{"id":603,"date":"2015-02-08T10:58:26","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T15:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/?p=603"},"modified":"2015-02-08T10:58:26","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T15:58:26","slug":"music-schools-in-transition-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/2015\/02\/music-schools-in-transition-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Schools in Transition, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below I’ve copied my post from last week, as then I was not connected to Facebook and Linkedin, but now am.<\/p>\n

There are short-term approaches to present challenges to music schools, and long-term, more radical ones.\u00a0 For now I will concentrate on short-term ones, then later on the others.\u00a0 Also to note: I will not address the question of supply and demand, as I lean toward a free market philosophy.\u00a0 And in any case, if oversupply is the issue, what agency or body of individuals could decide which schools deserved to live or die?<\/p>\n

I believe that each school of music has specific qualities and characteristics that it must identify and then magnify.\u00a0 In general this is not what is presently happening, as schools try, often desperately, to be like another one.\u00a0 I can’t count the number of times that faculty from a wide variety of schools have told me they want to be like, or compete directly with Juilliard or Curtis.\u00a0 These 2 schools have their distinct missions, and as such serve a specific segment of the music industry.\u00a0 Perhaps the easiest way to extinction is for schools to go down this path of mimicry.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this post I will begin to address two of what I believe can be unique qualities in a music school.\u00a0 I will address additional ones in future posts.<\/p>\n

Repertoire<\/span>:\u00a0 Is there a repertoire focus?<\/p>\n

Contemporary?\u00a0 American?\u00a0 Living composers?\u00a0 19th century?\u00a0 Early music? And so on…\"book\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I believe that a repertoire focus enhances a school’s program and image.\u00a0 Of course this focus should not be too narrow, but nonetheless, clearly identifiable.\u00a0 “If I go to the XYZ School, I will mostly perform the music of contemporary American composers.”\u00a0 While I don’t’ feel comfortable naming certain schools, I can think of several in the U.S. that have been successfully operating with a clear repertoire focus since their inception.\u00a0 BTW, they have no enrollment challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ensemble Configuration<\/span>:<\/p>\n

Orchestra?\u00a0 Band?\u00a0 Wind Ensemble?\u00a0 Choruses? Opera? Chamber Music? Eclectic Ensembles?\u00a0 Ethnic Music Ensembles?<\/p>\n

Is there a clear focus, or are the ensembles a scatter shot pattern without clarity?<\/p>\n

While I have strong personal beliefs about what ensembles are needed to meet graduates’ needs in today’s music world, for here I simply want to make the point that ensemble configuration can be, and is a major selling point for students considering a school for study.\u00a0 With ever-increasing demands on school leaders to create and support more and more ensembles, choices need to be made, or chaos reigns.\u00a0 And these choices can enhance a school’s profile, not diminish it, as may be presently believed.<\/p>\n

Here is my post from last week – for those who missed it<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past several months I have received a number of calls – for assistance from higher ed music school leaders, to help them with their admissions issues and challenges.\u00a0 The repeating theme centers around declining undergraduate admissions numbers, and among applicants, declining preparedness (or quality, as it is referred to inside).<\/p>\n

There are a number of factors at play: a demographic dip among graduating high school seniors (and juniors, etc. to come), declining numbers of students who choose to seriously study an instrument or voice, changing curricula in K-12 music programs, fewer K-12 music programs.\u00a0 We know of these developments, and the challenges they present.\u00a0 So with fewer number of qualified applicants for ‘classical’ music programs, competition to enroll students has clearly become fierce.<\/p>\n

And, it’s that time of year when admissions directors and deans must answer the question from parents, “what will my son or daughter do with h\/her bachelor of music degree in (fill in the instrument or voice) after I have paid $200,000 for it?”<\/p>\n

The answer to this question is where the real work starts.\u00a0 And forgive me for being crude (for arts talk), but schools need to have clear, realistic, believable and deliverable “sell points.”\u00a0 I think, I know my recent work in entrepreneurship has affected my views, in that developing a clear value proposition is what customers are seeking.\u00a0 Apple has proven that customers are willing to pay a lot more if the value (real and imagined) is clear and delivered.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below I’ve copied my post from last week, as then I was not connected to Facebook and Linkedin, but now am. There are short-term approaches to present challenges to music schools, and long-term, more radical ones.\u00a0 For now I will concentrate on short-term ones, then later on the others.\u00a0 Also to note: I will not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23],"class_list":{"0":"post-603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"tag-arts-leadership","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/state\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}