for better retention. Everybody gets fairly in-depth theory in college, but a lot of it is pretty esoteric and the details are quickly lost. A lot of the science of harmony is presented, but very little on the actual art of harmonizing. A semester of jazz arranging could both reinforce basic harmony & chord theory, and help open students up to some of the rhythmic feel used by jazz and pop musicians.
Most of what I'm suggesting would provide only exposure and not real expertise in these other areas. But I think it would be an improvement on no experience at all, and would also give students some visible starting points for personal exploration. Those starting points are really what they're missing today.
I also think that in a couple of generations, we'd have much more well-rounded teachers, who could credibly teach and discuss things that are all but foreign today.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-07-22 05:55
Some good ideas there...
I think some sort of Applied Theory Workshop could go over well... in conjunction with theory classes, some direct application of the material in the context of actual repertoire on your instrument. Most performers end up connecting this in bits and pieces as it soaks in over the years, but immediate feedback, I think, would be really effective.
Also, I think improvisation should be mandatory for all music majors, with both jazz and non-jazz contexts... I think it's a shame that improv of any sort is very heavily put into a "that's what jazz people do" box. Even stylistic improvisation to written scores is good.
Composition classes can also be of huge benefit to performers, both discussing different compositional styles and techniques and actually writing music at a more creative level than "write a fugue for counterpoint class" (which is cool too).
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GBK
Date: 2008-07-22 06:04
Adding to the excellent suggestions by Allen and Alex -
Two years of mandatory guitar for all music majors. Not only will this prepare graduating music majors with the tools for teaching guitar in a school setting, it will also provide invaluable chordal theory. Playing from lead sheets, improvisation, chord patterns, etc.. are important real world skills which are used everyday by working musicians. Understanding and being able to quickly spell, identify and play chords is the foundation of all pop music...GBK
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-07-22 07:00
All this assumes that the purpose of education is to teach skills that will be directly applicable in the workplace.
But traditional university education, in England at least, has not worried too much about this. A typical undergraduate course in English doesn't teach you to be a journalist or to write pulp fiction. Undergraduate courses in Classics teach Greek literature, not Greek cooking. A Mathematics degree does not qualify you to be an actuary. I took a degree in Applied (i.e. agricultural) Biology, but they didn't teach me to drive a tractor.
Two good friends of mine have degrees in music. One became a sound-recording engineer with the BBC. The other played professionally in an orchestra for a few years, then went back to college and is now the CEO of a subsidiary of one of the world's leading electronics companies. I don't think either of them regrets the years spent on music. Neither can I imagine either of them willing spending his undergraduate years learning how to get on in the pop music business.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ww.player
Date: 2008-07-22 08:14
Allen, not to be a wet blanket, but there are already plenty of starving sax players who can play jazz clarinet well that are looking for college teaching and pit jobs. I don't think making classical clarinet players into pseudo-jazzers is going to help them much.
What I would like to see done is for all schools to work together to limit the number of music majors, particularly in the applied areas. We don't need more versatile players, we just need less professionally trained players, period. IMHO, turning out thousands of classically trained clarinetists for the 100 or so decent full-time playing positions that open up each year seems almost negligent. Colleges have maintained or increased their numbers while the demand for live music has continued to shrink drastically.
I will agree that, since most music majors end up teaching anyway, courses in guitar and modern music styles would be very useful. Also, arranging and orchestration would come in handy for many.
Still, I firmly believe in the advice I give all my students; if you can possibly be happy doing anything else besides music for a living, do it and keep music as a hobby. The most frustrated people in the world I know by far are full-time musicians. However, the happiest people I know are people that just do music for fun. Music is a great hobby but a difficult, demanding, overcrowded, and often under-appreciated profession.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-07-22 08:58
ww.player wrote "What I would like to see done is for all schools to work together to limit the number of music majors, particularly in the applied areas."
Well, it's not going to happen, is it? The schools are staffed by people who make their living teaching music. These people aren't going to say: "Let's take fewer students, then you can sack half of us." They are going to take as many paying students as they can get.
Classics (Latin and Greek) teaching has declined in secondary schools (that is to say, schools for 11-18 year olds) in England. Why? Not because the classics teachers all got together and announced "What we are teaching is no use in the real world, so we'd like fewer pupils to choose our subject." It has declined because pupils decided that classics was less useful and interesting to them than other subjects on offer.
Music teaching will decline if and when aspiring musicians come to the same conclusion. There is little sign of this happening.
Meanwhile, if the conservatoires want to make later life easier for their clarinet students, they shouldn't be encouraging them to take courses in electric guitar. They should be encouraging them to take courses in maths, business studies and IT. Those are the skills most of them are going to need once they start earning a living.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ww.player
Date: 2008-07-22 17:20
You make some good points, Norbert. I know schools aren't going to change. I actually addressed that in my original post but deleted it because I didn't want the post to get too long.
IMO, schools should be required to publish the employment stats of their music students. This should include the percentage of those starting a music degree that actually finish it. They should also have to provide the percentages and average salaries of graduates, by instrumental concentration, that:
1) get jobs in music.
2) make a living exclusively from playing.
3) make a living from playing and teaching.
4) make their living teaching.
I know in the US that about half the students that start a music degree never finish it. Based on my experience, I would also say that half of all people with a music degree are not working in the music field anymore. My guess is, many students would be deterred from being music majors if they knew their chances of actually ending up with a job in the field were, at best, 25% starting out, especially if their odds of making a living playing are 1/10th of one percent.
Because many music majors end up in something other than music, I do like your idea of a more varied education, especially including IT. It’s amazing how many times I have to help colleagues, friends, and family out with their relatively simple computer problems.
BTW, Norbert, I think I may know your friend, the CEO. Does he work for TI?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-22 17:36
I hear what you're saying, WW, and don't really disagree. But I can't see putting any kind of hard limits on numbers of music majors, because you need those numbers to make sure that the needed classes are available. Besides, there are a lot of great young musicians clamoring to study music.
I also don't think that majoring in music is a waste of time in terms of a player's overall life, but it does look pretty bad in terms of return on a financial investment. I know three local folks with MM's in clarinet performance. Only one has had an orchesta seat, another is on the local symphony sub list, and all three have very good day jobs.
As for all the sax players who want pit jobs, I agree with you about the situation that exists, but the idea is to make the clarinet major more marketable in a practical way. And this is a possible inroad. Clarinet players are very well-disposed to doubling--better then sax players IMO if you look at an equal amount of effort. But current clarinet culture includes almost no interest in popular forms and styles, so from a musical point of view the sax folks are in the better position. That can change.
I don't know that I would force a lot of improv on largely classical students, mostly because it's not the true real-world demand. A lot of pop opportunities involve little or no real improvisation, but do demand an ability to quickly imitate and harmonize by ear.
GBK makes a really good point about guitar. While it's not as versatile as a keyboard instrument, it is part of many a school curriculum now, and can be very fun to learn if you already know some theory. If not, it'll get you straight to the brass tacks of its function with a lot fewer preliminaries than a keyboard will. Changing keys is very easy if you use moveable fingerings, and fretboard logic is more obvious than you might think. Of course, we do have to look at the 2 years of keyboard skills that many programs currently require...
Most of what we're suggesting here would make for a considerable increase in the workload of what is already a very intense program of study. I think it tells us two things:
1 - School isn't going to adequately prepare you, and even with the enhancements we're discussing, there's lots of personal work to do. My thought is mostly to make students aware of this other world that they're missing/ignoring.
2 - Musicians who want a career in music need to be VERY curious from the time they start. Freshman year in music school is NOT the time to find out what your key signatures are--let alone why you have them.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-07-22 18:31
With all this discussion in mind, one thing I think would be immensely valuable to have in the curriculum, perhaps not as a course but at least as a workshop or forum topic, is starting your own ensemble and developing an audience.
I know lots of great musicians who don't have full-time performing jobs, who play the random church and community gigs but rarely anything really fulfilling. All very talented musicians, all only look for performances that say "look, here's a job."
I also run into a *lot* of non-musicians who say they'd go to classical-type concerts, and have liked them when they went, but don't actively seek them out and so don't attend.
All you need to do is find a way of putting a handful of the hundreds or thousands of capable musicians in a given area together, put on a few concerts, and let the potential audience know you're out there.
Easier said than done? Perhaps. However, a course or workshop that gives starting tips/advice/plans, or even just opens it as a discussion topic, would be, I think, immensely helpful to the average music student.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-23 04:57
I think it would be extremely valuable. The current system is designed to prepare and pursue existing openings, not to make your own opportunities. A lot of music grads could stand to read a book like "Making Money Making Music" and start catching up on practical advice.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-07-23 13:09
I think there really should be more instruction on WORKING as a musician. How to create concerts. How to get your name out locally. Where do you look for big auditions? The business side of it, not just "let's play that Brahms really well".
I think there should also be a class on basic instrument repair. This is not so the student can be a repair technician, or even repair their own instrument. This is so just so they know what to look for when they get a repair done. I have seen people spend money on repair that just plain stinks, but they don't know. It is also very useful to be able to speak with a repair technician intelligently about a problem the instrument has. "There is some lateral play in this key and the pad is not sealing well." sounds better than, "Something is wrong. Please fix it."
More generally, I think that higher education should have more real world skills. I see it totally reasonable that there should be a required course for all undergraduate students called "Managing Money and Basic Investing", not only finance majors. Something like that is just as important as "Writing Effective Prose".
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-25 03:01
When I took jazz arranging 20-some years ago, the instructor proposed this as a final exam. There were two bands in town on the club scene that used charts. He proposed that our final project be to make contact with one or both of the groups and try to sell them our charts. This didn't work out in the end, but I think it was a pretty good idea.
A college instructor could set up a project as part of his studio masterclass to put together a solo or chamber recital at a non-school location. Divide students into small groups and have each group find a place to play and work on getting some folks in those seats. This would definitely be valuable experience.
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2008-07-25 05:09
>> The current system is designed to prepare and pursue existing openings, not to make your own opportunities.
Well said...
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
Post Edited (2008-07-25 05:13)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Brianj
Date: 2008-07-25 15:47
In my Army time, I have seen lots of players with degrees come in, but they are very limited. I would like to see players come in with clarinet performance degrees that know how to play Dixie music and can improvise a little. I think all performance majors shuld also have had experience and have to show skills on bass and e-flat as well, not just those who are interested. As far as finding gigs....we are hiring clarinets.
SSG Brian Jungen
399th Army Band
Ft. Leonard Wood, MO
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: grumpyman
Date: 2008-07-26 23:50
I think performance majors need far more of a curriculum in economics and business. At a bunch of conservatories in the US, it seems as if students are completely insulated or unknowing of their financial situation.
It seems as if once they get a loan, they forget about how they are going to repay it. Or, even if they're not on loans, it seems as if they don't know how much they need to make to sustain themselves. I'm all for increasing musical awareness, but really, in today's economy, I think it's really important to be able to calculate monthly loan payments and outstanding balances - simple financial math.
Let's say somebody borrowed $10k a year for undergrad for 4 years, at 8.0% APY. Any college graduate, but particularly music majors because of the potential unsteady cash flow, really should be able to calculate the following:
1. How much monthly do they need to pay if they want the loan to be for 5 years? 10? 15? 20?
2. How many MORE payments do they need if they're stuck in a rut and can't make a few?
3. Let's say they get a windfall and can pay more per period. Can they re-calculate the shorter duration of the loan?
College grads need to know these basic things in the financially challenging "real world" which we live in now. I guess I'm an idealist, but I sort of feel colleges and conservatories should provide students with a fundamental understanding of the society which we live in as well - economics, history, literature, to produce cultured members of society.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: rgames
Date: 2008-07-27 22:40
This is a topic on which I've had many discussions - here are a few comments:
1. There's no real correlation between university-type formal study in the arts and success as an artist. In other words, history's greatest artists, including musicians and composers, are no more likely to have formal degrees than the average person. In my opinion, most do not.
2. My wife has a degree in music education; mine are in engineering and business (we both finished undergraduate degrees in the mid-nineties). I could easily go back to college or graduate school and pass most any exam from any class because I use that knowledge constantly in my career as an engineer. My wife estimates that should would have trouble passing about half of the exams for her college coursework because she rarely uses the knowledge (especially geology...). Most college-educated musicians I have spoken with share the same experience: the essential coursework covers only about half of the four-year curriculum.
So, if there is little correlation between success as a musician and formal music education, and if much of the coursework seems to be of little use, why have four-year music degrees at all?
Please note I'm not saying there shouldn't be formal study of music as an academic discipline, I'm just saying I've never been able to reconcile the lack of correlation between formal musical education and success as a musician. The correlation between degrees and success in other fields is obvious: engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, etc. always have degrees.
Why is music so different? And if it is so different, why do so many people pursue degrees?
rgames
____________________________
Richard G. Ames
Composer - Arranger - Producer
www.rgamesmusic.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: allencole
Date: 2008-07-28 20:58
Actually, I'm not so sure that so many pursue degrees. But definitely folks on the track to teach school, play in symphony orchestras, etc. want those kinds of resume items.
In other genres, it may be other study. I wonder how successful the country music programs are at Will Rogers U. or East Tennessee State?
Allen Cole
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
