For some reason when there are “in depth” sessions about updating conservatory training to relate to the “real world”, the focus seems to always be on how the student can gain an advantage through learning marketing, entrepreneurial skills, managerial skills and general business acumen etc…… NEWS FLASH:
THIS IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE THE AMOUNT OF JOBS AVAILABLE!…..
Colin Holter wrote an article on Newmusicbox about one such session. When is it going to dawn on people that simply teaching a musician these so called “real world” techniques does nothing to advocate for the art form to increase demand leading to more jobs available? Again the focus is on the individual gaining an advantage over others to compete for the same amount of jobs. Classical Music’s problem is not a lack of business acumen from musicians (although I’m not suggesting it’s not a useful thing to learn), it’s that we are not able to demonstrate Music’s relevance and potential to be a part of someone’s life bringing them value and fulfillment that they then will want to include in their lives as a necessity. Do we not all want music to be a part of people’s lives, rather than apart from people’s lives?
Right now the arts are mostly a luxury, doing well when the economy is doing well poorly when it’s not, and groups go bust or downsize and nobody notices, and mostly because we are not that important to people. The conservatory model has to change not for the purposes of giving an individual an advantage over another individual, but to give music an advantage by teaching to advocate it’s value to all. What needs to be taught is how music can serve a humanitarian purpose, to help solve problems for the individual, the community, the country, and to help people feel fulfilled by giving their lives substance, meaning and/or even just simple joy and pleasure without the expectation from us that they need knowledge about music.
No amount of marketing, managerial skill for yourself as an individual is going to help proliferate the benefits of music if it’s still something few people want and/or need. You know the old saying: He/she could sell ice to Eskimos, well I can’t find any one who has done that! But, if you learn do that:
Well, that’s not a salesman; that’s a conman.
Scott Marlow
As artists we shouldn’t be focused on selling ourselves to the world, but instead be focused on trying to make the world better. As a virtuoso you can be revered, as a virtuoso who is also a humanitarian, you might also be beloved drawing more people to you, and when people see the necessity for the arts in their lives:
THEN THERE MIGHT BE MORE JOBS AVAILABLE!
Well put!!!