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
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