2001 NACTMUS Conference
Byron Bay: June 30- July 2, 2001
Creating Musical Futures:
Challenges to Music Education in the 21st Century
Abstracts of papers
Byron Bay: June 30- July 2, 2001
Creating Musical Futures:
Challenges to Music Education in the 21st Century
THE FUTURE MUSICIAN
by Ros Dunlop
Que sera sera ....the future's not ours to see, we can only surmise at what will encompass the future musician. In doing this I take Charles Dickens approach in "A Christmas Carol", just as the spirits took Ebenezer Scrooge through a time warp of the past, the present to what the future might be, leading to a future which he could shape through his own learning.
Our world is changing mighty fast, not all necessarily for the good of mankind. We are witnessing the increased surge of globalisation and economic rationalism coupled with increasingly conservative politics which has resulted in reduced leisure time for most people.
Attracting audiences to concerts of art music is becoming harder. The main competitors for entertainment being Sport, Rock Music, Television. When the rising cost of living (including current concert prices) iscompounded with the frenetic pace of modern society, live music outside the purely commercial realm is facing a real problem of survival. Papering seats in an attempt to make it appear that the arts are still financially productive is a superficial and spurious policy, and such practises in the future will surely implode.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION
The classical musician is perceived by the general public to be ELITIST, privileged and generally out of touch with reality! (to some extent they are right!) A profession in music isnt really perceived as a "real job" at all! How many of you have had experiences of .....say catching a cab, and the driver strikes up conversation:
D. so what's in the bag...what do you do?
M. I'm a musician!
D. oh a musician eh ? ..that's nice, so what kind of music do you play? ...rock and roll..?
M......well no, er ....classical musician actually!
D: Oh, so what orchestra do you play in............
M well , I play mostly contemporary music and chamber music.
D so ...what do you do for a real job??!
A conversation like this one, is not unusual and sums up public perception of classical musicians. All the musicians in this room be they academic, practising musicians and composers are part of a privileged class in society by virtue of the fact that they have been educated, and the musical component of their education is a costly business!
Avarice, nepotism and corruption are fast ruining the planet on many levels, in the environment, printed word, mass media, politics,sport and THE ARTS! Until the few who wield the power cease to be so greedy then there is no hope for the future of Western art music. Grim prophecies indeed, however one only has to look at the past and the bpresent to see the truth in such a statement!
THE PAST
In its beginnings the orchestra started life in coffee houses and aristocratic courts. Composers wrote for whatever they or their patron could afford. Music making was created within the recognised bounds of economic feasibility.
The soloists were usually musicians from the ensemble.
Then..........along came Liszt and Paganini and changed forever the way classical music was presented. With them came agents and administrators and the beginnings of GREED and NEPOTISM, which are steadily destroying classical music. As time went on, agents interfered more and more with artistic decisions the Images/Image of soloist and conductor became more important, none more successful and powerful than Herbert Von Karajan. This was a man who earnt more from classical music than any other, at probate in 1989 he was worth $163 million. His estate rested in tax havens through Europe. He had no idea of hismonetary fortune .....the most important thing to him was absolute power! Shamefully much of his wealth came at the expense of the public purse, most through royalties from his 900 plus recordings, many taped during rehearsals of state salaried orchestras - Karajan's attitude was that some public body somewhere could be persuaded to pay for the necessity of having good music. Neither he nor his circle envisaged a time when public wealth would severely contract and concerts be allowed to go begging. (ii)
IN the post World War 2 years in Europe came two economic miracles. The state started pumping money into the arts. coupled with this came private sponsorship. The best times came for the Arts when cigarette advertising was banned on television. Suddenly there was a rush for respectability and what better place than the arts. In the 70's Phillips even had a slogan "It takes art to make a company great"!
Corporate sponsorship came at a price. Recipients of sponsorships were pressured into taking on the name of the sponsor in Australia ......"The Phillips Master series"SSO, "The Macdonald's Performing Arts Challenge". Art chiefs cowtowed to their sponsors, doing everything to accommodate the sponsor's wishes. "What do you want to hear"?Change the logo"....no worries....."Change the programme .......sure! " Programmes and performances became safer and conservative. By the mid 90's times got tough as government funds dried up everywhere and private sponsorship sought after more and more...now there were serious competitors for the ever diminishing funding, sport, rock music, film industry and medical research! In the US in '94, 6% of business sponsorship went to the arts. In the same year sponsorship for windsurfing alone was $25 million outstripping the entire US orchestral sector which could only raise $9.5 million in corporate funds. Globally funding switched from classical music whichneeded subsidy to rock concerts which did not.There is an expression"Rich men back winners" ...guess what? classical music is not perceived as that!
Conductors now demanded twice the fee, tenure reduced to 12-14 weeks so they could hold jobs in other continents. . In the second half of the 20th Century the name of the game was to get as much money as possible, with complete disregard for the infrastructure of the whole industry. As conductors were constantly globe trotting the REAL power in orchestras rested with their chief administrator and it remains so. The chilling truth is that many of these administrators were often mediocre students themselves - what irony, that the most talented, imaginative and creative musicians in a music class would be controlled by the least talented! The morale of orchestral musicians continues to decline, I have heard colleagues say "I just want to stare at the wall and do nothing, I don't want to listen to any music"!Some saying this are young professionals in their 20's. How tragic!
On reflection, my student days were a golden age in tertiary education. The government paid for our education, we graduated feeling competent enough to find a niche in the Music industry for ourselves. We had 18 weeks of practical lessons on two instrumentsand ear training daily. Electronic music classes were compulsory. Now this subject doesn't even exist, instead students take one semester of music technology. Performer/composer workshop was one of the most valuable for a student such as myself, long lasting friendships and professional relationships developed from those classes, now they are so abysmally run that they are in danger of extinction!
The reality is, for most students that they will end up as instrumental teachers. They are not very equipt for that. Testament to that is the number of hours I have spent listening to poorly taught wind players struggling through practical music exams. One to one teaching also involves confidentialities not witnessed in any other form of teaching. Encouraging,innovation communication skills, and excellence in performance is not a priority and mediocraty has become the norm.
THE PRESENT
Mass media is the all powerful almighty not governments. It pretends to work with governments but the reality is that it controls them in defining the social, cultural and political agendas. We in this country have witnessed the never ending emasculation of the ABC as a viable alternative to "junk" media. The speed at which modern technology is changing is frighteningly fast. Modern Communications are making people more isolated than ever, the internet is not used only as a commercial tool but increasingly as a social tool.
We are in the midst of mass deregulation of universities and the demise of their traditional values and standards, the failure of education generally to encourage enquiring minds, critical thought processes, healthy skepticism, excellence and the highest standards. There is generally a lack of communication and information which seems to be the current trend in all big organisations these days, this seems to be intentional thus giving those at the top more power! Staff live in fear of loosing their jobs and what they have to offer as being worthless. this creates poor morale and this mood filters down to the student body! Music Institutions around the world are generally conservative, for example the Paris Conservatoire would not allow Debussy's cello sonata to be played at the time it was written. Students are increasingly conservative and passive, they are more worried about a job at the end of their course and not the process. Collegiality is not fostered, so students regard their peers as competition for the ever dwindling supply of jobs. There is no rebellion about the lack of real value of education and content for the huge fees they now pay. The recent publication of Vice Chancellor wage packages should have had every student on every campus in the streets protesting! That they did not is indicative of the conservatism which prevails. Students are not priority in many institutions, they are rarely consulted about anything which will affect their courses (nor are most staff), a prime eg being the proposed merger of the Sydney University and Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. Only since media publicity has there been any discussion and consultation with students as to how it will affect them. It is all about cost cutting. Students today are from more affluent backgrounds, due to the escalating costs of their musical education all the way through. The more affluent the background, generally, the more conservative the student.
We can blame current governments for lack of funding and true this does account for many of the woes, however this trend will not desist so we had better get used to it and become alot more resourceful. Students today have developed a "culture of appeal"to assessment marks. They contest poor results in the hope of scraping a pass, rather than reflecting on them and doing something about their own standards.n God help them if they ever have to encounter the perfectionist policy we did in the form of the Louis Simpson, John Painter and Winifred Durie! Some of you will know what I am talking about! I have to say though, that that kind of initiation as students taught us to be quite resilient This is essential for a career in classical musical, and most people who are honest would also admit that they learnt alot more from the poor critics they received than they ever did from the good ones. In an article in a newspaper on actor Colin Friels two years ago, he stated that the big problem with society today is that people do not fail, everybody passes, everybody is a winner from childrenâs birthday parties up, ãthe level playing field syndrome". But the reality is the big wide world is not like that.
The new tax system in this country has impacted on the arts, from the bottom up! Those teaching in private studios have noticed a decline in numbers.With less young people learning instruments eventually less will go to concerts because they haven't been brought up to appreciate that culture. Drop in attendance to concerts and theatre has fallen away significantly since last July (18% drop in concert attendances to classical music and 16% drop in theatre....only 11% in ballet.....(perhaps due to the "sporty nature of that art form!) Orchestras: In the words of a distinguished Australian composer which aptly sums up the views of many of my contemporaries (and not just my musical contemporaries!) "... I don't like orchestras, they're a dreadful political metaphor, they turn most players into wage slaves, killing their innate (one assumes musicality) they are by nature conservative, they are mostly run by people who were never much chop at their primary pursuit (performance or composition) yet they wield enormous power, ..... They consume large amounts of taxpayers money which could be better spent in other areas of music. ....and they are used to prop up the status quo").(iii)
Audiences numbers are dwindling to concerts globally! Largely due to dull programming and performances, lack of ambience, exorbitant ticket prices, lack of rapport and interaction with performers. (Subscription series concerts to some orchestras are still being advertised half way into the year! A night at the opera for two is almost equivalent to the week's mortgage! The new generation of socialites are less keen on concert going than their parents were. Preferring dinner parties, and the sporting events that our charming media moguls have made available to us night and day! Those who ARE the "music lovers" of current society find that they are being squeezed out by the escalating ticket prices! Even the "blue rinse set" are rebelling....I know some of them and they have stopped going to "tea and Symphony concerts" because they have heard it all before and want something NEW! We are a nation which eats diverse cuisine, we are also a nation which wants diversity in our live music!
The 6.30pm concert series which should be one of the most vital to the SSO , and should have follow up questionaires that go back to the management from the young audience members (SERIOUSLY!) ... these young people are this orchestras future bread and butter. I always ask the 25 or so of my students who are obliged to attend these concerts as part of their music curriculum, what they thought of the concert they heard. I should send their comments back to SSO!! Mostly they say it was boring. COMMUNICATION is of utmost importance, and frankly most musicians on stage are terrible at it. If we don't learn to be good communicators we will completely loose our audience base in the next few years. It is high time that classical music started to work from the bottom up, instead of concentrating at the top! What high rise building was ever built from the roof!
As the costs spiral and audiences decline, the masses remain unmoved by the withering of their arts institutions. In the last 8 months we have seen the demise of one orchestra (QPO) and another music institution about to swallowed up.The recent funding cuts to the Australia Council didn't even merit high profile coverage by the Sydney Morning Herald (May 2001) Our current crop of politicians are an uncultured lot! :
.....a couple of years ago there was a survey done to find out what concerts, and related musical arts politicians went to .......Tim Fisher was the only politician in the entire parliament, who owned up to going to any kind of musical event and mostly that was to opera. Great!!!
Our chief competitor is SPORT.
Music and Sport have direct parallels however:
1. They both perform their profession without consideration of language
2. They face the same tax and financial considerations as they travel country to country.
3. They both need corporate sponsorship. Many of the same companies sponsor sport and music.
There are more children (both sexes) playing soccer in Australia today than any other sport. What soccer Australia has done is to establish their followers and fans from the ground up. Of those kids playing soccer, 1% will become professional players and the others will be fans - in 20 years they will go to games, watch it on TV and contribute money to it. They have grown up with it. They know who the great players are, and they have learnt to admire and appreciate virtuosity. If all children (in the city and culture starved regional Australia)grow up with the same scenario only it is musical instruments and not soccer balls what a great base for the future of music!äSport is something the masses relate to easily, everyone can play it if they want to, they can afford to participate or spectate and so they can talk about it(v) Instead of pumping enormous amounts of tax payer dollars into The National Accademy of Music we should be making more funds available to regional conservatoria, especially considering the detrimental affect the GST has had on them! If you gave each of the few students at the National Accademy of Music a scholarship to study overseas you would have more than sufficient funds to pump up music in regional Australia. What's more those "elite" students would benefit ten fold from the experience of being in a much bigger pond and hopefully it would knock out the shocking arrogance which has become endemic of their age group! (I must be getting old!) Members of the public have been quoted saying of NAM that..never before have so many paid so much for so few to learn so little! (not good comments towards improving public perception of classical musicians!) In the Northern Territory there are instrumental programmes for primary aged students paid for by the government. This should be on a national level. Music education must be the right of all children not just those from privileged backgrounds. Until this happens the general public will continue to perceive classical music as being only for the privileged.
THE FUTURE
The solution for some (performers trained in the Western art Music Tradition) has been to move away from the more traditional concert venues, into spaces where people relax! Performing concerts which include a variety of genres, encompassing a variety of different art forms and multimedia should be an intrinsic part of concertising in this day and age.
Concerts should be a treat an occasion, our music making should be special. Performers and composers mingling with the audience over good food and wine, all presented in a congenial atmosphere. We must learn to become more creative with our programming and presentation. What entices people to a concert to listen to something they cant have at home? When people listen to music at home, they don't listen to all the same music,they tend to vary what they listen to . More thought should go into good programming, varying the music, and the instrumentation. In this country innovative and truely creative music is hanging on by a thread. The music of our time must be heard much more than it is . Not just the token three minute piece sandwiched into a concert programme. It is no longer enough to shuffle onto a stage, give a cursary bow to the audience play, then bow and shuffle off. Interaction is essential.
For our art form to survive in the future we may need to look to the pre-Romantic or pre-Modernist past, right back to eras where audiences were plied with good food and wine and the social ambience was of central significance.
Who are the musicians of the future?
They are 2 to 10 years of age and Right now they are listening to "Killing Heidi" and Brittany Spears" and "The Wiggles" , with mostly no interest in classical music!
Tools for Survival for the Musician of the Future?
Institutions must re kindle exchange of ideas and cross fertilisation in a convivial atmosphere . What is wrong with having cafes/bars in the right middle of institutions where students and staff can congregate and socialise. We are a gregarious species and yet classical musicians are very isolated in their daily work. What better way to nurture collegiality amongst musicians. If we dont then I fear it will be extinction for our artform. Ours is one of the bitchiest industries around. Many friends in other careers comment on this! If every musician , teacher and composer went on strike for a day in this country, the general public wouldnât even notice! If our artform ceased to exist, at present most people would not grieve! In ancient times when enemy forces approached a town or castle the whole town got together to fight it, this is what we must do! Whilst there is fragmentations, faction fighting and a few trying to land every gig and commission at the expense of everyone else, then there will be no sense of professional etiquette, collegiality, and a viable sustainable community for this art form.
Institutions in Australia could learn a thing or two from the Californian Institute of the Arts, which is dedicated to educating the professional artist in a creative environment that fosters innovation and excellence. It is commited to work that is experimental in form and challenging both conceptually and in terms of subject matter. Faculty and students are encouraged from the outset to inaugurate a process of active, independent inquiry without fear of institutional penalty or censorship. There are partnerships with technology and entertainment companies. All the arts are seriously encouraged to interact. THIS INSTITUTION and its ideals WOULD BE THE DREAM MOST STUDENTS AND FACULTY IN THIS country!
The Australia Council must separate the funding of amateurs and ,professionals as this is demoralising for professional musicians who take their artform seriously, to compete in the same portfolio as amateur groups. Whilst it is important to help fund all levels of music, by putting then in direct competition for the ever dwindling funds kills off the initiative of the imaginative and creative at a professional level. Funding is given to ensembles which are stayed and lacking in new ideas. Just because they have been around forever. Groups which receive huge whacks of corporate sponsorship should not be eligible for government funding....this is part of the greed syndrome!
It should be the jurastiction of the Australia Council to support more Australian content in programmes, as it was in its early days. They (and other government funding bodies should also be hounding those who are recipients of public moneys and have never produced the product they were funded for. over the years there are many examples which can be cited in this regard. The Australia Council should genuinely embrace originality, individuality , risk taking and truely innovative ideas.
SUMMING UP
Classical music needs to reassess its strengths and rebuild from the basics like any other industry in difficulty. We have to stop dreaming and focus on humbler origins. IN 1918 Schoenberg formed a society for private musical performance at which Mahler Symphonies were reduced to septets..he was quoted saying...."Better to hear modern music in minature, than mangled by unrehearsed orchestras obedient to a higher economic imperative" ! We need to make music special again, it has lost that, due to the way itis overused as background noise in every conceivable space you can think of. Eric Statie once said "one day there will be music everywhere like furniture"....we are that age!.It has become very invasive. It is sad tothink that the only time many people hear classical music is in an elevator on call waiting or those horrid snippets of music on mobile phones! Cafes are springing up everywhere as more and more people work in isolation and need to get out to socialise. With this trend should come good music. Not as background noise, but as concerts in intimate surroundings .Some places are already achieving this, like Side On Cafe in Sydney. People are slowly starting to react to the explosion of technology and globalisation. Little by little I believe there will become a want and need for sense of community, homespun ideals, philosophies and imaginative, innovative music making.
Biographical Note
Roslyn Dunlop is a graduate from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, her teacher was Gabor Reeves. Subsequently she undertook post-graduate studies at Michigan State University, studying clarinet with Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr. She performs regularly as soloist and chamber musician. In August this year she will give a recital of Australian compositions at the International Clarinet Festival in New Orleans. In October she will tour the USA giving solo recitals of audio visual electro-accoustic works, including her New York debut at "The Roulette". She has performed with Elision, The Seymour Group, Alpha Centauri, Voiceworks and Symeron. She is currently a member of Charisma and Touchbass. In 2002 she will be touring Germany with cellist Julia Ryder. She has performed in many festivals including the Adelaide Festival, The Sydney Spring Festival and the Festival of Sydney. She has performed, given masterclasses and composer workshops in Australia, the U.S.A, New Zealand, The UK and Europe. Roslyn records nationally for ABC and 2MBSFM radio. She has released two solo CD's: Domino, with pianist David Howie, and Don Banks: a Tribute in Memoriam. Both discs have received critical acclaim internationally. She is a member of the woodwind staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney.