this is a rough time for some parts of the music industry. some would say for all of the music industry. others might say only for the parts that don't want to "modernize".
well, maybe it's true for all of the above. I have a good friend who has decided to take a break from playing his horn. a long break. he hasn't played since Easter and doesn't plan to try to play until late next spring. why? because he needs to figure out his place, with his performing, in the current world. the recording industry served him well for a goodly number of years, and along the way he hustled and built a good life for himself, and has a good number of other ventures in music that are not performance oriented (at least for him). he's spent a good amount of his own money over the years promoting himself, trying new things, forming new groups, attempting to "modernize", etc. his income from performing for the recording industry was less than 5 grand last year. he's taking some time off.
what does this say about the future of real, live musicians playing their "axes" for recordings? probably not a good thing, honestly.
that said, this is the time for a couple of things:
1. we must, must, must not cease to actively musically educate our youth, nor cease to actively advocate regarding the importance of music.
2. we have to not just "modernize" but spend significant amounts of time conceptualizing/dreaming/what-if-ing
about how the next level of what we do is to take place.
point 1 has had many much more erudite writers and speakers than I make wonderful points about how these things should take place--MENC, MTNA, etc. have many a good article on these kinds of ideas. Seek them out.
point 2 is much more problematic, I think. as the past four centuries of "western art music" have developed, changed, modernized, etc. the pace of technological evolution has been slow enough that the musical world has been able to adjust at a safe rate and not been terribly left behind. nowadays, this is far from truth. technology moves forward at such a rate that, while it begs the world to keep up with it, economically the reality is that it can't. at least much of it can't. where does that leave us in the musical world?
if we keep our heads in the sand and only "do what we do" we will be more irrelevant than an alto flute being used in a marching band. (not bashing on the alto flute, but it just doesn't have a place in a marching band!)
somehow, someway, we have to energize some folks to conceptualize new realities that include what we do, but maybe in different frameworks. I'm a big fan of TED (not the educational theory courses, but the stuff found at ted.com) a recent presentation revolved around UI--you know the blow-your-mind computer stuff that was used in the movie Minority Report (which you should see, or see again).
here's the presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6YTQJVzwlI
it is 15 min long, but WELL worth your time. there's some cool stuff there--and at the end, the statement is made that in 5 years this technology will be standard. who knows if that is the case, but it certainly made me think, a lot, about having music delivery systems be more dimensional, and allow more of a sound fabric to be brought to us during the listening experience.
are these thoughts heretical to what I was just pontificating about? maybe. I'm not smart enough to be able to dream through the process--I think that the interface of experience can be re-designed, albeit maybe not in this model, but it can, and likely must, be different--so that we (live musicians) can stay relevant to future generations (or even the next one).
before I get jumped all over on this and am told that "nothing can replace the feeling of playing" or "the
sensation of a live concert" I agree with you--but if all we do is the same old, same old (which, honestly folks, has only been in something resembling out current "way" for less than 200 years) then we will be shelved, and perhaps rightly so.
sermon/rant over.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
on being real
often, I think, we live our lives as we feel others expect us to. this in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but we run the risk of missing out on sharing our inner selves. i'm not suggesting in any way that we should run around and wear our hearts on our sleeves--that drives everyone crazy--but that we shouldn't fear being honest about how we do what we do and shouldn't necessarily worry about being judged.
i love the idea of teaching tuba/euphonium at the college level--i feel i can help players get better, but even more importantly as i work with future educators, i also have the privilege and opportunity to help them figure out why they want to teach, why that's important, etc. i won't say that i succeed with every student, but i certainly give it a good go. when asked to state my philosophy of teaching, my primary statement regards helping students learn to teach themselves. that's what my teachers did for me and therefore what needs to be passed on. that's about as open as i can be about what i do.
recently, I've been struck by other open & honest situations. I mentioned in a blog last week during the ITEC how much Jim Self's performance meant to me--just laying it out there, with no worries of how it would be judged. that's just badass, in my opinion. i don't have video or audio, but wish i did, so i could share.
two other examples for sharing, just performances that lay it out there, with no real concern about acceptance
Dennis Hopper (RIP) on the Johnny Cash show, reciting Kipling's "If"
Johnny Cash (also RIP) with his version of NIN's "Hurt".
certainly, we do need to be concerned with how what we do effects others, but overall, we need to be as true to ourselves as we can.
i love the idea of teaching tuba/euphonium at the college level--i feel i can help players get better, but even more importantly as i work with future educators, i also have the privilege and opportunity to help them figure out why they want to teach, why that's important, etc. i won't say that i succeed with every student, but i certainly give it a good go. when asked to state my philosophy of teaching, my primary statement regards helping students learn to teach themselves. that's what my teachers did for me and therefore what needs to be passed on. that's about as open as i can be about what i do.
recently, I've been struck by other open & honest situations. I mentioned in a blog last week during the ITEC how much Jim Self's performance meant to me--just laying it out there, with no worries of how it would be judged. that's just badass, in my opinion. i don't have video or audio, but wish i did, so i could share.
two other examples for sharing, just performances that lay it out there, with no real concern about acceptance
Dennis Hopper (RIP) on the Johnny Cash show, reciting Kipling's "If"
Johnny Cash (also RIP) with his version of NIN's "Hurt".
certainly, we do need to be concerned with how what we do effects others, but overall, we need to be as true to ourselves as we can.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
ITEC 2010 redux......
well, the trip home wasn't nearly as interesting as getting there, at least flight-wise. Why? Because I slept almost the entirety of both flights--which shouldn't be surprising since I didn't go to bed on Saturday night! I know, I know, but since my flight was at 5:45 am, and the shuttle picked me up at 3:30.........just made sense. I never thought I would be happy to have the sensation of feeling humidity, but it really did make my body feel better once I was in the humid Atlanta air. (Unfortunately, I missed the Spirit drumcorps picnic on Sunday afternoon, but my wife, daughter, father-in-law and others from that side of our family were able to go and hear my son in, what by all accounts, was some very good early season playing. Can't wait to see their first performance on June 20 in Rock Hill, SC.)
In looking back on this conference, I believe we have hit levels of consistency that we just never hit before, in terms of the overall production. With the efficiency of ITEC 2006 in Denver, 2008 in Cincy, and now 2010 in Tucson, we have laid the groundwork for new standards in international conferences. This time was the first time that ITEA actually owned the conference financially. I know that may sound odd, but until this conference, the host was responsible for the financial bottom line. Regrettably, we've had several former hosts go into significant financial debt, even with a good amount of organizational $$ to help out. (amazingly, this change was still met with some resistance, and had been discussed over the years and voted down, until now!) Kelly Thomas and Mark Nelson put together a very strong, but conservative, budget and stuck with it--as a result, moving forward with this blueprint will be quite easy, I feel.
Our Board of Directors meetings held throughout the week were amazingly fruitful. Everyone involved with those meetings feels energized and empowered to move the organization forward--the next few years are going to be fun, I think!
Artistically, the conference was top notch--the new method of having every performance be submitted via proposal allowed the hosts to program interesting, entertaining, insightful, and educational performances, presentations, discussions and lectures. The after hours hangs were just as invigorating--lots of tours, guest recitals, etc. were negotiated, as well as times of just plain, good ol' camaraderie. Just a time to be remembered.
While this one is gone and over, there will be significant reviews coming later in the summer in the ITEA Journal and on the ITEA website, to give more than this overview I've been rambling through.
all the best to you as you continue through what the next months bring you!
In looking back on this conference, I believe we have hit levels of consistency that we just never hit before, in terms of the overall production. With the efficiency of ITEC 2006 in Denver, 2008 in Cincy, and now 2010 in Tucson, we have laid the groundwork for new standards in international conferences. This time was the first time that ITEA actually owned the conference financially. I know that may sound odd, but until this conference, the host was responsible for the financial bottom line. Regrettably, we've had several former hosts go into significant financial debt, even with a good amount of organizational $$ to help out. (amazingly, this change was still met with some resistance, and had been discussed over the years and voted down, until now!) Kelly Thomas and Mark Nelson put together a very strong, but conservative, budget and stuck with it--as a result, moving forward with this blueprint will be quite easy, I feel.
Our Board of Directors meetings held throughout the week were amazingly fruitful. Everyone involved with those meetings feels energized and empowered to move the organization forward--the next few years are going to be fun, I think!
Artistically, the conference was top notch--the new method of having every performance be submitted via proposal allowed the hosts to program interesting, entertaining, insightful, and educational performances, presentations, discussions and lectures. The after hours hangs were just as invigorating--lots of tours, guest recitals, etc. were negotiated, as well as times of just plain, good ol' camaraderie. Just a time to be remembered.
While this one is gone and over, there will be significant reviews coming later in the summer in the ITEA Journal and on the ITEA website, to give more than this overview I've been rambling through.
all the best to you as you continue through what the next months bring you!
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