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Discontent and disconnect
From the president of the New England Conservatory comes a very interesting article that starts in Detroit and ends in the conservatory classroom. It includes a pointed statement that I very much agree with:
…it is surpassingly strange that there is no connection between the conservatory programs, the trainers, and the orchestras that will employ conservatory-trained musicians. There is no dialogue about what type of musicians music schools are preparing, how the paradigm needs to shift, and what new skills orchestras should be considering for the future. I cannot think of another industry where there is no relationship between the employers and the trainers. For the future, this really needs to change and I believe the key words are “partnerships” and “collaborations”—orchestral partnerships with music schools, and orchestral collaborations within the community.
Incidentally, this is something very similar to what I wrote about a few years ago in “A Systems View of Music Performance.”
At some American music schools, it is the music theory departments that dictate standards for performance majors. It is here where I would cite a root cause of academic disconnect in a performing musician’s overall career track.
[This is a portion of a Random Monday post, extracted 2021 by JE]
