| A message from M-Dawg...
Seriously, this is a topic that has been almost completely driven by critics and the general sense of cynicism that accompanies anything that no longer holds luster for them.
I will admit that when it comes to the arts, Minnesota is somewhat anomalous because it always seems to belie what other organizations are experiencing. Here, in the frozen north, the arts are fairly flourishing. Our orchestra is experiencing a deficit but that was brought on by what will prove to be a blip in the stock market a few years ago and really nothing more.
We support a symphony orchestra, a chamber orchestra, two youth orchestra organizations with a total of about 800 students participating, a professional theatre of international reknown, and dozens of other theatre groups of varying size, most of them professional. the list of arts organizations that are doing well goes on.
Here's the point: you have any number of musc critics that see dwindling audiences and immediately blame it on many things yet always manage to ignore that arts organizations that fail or do badly are always the ones that have been managed badly. Bad decisions, lack of vision, second-guessing an audience are among the many reasons that arts groups like orchestras fail.
I, for one, do not subscribe to the nonsense of the short attention span. There is a profound difference between having too much to have to focus on and not being able to focus for more than a few minutes.
Where has the ball been dropped? We have developed a culture where teaching music has become a job rather than a passion. In my annual speech to those graduating from the Youth Symphony, I tell them that if they don't have a burning passion to get up in front of kids to share what they know, please find another vocation. We instead have fostered a mentality whereby TOO MANY people look at music education as something to do to bide your time. Then net result is a younger student populace that is not ENTHUSED about going to hear a concert or play their instrument or practice or buy a CD and listen. I have taught music with a shoestring budget and I have taught it in the midst of an embarrassment of riches. During both times I was just as passionate about what I was doing as I am now.
So, yes, orchestras will continue. Will there be fewer? It will always cycle up and down. Right now we're beginning to cycle up and out of a slump slowly and a good time will be sustained for a while. If it means that at some point there will be fewer orchestras, then that's what it means. Survival of the fittest. My 14 year-old son is an aspiring trombonist and I won't discourage him at all. He just will have to know that he'd better be damned good if he wants to make this his lifes work.
ML |