[Trombone-l] Cleveland Orch Trombone Article in newspaper

[Roger Hecht]

>>It is kind of hard to find the right words, but they should be providing motivating opportunities for young musicians coming through the university system so that we can foster a new generation of musicians, which is important for the sake of not only the 
existing musicians, but also helps in creating new audiences.  I don't know, even that doesn't sound quite right.  Does anyone get what I'm trying to say?

Quite so, but the problem begins before the university and before the orchestra, neither of whom can really solve it. One source is the cutting of school music programs in the 1980s or so. I was brought up in an amusical family. I never would have discovered music as a listener or as a performer were it not for my public school music program. Nor would I have made many of the friends I have now. It all started there. Without it, I'd have been a musical philistine. 

This is true for many kids. Not only do they learn to play instruments in public school music programs. If the program is any good, they learn to listen to music, as well. This is where music is discovered by many kids who have no music at home and where it is nurtured for kids who do.

As it is, we have just enough of these programs to turn out a huge number of performers but not enough to turn out audiences. This problem become exacerbated because America does not limit the supply of musicians in any way other than in the performing-end market place. Within reason, almost anyone who wants to get a performance degree can get one somewhere. Often it comes without any preparation for failure to dent that performance marketplace. Many of these people go into teaching, where they turn out more performers. 

Harsh as it may sound, there may be a place for the old Soviet system of limiting music conservatory admissions according to the real need for musicians. Or at least some system for planning. Such a system may have filtered me out. So it goes. That of course opens up a huge can of worms that makes for a huge topic of discussion in itself. 

Roger Hecht