ecarroll

TMers,

GordonH makes a very compelling statement over in the Orchestra/Solo/Chamber Music room in the thread entitled foreign players:

“Where I live we have very high standards of brass playing. Kids start learning as soon as their second teeth come in. They can't learn strings or woodwind till they are twelve, anyone with musical ability gets put into brass classes. Our local youth brass band have been European champions several times and make commercial recordings. There are a dozen (or more) cornet players in my small town who can play all the solos out of the back of the arban in concert or competition.”

I live in a fairly affluent town in New Hampshire that boasts a prestigious Ivy League college. The median income here is $72,470, and the median income for a family is $99,158. In spite of our wealth we don’t have a trumpet teacher in the area and I don’t know of a decent one within 100 miles. I’m on the road, as many of you know, far too often to take local students, and thus those who wish to have private lessons turn to the local band director who used to play the trombone. I’ve discussed the erosion of American culture briefly with a number of candidates over the past month (they appear like rabbits anticipating next week’s primary). All agree that it’s a problem, but most are focused on larger issues: health care, general education, the war, and the economy. I’m not anticipating change from Washington anytime soon. Change will have to be sparked from within.

Gordon’s statement, in my opinion, well summarizes the great cultural divide between America and many other places in our world. I remember being astonished at the level of 18 year old applicants when I taught at the Royal Academy of Music (London) in the 90’s. We rarely had to teach the nuts and bolts of trumpet technique there (except natural trumpet – a required class for all), leaving a clear path towards concentrating on musical matters.

Related to this discussion is a point made by Manny some time ago here when he remarked that you couldn’t turn the television on when he and I were growing up in the 60’s without hearing great trumpet playing. Here are a few examples of cartoon and sitcom scores:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94x9RO8JgTA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBno9rWZhnU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUV3da9hV_8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVwFADi4Y38

I’m sure that some of you could nominate countless others. Take a careful listen today and tell me what you find.

Music education resonates far beyond the concert stages -- please read these salient points http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/facts.html and yet, as we all know, funding has been eroding tremendously over the past thirty years and amateur organizations, such as those found in the UK, have rarely been able to fill the American breach.

What can we, as a musical community, do? Please discuss.

Best,
EC

TrentAustin

Ed,

Great starting point for a good discussion! I'm a huge believer in "you make your own scene". Through my prodding at my own school I now have two full days of teaching... 10 hours each day. It's a far cry from 1 hour of lessons three years ago.

That being said, the overall level of my students is far from what I think it should be. I think my students are not pushing themselves enough. A great majority of them have a lethargic approach to the trumpet. They don't realize that through hard work anything can be accomplished on this instrument. I try to lead by example but it's hard to inspire when they think there's nothing out there afterwards for them (bah!).


I'm also working hard at presenting clinics, either through USM, IAJE, or through my new website (Unlock Your Talent!) that will allow students all over New England to have clinics/concerts at a small out-of-pocket expense to the school systems.

I know from driving up to Hanover to teach it's hard to get teachers up there. I'd do it again but would have to charge such a high rate most parents wouldn't do it.... or WOULD they?

I think it's so important for every musician out there to work hard at their own scene. If it's creating a solid private studio that means going to every local school and playing for the kids. That means busting your BUTT to inspire everyone who walks in your studio. That means shedding your tail off to make everything clear for your students.

If it's a musician or clinician that means calling every school and asking for time. You'd be surprised at what you get for replies. In the past two months I've had two schools get me $3000 grants for residencies for my jazz groups. The money is out there... we just need to find it!

Gigs, students, and $$ won't fall into your lap (maybe they did 30-40 years ago).

I'm blabbering (what's new?)... let's see where this unfolds!

Cheers,
T

GordonH

The other night on prime time BBC TV we had the principal trumpet of the local orchestra standing in a cave playing some real avant garde thing on a Schilke 4 valve Eb trumpet. It was part of the scottish proms concert tour. I came in in the middle of his solo so I never found out what it was.

I think we generally get exposed to more brass music and more orchestral music in general over here, but it is still declining compared to what it used to be. Many of the brass bands round here have had to merge because they do not have enough players.

There is certainly no difficulty finding a trumpet teacher though.
There are two in my town who are professionals in orchestras who will teach advanced students and a good half dozen for dealing with beginners.
Kids do not have to pay to learn an instrument. The government pays for it through the schools system and anyone who wants to gets to try making a noise on a mouthpiece and gets an ear test. Thats how I started (when I was 10).

rowuk

Let's look at what has happened in America. We also used to have factory bands and more community ensembles.
The problem seems not to be funding, although that is what would perhaps be required to get this started again. I see the problem as a growing lack of commitment. How many of our kids (or even us) plan ANYTHING medium to long term? Mine generally do not know on Friday what they will be doing for the weekend. To a certain extent, I have been able to prove to my kids that PLANNING well enough in advance can heighten the experience - regardless of venue. Can we run a band without commitment of the players, conductor, funders? Can we become proficient at anything without commitment?
The second "problem" as I see it is that if you haven't made any plans, electronic entertainment fills the gaps, further numbing our senses and robbing us of valuable time to think about our state. I used to be a road representative travelling from customer to customer. I often turned the car radio off and used that time to think about me, my wife, my family, my goals. it is amazing how uneasy some people get when robbed of external "irritations".
Then we can bring globalization into the picture. The globalized Robin, Ed or any of the rest of us are simply not available on a vital, continual basis for our COMMUNITIES (actually, this is the wrong word as the sense of commune is not key when globalized! A better term is found here: http://encarta.msn.com/thesaurus_561...ommunity.html).

Anyone that thinks that MONEY can pull us out of our "isolation" is WRONG. WE must seek "community", WE must invest locally, WE must battle the sense of consumption that is numbing our desire to communicate. When we are ready to deglobalize, we will open up opportunities for getting groups going - the seed for the way it used to be..........


Community
The word "community" has old roots, going back to the Indo-European base mei, meaning "change" or "exchange." Apparently this joined with another root, kom, meaning "with," to produce an Indo-European word kommein: shared by all.

We think the idea of "change or exchange, shared by all," is pretty close to the sense of community in organizations today. Community building is a core strategy for sharing among all its members the burdens and the benefits of change and exchange. (Juanita Brown)

Richard Oliver

Was just thinking about "community" last night when I could not sleep. Been reading a ton of european history lately. The author says the high middle-ages was the acme of european society.

Folks were stuck where they were and had a reason to apply themselves beyond personal gain. [My WAY gross generalization] There was something more to life than loot.

mazzrick

First of all, Ed great topic,

Unfortunately, I think the greatest problem here is just the general lack of interest in classical music or the playing of a band instrument. I think that there would be more options for young kids to play around their communities if there were more of a demand for it. I guess this ends up being a real chicken or the egg type of economic discussion with supply and demand but I think it's more the demand side that's suffering.

Ed made a great point about cartoons and soundtracks. Lets look at Loony Toons even! Their soundtrack was almost all classical music. The only down side of that was people learned ride of the valkyries as kill the wabbit. But now we have cartoons so much more tailored towards pop culture that the classical music is left out.

Also, I've said this jokingly for years but I think American Pie really hurt the band community in the USA. For the ensuing four years I was going to Marching band camp and then to music festivals while in high school and I could barely say band camp aloud. That movie really made music making / playing an instrument really "dorky."

Matt

ckallmyer

How applicable is classical orchestral music to the modern kid? My bet is that it is not at all in their sphere of consciousness. (it wasn't in mine until I was 18) I think when Carl Stalling wrote the music for Loony Toons, the classical orchestra had a very different place in society than it does now. Along with that--we are surrounded by a fast moving digital world that makes orchestra (an economically and physically cumbersome organization) seem impractical. The orchestra for many has become a museum of beautiful (but aged) sonic gems (for exceptions in my area see the LA Phil which programs a ton of new music and last I heard makes money).

I don't think there will be large societal shifts that will make the symphony orchestra or trumpet applicable again, so I agree with Trent that it is about engagement. Only we can make ourselves viable to communities as a artists/music-makers. I think that this art-making should come from the community, of the community, and by the community. Furthermore, it should reflect the age we live in--and I think this might mean digital at times. (I'm not proposing an army of amplified brass instruments-god no). I just think that we need to engage the audience of the day with music of the day---influenced by popular culture, and the current soundscape. In a practical sense, I think this means working with composers to write new pieces that can speak to a modern audience and programing older works that prove germane.

I don't want to take this discussion far from the deterioration of the american community and its effect on brass music/jobs/students. THIS IS A KEY DISCUSSION---Italians and French have the cafe, the Brits have pubs, but we don't have a social/cultural center that is a forum for community interaction. A community making $100,000 per family could certainly afford a trumpet teacher, but could there be physical space for performance with sustained listenership? Should we even be centering in on a physical place for the digital age and is this necessary for a geographical center for our modern communities?

I dig this great discussion and the points presented,
-chris

PS--Here is a quote by Wagner describing how he was affected by his soundscape--- for Tristan,

"The act promises famously; I drew profit from it even from my Riga excursion. At four in the morning we were roused by the Boots with an Alphorn-I jumped up and saw it was raining and returned to bed to try to sleep; but the droll call went droning round my head and out of it arises a very lusty melody which the herdsman now blows to signal Isolde's ship making a surprising merry and naive effect." -from a letter to Minna.

oldlou

This entire thread is a heartbreaker for me. My family history is rife with musicians of many genre. my dad played trumpet in a local newsboys concert and marching band. His father was principal cornetist in a very large and accomplished furniture factory concert band. The three of us went from church to church while grandpa was still able, playing cornet trios. On my mom's side there are many pianists and vocalists. I worked at York Band Instrument for a period, then for the former owner of York, A.J.'Bill' Johnson in his retail music store, Musical Instrument Exchange, here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In my youth there were many musical instrument stores that were profitable, selling instruments, not renting them out. Now, the majority of those stores make their bread and butter from guitar sales and guitar lessons. Brass and woodwinds are relegated to a small corner of the basement of the store, if they have any at all for sale. The majority of their brass sales are actually rent to purchase deals.


OLDLOU>>

Eeviac

This is why I'm very serious about becoming among other things a good street musician. Kids are not seeing/hearing live music. It's not played at home, the radio is. Kids get yelled at for "making noise" if they try to make their own music at home. Kids are not seeing instruments played. Band for a lot of kids is a contest to see how little work they can get away with, not how much they can do.

The only chance a kid may get to hear and be inspired by live music may be hearing/seeing a busker, that's right, that "bum" who plays cornet in a coffee house or the guy playing slide guitar in the park. Or the accordionist who plays Xmas carols near the doorway to the supermarket.

As kids we sneaked off to do "funny stuff" which meant singing funny songs not meant for adult ears, and spoofing TV commercials. Some of us were virtuosos at drumming but not on real drums, those were forbidden as "noisy". Instead it was drumming on stuff, whistling, various noisemakers like maybe a kazoo or one of those bird-lure things.

Yeah yeah I know there are tons of affluent folks sending their kids to violin and oboe and clarinet lessons, I'm talking about the great mass of the American people.

I can't in American terms say something is dying because what's dying doesn't have a dollar value. But if you can think outside of the dollar system, something definately is.

derekkress

Get rid of Xbox, Play station and the likes, Get rid of 600 channel T.Vs with 1000's of commercials telling us what to eat, buy and think. Get back to community values. Create opportunities if you are in a position to expose other musicians(bar owner, principal, director of a company etc..).Play music to entertain once and awhile. Not everybody gets it if we are too "creative".Self promote and believe in what you do, it is contagious!Believe the world is not ready to give up music!With what the world is about to experience in the next 20 years people more than ever will be seeking "comfort experiences"(travel, rest, community,good wine dining and the arts).Don't forget the baby boomers they want to be entertained and have the money to do it!!! Good luck all!