Brent,
Great topic. Thank you VERY much.
Your concerns are obviously shared by everyone in academia at the moment -- students and faculty alike. I've recently had to face this question head-on as both a parent (cha-ching) and professional when my oldest son announced that he wanted to go into music as a trumpet major. Our solution for undergraduate study was to gain a spot at the new conservatory at Bard College
http://www.bard.edu Bard doesn't only offer a double degree -- they REQUIRE it -- and students who complete their unique offering end up with both a BM and a BA. Leon Botstein, the director of the American Symphony Orchestra, is President there and is a visionary man.
That said, good music schools shouldn't, in my opinion, be thought of as vocational training academies. We teach art, not simply skills, and the very best have always seemed to find ways to make a living practicing their art. It's a daunting proposition, isn't it? That said, I shudder when I see marvelous musicians like Gareth Flowers, a member of the 2006 class at Chosen Vale, coming up short in auditions in San Francisco and Montreal. As many of us know, this guy can REALLY play and I honestly believe that if he were a member of my generation he would be a household name in our community and making a very comfortable living (assuming whatever orchestra he joined remained solvent -- a topic for another day).
Perhaps it can be said that the quality of education is waxing in our country as culture is waning. Will this trend continue? I certainly hope not, but the new generation will need to drop their cell phones/iPods and become involved in active music making again to turn things around. I remember a comment that Wynton made at Dartmouth a few years ago: "this music was from a time that people not only played the piano in their home but could REALLY play it". Active music-making has has blossomed in Venezuela
http://www.trumpetmaster.com/vb/f146...tra-36315.html (Venezuelan Youth Orchestra) and, perhaps, it can happen everywhere. . .
Best and watching this huge topic with great interest,
EC