It's supply and demand stupid! - musicians - Brief Article

American Music Teacher, Dec, 2001 by George Seltzer

Musicians are supposed to have an affinity for mathematics. If this is so, how do we explain the huge imbalance between the few job opportunities in our symphony and opera orchestras and the thousands of music majors that graduate each year from more than 500 accredited schools of music?

Do the Math

In a typical year, there are only 250-350 vacancies in orchestras paying a living wage. In the same year, approximately 7,000 new music major graduates will be aspiring for these jobs. This outpouring has been going on for decades. Obviously, there are far more performers than there are opportunities to make music.

Compounding the problem created by this intense competition is the fact that these young musicians are very good. Technique has been projected to previously unheard of perfection. These young musicians play louder and faster, read music with greater fluency and play well in many styles. So when a vacancy occurs in our living-wage-paying orchestras, it is not unusual for 100-200 or more musicians to pay their own way to an audition site. The tragedy is that a huge percentage of those who audition are highly qualified for a position that only one can win.

Despite these discouraging numbers--numbers that are well known to the professional staffs of our music schools--large-scale recruiting efforts continue. After all, the university orchestra needs string players and double reed performers who are relatively scarce compared to the abundance of other wind and percussionists in the usual high school band. As music recruiters say, "If you want a circus, you've got to have animals."

Supply and Demand

Music schools need students (i.e. money) to survive, so some institutions lure students with hopes of jobs and careers that do not exist. Ideally, prospective music students should be told about the supply and demand situation in the music business very early in their college years. Then if they still want to persevere, every possible support should be given. This includes the possibility of continuing their training in a school with a top faculty, outstanding students and proximity to performance centers. It is important for our youth to know that a liberal arts major has many career options, but music training is very specific.

This problem of supply and demand is further compounded by the decrease in, and aging of, the present classical music audience. It has been estimated that only one in four students in our public schools even sings or plays a musical instrument. A full generation has now gone through our public education system with only a superficial introduction to live performing arts. Classical music is unfamiliar and unappreciated. There is no perceived need to incorporate it into students' lives and to spend a few dollars from the schools' entertainment and/or cultural budgets to attend live performances.

Wanted: More Audiences

This suggests an enhanced goal and a slightly different direction for many of our schools of music. We need fewer performers and many more audiences. Although it may be too late for the current college population (It's difficult to move from Tom Swirl to Crime and Punishment in one easy step.) there are possible solutions. Courses targeted for the nonmusic major are important. Not only the usual music appreciation courses, but also classes in music theory and music history as part of various eras of Western culture could be developed for and taken by any and all interested students. Other options might be courses in chamber music, opera, concerto and symphonic literature--all with emphasis on the music itself. Live performances in class would be a definite plus in the success of all of these courses. Of course, classes that deal with the music of other cultures could complement the live music experience so sadly lacking in the current college population.

As for music majors, why not continue a trend already evident in some of our music schools? With some relatively minor curriculum changes, double majors and music minors are valid options. Music and computer science, music and math, music and chemistry and music and physics are all viable. Then, too, the supply/demand numbers would improve with liberal arts or science candidates incorporating music minors.

Faculty Participation

Music departments and music faculties are vital components in our universities. Even if it is unrealistic for a specific university to be able to equip performers to beat the odds of the music business, the music faculty's expertise is sorely needed to supply high-quality, live performances for their community. And we need to train and educate musicians for the many performing opportunities in our professional symphony and opera orchestras that, as a full-time career, do not pay a living wage. The importance here of supplying a marketable university education to a talented music-loving performer is a key response to changing some of the supply-and-demand numbers.

Live music has been neglected in our public schools for at least a generation--when budgets are contracted, music and art are the first to go. Music faculties in our universities have to consider how their expertise can help alleviate this gap in our children's education. Already, some of our major orchestras are making their musicians available in many innovative ways to supply live performance and instruction in the public schools. Could university music faculties participate in the same way? It is an important question.