21st Century Career in Composing: Is Education the Answer?

By -

Gerald Klickstein started a discussion on Linked In, "Are music schools preparing students for 21st-century careers? I have my doubts." This is in conjunction with his own blog post "Music Education and Entrepreneurship." The discussion questions whether or not our educational institutions are really preparing young musicians for a career in music.

Several comments on the Linked In discussion are from educators and either speak about what their establishments are doing to try and face the issue, with others in agreement with Klickstein in doubting what they're doing is really career preparation. Some of the problems are technology and the cost of keeping up with it; others are the institutionalized curriculum which hasn't changed in years. What ever the issue at the establishment the general consensus is we are not focused enough on how to have a career in music in the educational community.

Speaking to the topic of composition education there seems to be two approaches. One approach is in the classical music sector which focused on writing music using 12-tone, pitch class or serial techniques. There are orchestration classes and technology classes, but the core of composition is focused on ideas which are outdated by 50 or more years. Occasionally minimalism is considered an option or extended techniques are encouraged, but serious discussions into current composers like Libby Larsen, Jennifer Higdon, Thomas Adès or Nico Muhly --all composers who make their living composing (and not only in the film industry).

I'm not being fair to the Composers Seminar discussions which did embark on some of this type of discussion and occasionally discussed what it means to work in the industry. But this was a small portion of the focus and hardly enough to really prepare new composers with what they need to succeed.

It's difficult for every educational institution to really talk to the subject because so few composers really are making their living at composition. Perhaps the only way to really get this kind of education for a composer is to work for a composer who is making their living composing music.

If you make your living composing music, I'd love to hear from you!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Acclaimed Fauré Quartett returns to Deutsche Grammophon with their first recording of Brahms

By -
Image
The Fauré Quartett continues to add authoritative recordings to the chamber music catalog with their new recording of two Brahms quartets, available from Deutsche Grammophon on January 12, 2010. These large, some say symphonic, works test the limits of technical and musical capabilities, and the Fauré Quartett once again proves why they are one of the most acclaimed ensembles performing today. Within a short period of time the Fauré Quartett has conquered the great concert halls of London , Paris , Berlin , Amsterdam , Brussels , Geneva , Hamburg , Frankfurt, Milan , Buenos Aires , Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere. “They attract superlatives wherever they go,” wrote The Strad following a concert at London ’s Wigmore Hall, while the Süddeutsche Zeitung praised them for a performance that “brought tremendous pleasure by highlighting interpretative details that had scarcely ever been heard before”. The Fauré Quartett strives to achieve a unique sound for Brahms (as indeed for every work)
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more