Musical Illiteracy – Part 3

| Dec 17, 2014 |

One of my favorite authors is Michael Lewis, who is perhaps best known for two of his books which became blockbuster movies, The Blind Side and Moneyball. (As good as the movies were, the books are even better). Most of Lewis’ books are on financial topics, and he is an extremely thought-provoking writer. When I copy music I almost always listen to interviews, and in the case of my favorite authors I listen to every interview I can find on You Tube. So I know a bit about Michael Lewis.

Michael Lewis was a student at Princeton University, but he did not major in economics or writing; he majored in art history. And this has influenced the way he thinks about education. I had not really considered this before, but he points out that the vast majority of young people now go to college as a sort of career preparation, as opposed to going to college to get a well-rounded education. This interesting concept applies to music students as well.

When most music students walk into a university or conservatory, they think they are there for training how to become an orchestral musician. So not only are music students not getting a balanced education in the humanities and other aspects of learning, their main focus is on a very limited aspect of music – playing in an orchestra. The most extreme example I can point to is a trumpet professor who urged a student to study with him, because at the end of four years the student would be able to play the 10 excerpts most asked on auditions perfectly and win an audition.

Are music schools in Europe becoming factories, training students only to how to get a job in an orchestra? I think is is probably an exaggeration. However, I do think it’s true, as I’ve blogged elsewhere, that when brass players graduate from conservatories or Hochschules, most of them are in some sense musically illiterate. They may get a job because they play well, but there is not a lot of understanding of the depth or substance of music.

We are entering into a new era, with technology expanding our concepts of everyday living at an exponential rate. I think that music conservatories need to consider very seriously making some changes, urging students to have a deeper knowledge not only of music but of literature and other aspects of living as well. In addition, the student of today must be far more entrepreneurial than before. These tasks seem daunting, but we must face up to them if we are to serve the student of today and tomorrow.