April 10, 2006 at 12:30 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 06, Cycling, Education, Film, Literature, Miscellany, Uncategorized
Where my mind’s been:
- Condi Rice gets reviewed in the Times.
- Andy Rooney talks about education. A generation of “cultural idiots”—haha.
- Ian Burama on Park Chanwook.
- Paris-Roubaix 2006: Cancellara attacks, Hincapie snaps, Boonen derailed delayed at the tracks.
- Hello Jesse and Joe—two Michigan MUSICOL 501 friends!
Recently Read: Invisible Cities and Difficult Loves by Italo Calvino, The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende, The New York Trilogy (yay) and Timbuktu (nay) by Paul Auster, A.H.W.O.S.G. (a book has never made me laugh out loud as much as this one) by Dave Eggers.
Reading: Here They Come by Yannick Murphy.
Practicing: Bach, Creston, Djupstrom, Sarasate
Grading: saxophone pedagogy midterm papers
Writing: my TAFTO contribution
Riding: my bike
Posting: new things to del.icio.us
Not: cleaning my house
Not: doing laundry
Need: a haircut
Will remember to: bring my suit to the dry cleaners
Procrastinating: Who, me?
Wasting: your time
Whee!
May 6, 2005 at 12:10 am · Filed under Blog: Spring 05, Education, Music, Radio
There was a great topic on NPR’s Talk of the Nation today, which every college music teacher should download, listen to, and share with their students. The show was titled, Playing Jazz, and Making a Living, but could be applied to any artistic discipline–especially classical music. It dealt with the business side of music making and its importance in today’s music world–a topic that’s not addressed nearly enough in higher education. (Jazz composer and arranger Maria Schneider echoed this sentiment during an interview on the show.) The classical music world is changing. Witness how I’m communicating to you right now. Re-read Terry Teachout’s post on this issue. How will you prepare your students to be competitive and successful in today’s cultural marketplace?
February 24, 2005 at 2:10 pm · Filed under Blog: Winter 04, Education, Music
Two weeks ago, a friend of mine, the charismatic flutist Amy Porter, gave me an article she’d just reprinted in her flute club newsletter. The article, written by Derek Mithaug and excerpted from the Juilliard Journal, discusses the two ways in which most musicians approach their careers—they either FAN or CAN.
To FAN means to Find-A-Niche and is generally the easiest approach to consider. Students that FAN are looking for a niche in an established organization like an opera company, symphony orchestra, dance company, teaching position, or some other work like directing, presenting, marketing, or consulting, for example. In other words, the work is there for them, they simply need to learn the craft, distinguish themselves (not an easy task), and fit into the structure, which is already in place.
The other way to approach a career in music is to CAN, or to Create-A-Niche. Students who CAN like to create their own jobs. These students are entrepreneurial in nature and tend to be more independent-minded. To succeed as a CANner, you need to learn to certain skills beyond your craft—skills that will help you find jobs and succeed at them, like writing press releases, making phone calls, follow-up correspondence, fund raising, design, marketing, and so on. Certain musicians—like concert saxophonists, for example—have to follow a CAN model, since there are few established organizations in which to strive to become a permanent member.
Whether a student chooses to FAN or CAN depends on many factors, including ambition, musical ability, street smarts, and job availability. However, I also think that it’s possible to combine aspects from each approach to make a career extremely rich (perhaps not exactly in the financial sense!) and rewarding.
