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My husband’s mom recalls a speech given at his graduation ceremony by the Dean when he got his bachelor’s at Eastman in 1984 telling the assembled parents & relatives that only 2% of all the music graduates would manage to make a living actually playing their instrument! She remembers the shock & thinking “what a dangerous career she had sent her son off into, and how much money had gone into this endeavor, especially at such an expensive private music conservatory!” But she was impressed by his honesty and realism especially since his own job relied upon those very music students.
Both mine and my husbands parents were not in the artistic professions (science, law and psychology!) so were quite unaware of the small job market and blindly let us follow our dreams which luckily for both of us worked out favorably. The problem of student debt here is a big one, I hear now becoming an issue in the UK too. When I was a student it wasn’t such a big deal, I went to the local conservatory (government subsidised) & lived at home so incurred no debt for my BA, I sunk in all my savings for grad school in the US (as a foreigner I did not quaify for loans) and scrounged around for scholarships, gigged and lived very frugally so managed to graduate without any student debt. For friends I have seen saddled with enormous loan payments for school, it has been painful to watch them struggle to make ends meet while trying to make their career in music.
I have no problem with students wanting to do their undergraduate work in the arts field, however, with advanced higher education it should be carefully considered since the failure rate is so high. Has anyone read “Mozart in the Jungle” by Blair Tindall? Wow, that was one depressing look at the employment outlook for classically trained musicians, although written from the perspective of just one person, it still paints a bleak portrait of the business!
As the daughter of a university professor (of parasitology – how obscure is THAT?!) it seems that if you get accepted onto a bachelors degree program at a college or university then it seems perfectly reasonable to major in music/harp/womens’ studies/kazoo/anatomy of the yak or whatever if it is your passion and motivation to study. My father is forever lamenting the huge number of directionless young people who get accepted onto the social work degree program at Glasgow (it draws funding away from the sciences depts. which are harder to get a place in) and really, how many of them actually go on to get jobs in social work? Not many, some go on to get business degrees, go to law school etc. etc.
So, is it really that bad to major in music & dedicate & apply yourself to a very demanding discipline for a few years? I have been teaching harp majors in two universities for the past few years and realistically don’t see all of them becoming concert soloists or winning the next orchestra job, but they have all taken as much as they can out of their music studies and have matured in ways academically and musically beyond those of just the harp, it is also a great benefit of the US college system that they have been required to take a LOT of “generals” for their degree – subjects other than music related ones e.g: languages, math, humanities, art, philosophy which I have seen first hand produce quite well rounded graduates.
Personally speaking I am on the other end of the spectrum – what Carl was talking about back in his first post on the subject. I left high school at 16 and went straight into a conservatory setting (albeit on a BA degree – what you would think of as a more broad degree – not specialised like a BMus etc.), however it was harp, music history, theory exclusively, no generals whatsoever. I could not imagine myself not playing harp as a career, it was all I was equipping myself to do and I was lucky to come over to the States and get into the masters program at Eastman since the freelance scene in Scotland was not that healthy and full time harp jobs non-existant. I was painfully aware of my lack of a broader higher education when I was injured last year and pondered the possibilities of alternate career choices in my ‘worst case scenario’ thoughts. It was terrifying, I basically only have 8th grade math if I wanted to go back and get a master’s in anything else I would not pass the GRE. I have actually been envious of some of my students, when they come to lessons complaining about some stupid math test or french paper I think they are lucky to get the chance to study something other than music!
I realise I am in a tiny minority and count myself extremey blessed to have a steady job doing what I wanted to do since I was 12 and tell students that they have to make this decision carefully when thinking about college. I think that “once a musician, always a musician”, no matter what you do in life and try to be as realistic about this (ever changing) profession without totally disillusioning them and destroying their spirit in the process. After all, we have to educate & create musicians, teachers and music lovers to fuel the audiences for the future so the few of us who do rely on this crazy profession for our livelihood can continue to work!
Hi Audrey, I noticed you had not gotten back any answers re. teachers in the Santa Cruz area yet… Although I live in Salt Lake City my mother in law lives in Santa Cruz (Seabright Beach area) and we go to visit her several times a year. I will actually be there this coming weekend (Sat. June 17 – Mon. June 19) so if you are interested in having me give you some advice/instruction let me know! I am a professional pedal harpist but being originally from Scotland and starting out on clarsach I am familiar with non pedal harp technique & repertoire. Email me privately for my cell# if you want to get together this weekend.
I have to confess that over the years my harp has been subject to an embarassing array of costumes! In youth orchestra we had an annual costume contest and the harp took part too with get ups including acting as a clothes line support (strung between 4 harp columns when we played Symphonie Fantastique), totem pole, lamp post etc. Now it takes part in the symphony’s Halloween concert by sporting cobwebs and giant spiders! On one occasion it was a perch for a bird, specifcially a hawk, during a concert in conjunction with the Tracy Aviary here in Salt Lake City featuring music with “bird” themes. For one of the hawk flight demonstrations (which had been executed perfectly dozens of times) the lighting in the auditorium was set a little too dim and the hawk upon return from its circle around the hall missed its handler at the front of the stage and went for the most visible perch it could spy, namely the top of the harp! It was a little puzzled by its unusual landing spot and I was thankful it didn’t leave behind a little “present” in its panic. The handler had to weave her way throught the violin section to retrieve the bird and the harp was none the worse for wear…one of the hazards of orchestral life!
Hi Brittany! Kathleen Bride’s summer program at Eastman (The Practical Harpist) is open to late high school through college level/young professional students and is held July 9-14 (www.esm.rochester.edu/summer), the closing date for applications is June 1st. You may be able to get college credit for attending. There is also the Central Coast Harp Workshop in San Luis Obispo, CA from July 22-24 which focuses on the harp in chamber music and is taught by Marcia Dickstein (of the Debussy Trio), info at: http://www.debussytrio.com. If your scholarship does not specify you attend a particular camp and is for “education purposes” you could use it toward attending the AHS conference in San Francisco, I think that would definitely count as educational!
The Saint Saens “Morceau de Concert” is a gem, I played it here with the UT Symph a few years ago, and it really went down well with the audience.
I just ordered the Widor “Chorale & Variations” (Probably because it was on sale at L&H West!), his “Toccata” from his 5th symph. is one of my all time favorites (I had the organist play it at our wedding as the recessional). I had absolutely no idea he wrote a harp concerto and I am looking forward to hopefully playing it some day.
