Welcome!
I wanted to have a place to put down my thoughts about the world of American Music, Education, Arts Advocacy and Business Marketing. These are pretty broad topics all in all, but I believe they are connected more than they are different. In general my goal in life is this: Make performing art valuable to the people of America.
Approaching this topic from a negative perspective of "musicians aren't given enough/everyone takes advantage of artists/people don't care about orchestral music, ballet and art" is not useful. As such, the point of this blog is to highlight successes, pose questions and find solutions! If we as an industry sit back and complain, we are no different than every failed business venture that decided to not adapt to the changing world. The most successful industries are those that embrace change and seek innovation (Apple, Google, Amazon, Hulu, etc).
But before I begin looking at solutions, here is a list of problems that have inspired me to take up this cause (Yes, they are mostly musical in nature, but I am hoping to broaden my focus):
1. What does this list of major orchestras have in common?
- Philadelphia Orchestra
- Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
- Louisville Orchestra
- New Mexico Symphony Orchestra
- Savannah Symphony Orchestra
- San Diego Symphony
- Colorado Symphony
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Pittsburgh Symphony
Each of these Orchestras are either bankrupt or had to make steep cuts in compensation to musicians/employees in recent history. This is not even a short list, as I'm sure there are dozens of other orchestras and arts organizations in the nation that are in danger.
2. The jobs in the professional orchestra world are declining, while at the same time excellent music schools are taking on and producing more musicians
This is only really half the story though. Many of these schools are filling to capacity to balance their own checkbooks. Either way, the economic law of supply and demand has produced an excess of talented musicians, some of whom are unfortunately dear friends of mine.
3. Ohio's School Levy Funding system
For those not familiar, Ohio schools funded by property tax. Here is the kicker though: You only pay taxes based on the original appraisal of your house and you as a community have to vote to raise your taxes to support schools...
I don't know about you, but even I (an avid educational supporter) am tempted to check no on that box! And if you live in an area with a lot of private school students or older population with no kids, good luck! This has now changed, but it is yet to go in effect and consistent funding is still a problem.
I don't know about you, but even I (an avid educational supporter) am tempted to check no on that box! And if you live in an area with a lot of private school students or older population with no kids, good luck! This has now changed, but it is yet to go in effect and consistent funding is still a problem.
Its complicated, but not surprisingly arts are one of the first things to go! Just in my area Lakota School District, Little Miami School District, and Forest Hills School District (just to name a few) have had to assess major cuts in music, extra-curricular offerings, bussing, and even core curriculum teaching staff!
4. No one seems to likes Classical Music (except other musicians and my grandma)
I hate to say it... but if we as an industry are trying to secure a stable long-term audience for the future, we aren't really doing a good job of making it worth young peoples' time. Every symphony concert I have been to has been an AARP convention to the point where I am surprised when I see young people and families.
Pop's concerts obviously do a lot better, but they are the bain of the musicians. A professional oboist after slaving over the first 32 bars of Le Tombeau de Couprin for 7 years just to win Littletown's Principal spot might use his reed knife to stab his eye out when asked to play unison whole notes with Oboe II, compete with Trumpets at a written ffff and play 2 octave ascending scales in one beat.
Pop's concerts obviously do a lot better, but they are the bain of the musicians. A professional oboist after slaving over the first 32 bars of Le Tombeau de Couprin for 7 years just to win Littletown's Principal spot might use his reed knife to stab his eye out when asked to play unison whole notes with Oboe II, compete with Trumpets at a written ffff and play 2 octave ascending scales in one beat.
(This comes with the hearty exception of John Williams, who seems to be able to bring even the best orchestra closer to their music and break a sweat... Too bad copyright on his music for one ticketed performance is worth the entire orchestra's left kidney.)
5. The majority of Art is lacking one thing: Spontaneity
This came as a surprise to me in a Sports Marketing class! It was literally covered on day one and seems to be the number one reason the sporting industry thinks they are different from music. We're confined by scrips, notes on the page, choreography and repetition. Such a simple problem with no real solution yet.
6. Performing Arts are not profitable
This is probably one of the biggest hinderances to the resilience of art. I have heard this named as the number one thing holding back arts from being standard in schools from federal politicians. While no one likes to admit that profitability is the core to success, the reality is that in a capitalist society profitability is the definition of success. We must attempt to change this to remain competitive and sustain our cause and craft long term. The big question remains to what extent do we sacrifice creation to make it more profitable?
7. Recording is not actually our friend
I don't know many people that own any more than one recording of a symphony. Even then, only a few recordings are usually "standard." Lets say Lady Gaga produces a track and it yields $1,000,000. If she had 50 different recordings of the same song (akin to the many recordings of a symphony), each only makes $20,000 on average. Thus the recording industry is not really friendly to performing organizations due to a lack of exclusivity.
Large musicals like Wicked have capitalized on this by not ever releasing recordings of their shows, but that train has left the opera, ballet and orchestra world long ago.
8. Arts presentations are intimidating
I have had many people tell me that they don't go to orchestra concerts because they don't feel like they belong. The silence between movements, formal dress and swanky conversations between aging philanthropists is a very intimidating environment to someone on the outside. So much so that they will often only go if they are with someone who knows what is going on. I have seen parents avoid their own child's concert because they felt intimidated!
Knowing how to act at an arts event is like being a freshman at a college sporting event student section and not knowing any of the cheers or songs for the school. When we feel out of the loop, it's intimidating and embarrassing. If no one is there to tell you what to do, you often have a bad experience and don't return.
9. We advertise creators more often than performers
This one is hotly debatable, but we place a lot more emphasis on Beethoven's 5th than we do on Chicago's playing of Beethoven's 5th. Since the outside world hears from us the composers name more often than the performers name, there is split value. To prove my point, I am willing to put money on a non-musician being able to name more composers than soloist performers (and Yo-yo Ma doesn't count). This might not be detrimental, but it takes the focus off the performer. How many people off the street know the writer of Wicked? Probably fewer than those that know Idina Menzel played the lead role.
10. Everyone has lost hope
Probably the saddest thing to me is seeing how many people perform for anemic audience sizes and their response is "thats typical. No one wants to see us." If we as a group want to change that perception, we have to believe we can change it. It is time for action on the part of the arts community to raise awareness and reform our perceptions of what works vs. what just gets us by.
If we are convinced that the future of orchestras and operas and ballets and everything else is simply a museum piece, that will be our future.
The future of performing arts lies in creative and risky solutions, not more of the same.
I'm probably forgetting something, but that's it for now...
This came as a surprise to me in a Sports Marketing class! It was literally covered on day one and seems to be the number one reason the sporting industry thinks they are different from music. We're confined by scrips, notes on the page, choreography and repetition. Such a simple problem with no real solution yet.
6. Performing Arts are not profitable
This is probably one of the biggest hinderances to the resilience of art. I have heard this named as the number one thing holding back arts from being standard in schools from federal politicians. While no one likes to admit that profitability is the core to success, the reality is that in a capitalist society profitability is the definition of success. We must attempt to change this to remain competitive and sustain our cause and craft long term. The big question remains to what extent do we sacrifice creation to make it more profitable?
7. Recording is not actually our friend
I don't know many people that own any more than one recording of a symphony. Even then, only a few recordings are usually "standard." Lets say Lady Gaga produces a track and it yields $1,000,000. If she had 50 different recordings of the same song (akin to the many recordings of a symphony), each only makes $20,000 on average. Thus the recording industry is not really friendly to performing organizations due to a lack of exclusivity.
Large musicals like Wicked have capitalized on this by not ever releasing recordings of their shows, but that train has left the opera, ballet and orchestra world long ago.
8. Arts presentations are intimidating
I have had many people tell me that they don't go to orchestra concerts because they don't feel like they belong. The silence between movements, formal dress and swanky conversations between aging philanthropists is a very intimidating environment to someone on the outside. So much so that they will often only go if they are with someone who knows what is going on. I have seen parents avoid their own child's concert because they felt intimidated!
Knowing how to act at an arts event is like being a freshman at a college sporting event student section and not knowing any of the cheers or songs for the school. When we feel out of the loop, it's intimidating and embarrassing. If no one is there to tell you what to do, you often have a bad experience and don't return.
9. We advertise creators more often than performers
This one is hotly debatable, but we place a lot more emphasis on Beethoven's 5th than we do on Chicago's playing of Beethoven's 5th. Since the outside world hears from us the composers name more often than the performers name, there is split value. To prove my point, I am willing to put money on a non-musician being able to name more composers than soloist performers (and Yo-yo Ma doesn't count). This might not be detrimental, but it takes the focus off the performer. How many people off the street know the writer of Wicked? Probably fewer than those that know Idina Menzel played the lead role.
10. Everyone has lost hope
Probably the saddest thing to me is seeing how many people perform for anemic audience sizes and their response is "thats typical. No one wants to see us." If we as a group want to change that perception, we have to believe we can change it. It is time for action on the part of the arts community to raise awareness and reform our perceptions of what works vs. what just gets us by.
If we are convinced that the future of orchestras and operas and ballets and everything else is simply a museum piece, that will be our future.
The future of performing arts lies in creative and risky solutions, not more of the same.
I'm probably forgetting something, but that's it for now...
just wanted to let you know I enjoyed it! Truly! I appreciated your "we can do it" attitude, rather than an "it's everyone elses fault" attitude. nice work!
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