It makes my head scratch when an orchestra that is about to begin a search for their next music director on the one hand indicates that they need someone who’s willing to spend more time in their city than their departing music director, but on the other hand indicates in writing that they are not necessarily expecting them to….time to address the dreaded residency question, off to Tuscaloosa we go……..
The departing Music Director of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Shinik Hahm is quoted in an article citing the reasons for his departure:
“It’s about time, because they need some new energy and some new leadership, and I need to go on to other directions. It’s just a good time for all,” Hahm said. “Honestly, I should have given more energy; I tried, but it’s not enough. They should have someone with more time. I’m getting busier, with European concerts, performances in China and South Asia. It’s not fair to the Tuscaloosa Symphony and to this position.”
Kudos for the honesty! So, they formed a search committee and had Don Thulean in for a day to formulate the profile for the position. Here’s an extended quote from the same article (bold my emphasis):
The three main points of the profile:
Artistic excellence as a musician and conductor.
Administrative and organizational skills.
Ability and desire to communicate the TSO’s presence to patrons, donors and the larger community.
The third may be the most crucial. The TSO was pushed to borrow $60,000 from its endowment fund last season. The 2009-2010 season focuses less on large-scale pieces, trimming the budget to about $259,000, where previous seasons would be more $300,000.
McGuire said it’s crucial Tuscaloosans feel ownership with the TSO, and many orchestras are pushing music directors as public faces.
“It’s just really about spending time in the community and being a fixture in Tuscaloosa,” she said. “We’re trying to raise awareness about our organization. We still hear the problem, ‘Oh, I didn’t know Tuscaloosa had a symphony.’
“We need someone who’s confident enough, publicly, who can handle that pressure. Someone who’s comfortable being plastered on a billboard, someone who can walk into a room and wow the people.”
(I’m not sure how someone can walk into a room plastered to a billboard, it certainly wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would be like WOW if they could do it!)
Nothing wrong with any of this. The potential problem lies in the job description (bold my emphasis):
MUSIC DIRECTOR – Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. Basic duties include: conduct rehearsals and concerts; oversee orchestra personnel; audition new members as necessary; participate in the development of program repertoire and selection of guest soloists through consultation with the repertoire committee, board of directors and Executive Director; participate in the community outreach and fundraising activities; give pre-concert lectures Must have exceptional musicianship and conducting skills, proven record of success with audience relations and development, innovative programming, strong interpersonal, leadership and communication skills. Residency is not required, but substantial time must be spent in Tuscaloosa……
Firstly I understand the idea in the last line, they want to attract the “best” conductors so they make it clear that residency is not required, but does this not risk them attracting someone who is just like the person that is now leaving? Someone who doesn’t have the time to become the “fixture” they are hoping for? If they are going to be so specific with non-residency then my advice would be to get specific with the words “substantial time”. Otherwise they leave it open for the applicant to interpret, and that they will, since we conductors are in the interpretation business!
For the record, I am not suggesting residency should be required for all Music Directors positions as each position is different, as is each family circumstance. Residency is not the barometer for a successful tenure, work ethic will trump that any day. Bill wrote a great post on this last year. Simply and specifically in this case, I would just leave that line off all together and address it when the finalists are in front of the committee. Outlining the organization’s expectations and finding out what kind of time they are willing to offer, plus putting on a show of the city’s strengths, and who knows what might happen. They did that for me here in Springfield and residency was not required, but we moved here anyway!
Whilst it might seem obvious to a committee what kind of time the new MD will need to spend in a city to become a fixture, and to get involved in the larger community, it wont be obvious to the applicant because they wont know that community (depending on their level of experience in similar sized communities). The other way to go about it, if it must be stated, is to define “substantial time” by actually quantifying it i.e whilst residency is not required, in order for the Music Director to become established in the community, he/she must agree to spend a minimum of X number of weeks in addition to the concert weeks for the purposes of planning, fundraising, outreach etc….
There should be no worries that this will turn off the “best” candidates, there are many qualified people looking for work, and in this case it might be important to define and even quantify the words “best candidates” also as being the average score between the profile categories (if they are equal priorities). Orchestras should go for what they want before deciding (by not being specific with time requirements) on giving away a potential get out clause in the job announcement!
The first 5 podcasts of my Audience Connection class are up!