Apple Computer leader Steve Jobs had an odd statistic in his Macworld conference (see my weblog entry here) that I finally got around to tracking down. He quoted a study that said more than half of all households in the United States contained someone who currently played an instrument.
From my Google wanderings, I’m guessing his numbers came from the spring Gallup survey of ‘American Attitudes Toward Music’ (press release available here). Sure enough, the study of 1005 individuals 12 and older found that ‘a record 54 percent of households, the highest figure since this study began in 1978, reported having at least one musical instrument player.’
Beyond the fact that the study is sponsored by a music merchandising association (NAMM, which used to be the National Association for Music Merchants, but now insists on the title International Music Products Association), and the feeling that it drifts into my ‘all good news all the time‘ concerns, there’s something in here worth noting.
If our collective mission is to connect communities with a diverse range of cultural experiences, then the many amateur musicians are essential allies in that effort. Whether they ever translate into ticket-buyers, amateur musicians are an important part of the cultural ecosystem. And there seem to be more of them out there than you’d expect.
Professional nonprofits would do well to foster and encourage this group.
In another interesting statistic (you can download the summary Powerpoint), the study found that 40 percent of those playing an instrument were initially motivated by their parents to do so, 28 percent became interested on their own, 17 percent were encouraged by someone else, and 15 percent were encouraged by a teacher. Interesting that 72 percent began their journey through the encouragement of someone else. So, go encourage.
On the lighter side, the report also contains one of the oddest charts I’ve seen in a while. More on odd graphic representations of data in a future post. Don’t get me started.
