Is there a glut of music school graduates?

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Kenneth Patchen

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Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« on: 1 Aug 2015, 08:17 pm »
Is there a glut of of highly skilled music students? With Asian conservatories pushing out thousands of skilled students each year, where will they all go, what does this unsettling competition mean for Western students? Some professionals think that the glut will result in traditional, “re-creative” musicians, i.e., the so-called textual slaves who only play what's on the page, being complemented, if not replaced, by the upcoming younger "creative" musicians who will bring improvisation and a more interpretive reading to performances. This will not be your grandfather's Beethoven, nor mine for that matter.

I have to admit that as a traditionalist and conservative, I've been a bit of a jughead and haven't exactly kept abreast of changes in the field, being a complete boob when it comes to sighting new talent.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/UDXUDehUgIQ?rel=0&%3bcontrols=0&%3bshowinfo=0

charmerci

Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #1 on: 1 Aug 2015, 08:46 pm »
There's always been a glut of music (and art) graduates - just about everywhere. In Europe, you can find tons of highly skilled musicians doing ordinary day jobs.

Photon46

Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #2 on: 1 Aug 2015, 09:23 pm »
Are you kidding: is there a glut ?:lol: I've worked in a university fine arts department for the last fifteen years so I've seen this topic play out every day. The best estimate is that 97% of students that graduate with an arts degree will NOT end up working in the field of their degree. We have required courses on preparing for a career in the arts and the first thing we show students is a graph demonstrating the low rate of professional arts career participation post graduation. When visiting professional working musicians (both classical and jazz) give seminars to students they always stress how difficult it is to succeed, how well prepared one needs to be, how being 99% prepared isn't good enough. I believe it was the photographer Robert Adams who wrote an essay many years ago comparing arts schools to ponzi schemes. After WWII, we educated thousands and thousands of people in the arts under the aegis of the GI bill and that initial group of graduates just creating an ever growing group that needed employment, thus the arts education industry (his theory greatly simplified explanation.) I don't mean to sound too cynical but there probably is an element of truth in his thesis. Opportunities for musicians and actors have dramatically decreased since the advent of recording and broadcast media. These used to be vastly more opportunities for musicians before the phonograph record. Every town of any size had opportunities for musicians to make money performing and teaching. Needless to say, today's lifestyles and consumption habits have radically changed that situation. Just as fewer and fewer corporations are dominating the supply of consumer needs and wants, so do fewer and fewer musicians and actors fulfill our entertainment consumption habits. Consolidation is the watchword of the era.

Bob in St. Louis

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Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #3 on: 1 Aug 2015, 10:10 pm »
Oh Ken.....  :wink:

FullRangeMan

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Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #4 on: 2 Aug 2015, 07:38 am »
Is there a glut of of highly skilled music students? With Asian conservatories pushing out thousands of skilled students each year, where will they all go, what does this unsettling competition mean for Western students? Some professionals think that the glut will result in traditional, “re-creative” musicians, i.e., the so-called textual slaves who only play what's on the page, being complemented, if not replaced, by the upcoming younger "creative" musicians who will bring improvisation and a more interpretive reading to performances. This will not be your grandfather's Beethoven, nor mine for that matter.

I have to admit that as a traditionalist and conservative, I've been a bit of a jughead and haven't exactly kept abreast of changes in the field, being a complete boob when it comes to sighting new talent.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/UDXUDehUgIQ?rel=0&%3bcontrols=0&%3bshowinfo=0
I prefer Beethoven:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHLze85zEfY

charmerci

Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #5 on: 2 Aug 2015, 05:46 pm »
Well, I certainly took this thread at face value. I only just now watched the video.... :oops: :duh:

ArthurDent

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Re: Is there a glut of music school graduates?
« Reply #6 on: 2 Aug 2015, 07:02 pm »
Certainly an uplifting video......... :D  :wink: