I think one of the other things keeping early music performance down in
higher ed is that too often it is seen as an ancillary adjunct to
musicology. Colleges are happy to employ musicology PhD's to teach
music history, because the primary function of these faculty positions
is not actually teaching, but doing research and publishing, which
increases the academic prestige of the institution. (It's the same with
music theory positions.) Unfortunately, the actual performance of "that
old stuff" is perceived as an unnecessary, possibly even dangerous,
formality. I suppose the keepers of the status quo believe it is better
to present music history as an abstract subject so that students don't
start thinking about how the way they play now is only the present
manifestation of an ongoing historical continuum.
This is real crime, especially in small colleges that only offer
undergraduate performance or music ed degrees. Too often, these
students graduate with the impression that history is a dry, irrelevant
subject with no real application to actual music. Then they end up
paying back their student loans by working at Walmart.
Chris
Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
www.christopherwilke.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Seifert <[email protected]>
To: Christopher Wilke <[email protected]>; gary <[email protected]>;
lutelist <[email protected]>
Cc:
Sent: Saturday, August 3, 2013 11:45 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: general public Lute awareness
Dear Chris Wilke,
Your message resonates! It's true! I'm sorry you haven't yet reached
full career stride--maybe Nazareth College is too small though
Rochester NY is a cultural powerhouse.
I've seen with my own eyes the hostility/disdain in the faces of
local
classical music establishment folks, and initially thought it was
because they knew I am an unworthy relatively unskilled dilettante.
It may actually be due to the possibility that early music
potentially has more popular appeal than their favored hackneyed 19th
century (not yet fully tested by time) warhorses. EM is simpler,
more accessible to folks. In 2007, a new local State Univ. music
chair
from Texas, concerned about the lack of lute exposure for his
students,
wanted me to play lute with a university singer. Only one out of
dozens of singers in his dept. expressed any interest at all, perhaps
because she is from Vancouver, Canada. After corresponding and
planning with her for a year, we met at an event and she expressed
disdain for "Early Music" and a preference for 19th/20th c. opera,
and
never followed up on the lute song idea, dashing my hopes (She was
the
prettiest woman in the dept.) I suspect this could be the result of
peer pressure against EM. Herd instinct seems hugely important in
the
music world. I hope it wasn't because I told her I was working on
some pieces recently dug up at an ancestral Neanderthal cave
dwelling.
But the turf issue may go beyond this to the problem of the
difficulty
of plucked strings. It seems Music Dept. chairs favor their own
instruments and neglect/deemphasize others. In one private
University,
the entire guitar program, which has the largest number of
instrumental students in the entire music dept. (25 classic guitar
students!), was ignored or given short shrift by the brass winds and
voice loving directors when several outstanding student artists were
selected for last June's gala event. Not a single guitar student was
featured. Maybe guitar plunking wasn't considered loud enough for
the
event.
On another occasion years ago, a spectacular visiting guitar prof.
from
Humboldt State Univ. was initially refused the paltry 300 buck fee
normally given for an hour-long recital. The local guitar chief had
to
beg the music dept. chairman for this honorarium and remind the chair
what an insult this denial would be to the visiting prof. He got the
fee after I embarrassed the chair by offering to pay for it myself as
a
local lute nut not directly connected with the University.
One of the biggest parts of the music dept. at the local state Univ.
is
"symphonic band." Sounds like an oxymoron. No place for a guitar or
lute. Every high school has a marching band in football/violence
crazed America, so there is a huge pool of flute, tuba, trumpet,
drum,
woodwind students from which to select new University matriculants.
I
was the only kid at my high school interested in classical guitar and
I
have heard of only rare high schools nowadays providing classic
guitar
instruction of any kind. The big Univ where I chose to attend
college
had no guitar program at all--Instead I briefly sang in its Russian
Liturgical Choir. Gospodi! Please help Chris and Hugo!
Mark Seifert
From: Christopher Wilke <[1][email protected]>
To: gary <[2][email protected]>; lutelist <[3][email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, August 3, 2013 7:12 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: general public Lute awareness
In America, I haven't found any lack of interest in lute or early
music
from the broader public. Many people who are intimidated by
perceived
ritual and stuffy atmosphere of standard classical concerts are
drawn
in by the look and sound of early instruments. Some marketers have
recognized this: early music is quite well represented in classical
music station playlists. (I've just been invited to give a one hour
interview/lute performance on our local public radio station here
in
Rochester, for example.) My own solo concerts and performances by
the
student early music ensembles I've directed have drawn healthy
crowds.
This is good, but there are larger issues.
The problem is lack of support - if not outright hostility - from
the
"mainstream" classical music establishment. While my perception of
what
I and other early music performers do is that we play classical
music,
many, many "official" classical musicians do not share this
view. Indeed, at colleges where I was employed, significant public
response was ultimately detrimental as it drew the flagrant ire of
at
least two tenured professors with great influence in the
departments.
Both of these professors actively petitioned against having any
early
music performance activities at their respective colleges,
ostensibly
on the grounds that it distracted students from giving full
attention
to the "real" program of instruction. (One of the professors had
the
gaul to tell me to my face, "You're not a real ensemble because you
don't play in parts." WTF? The majority of what we performed was
renaissance polyphony!) I think they were afraid we were making
them
look bad. Concerts were not free to the public; box office receipts
showed that we were bringing in actual revenue. And maybe, just
maybe,
my esteemed senior colleagues were jealous also of the fact that
students were learning and having fun. Oh well, those professors
are
still there doing the same old thing and I am still struggling very
much to find work years later. Good for them.
Chris
Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
[1][4]http://www.christopherwilke.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: gary <[2][5][email protected]>
To: lutelist <[3][6][email protected]>
Cc:
Sent: Saturday, August 3, 2013 4:06 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: general public Lute awareness
I got into early music 'cause I hate crowds. My jazz performances
were
attracting too many people. Of course, you heard about the lutenist
who
won the lottery. When asked what he was going to do with his
winnings,
he said, "I'm going to work 'til they run out." Early music, like
jazz
and chamber music, is a niche market. Upon being asked how one can
make
money in music, Henry Mancini said, "If you want to make money in
music,
go into band uniforms."
Gary
On 2013-08-02 05:17, [1][4][7][email protected] wrote:
> I have done the same for a small baroque orchestra at the
University
> of Sao Paulo, USP,
> with little gain as well. The group has a lute and a theorbo in
it.
> Any hints are welcome.
> We have thought everything from flash-mobs to pairing music with
food,
> theater, baroque dance, text, whatever...
> So far our biggest hits have been opera and baroque dance, costly
> events which we cannot do on a regular basis
> due to budget size.
> Ernesto Ett
> 11-99 242120 4
> 11-28376692
>
>
>
> On 31.07.2013, at 22:46, Bruno Correia
<[2][5][8][email protected]>
wrote:
>
> Dear members of the list,
>
> I have been at pains trying to raise interest in our beloved
> instrument down here in Brazil. I've given speeches, played solo
and
> chamber concerts... but despite all efforts the general public
and
> also
> the musicians (professionals or amateurs) simply don't get
turned
on.
> It is a sad fact that the lute and the early music performance
> practice did not reach the University here. So we don't exist
> academically speaking.
>
> Would anybody be willing to list some strategies that could be
used
> to
> help disseminate the lute and its repertoire?
> --
> Bruno Correia
>
> Pesquisador autonomo da pratica e interpretac,ao
> historicamente informada no alaude e teorba.
> Doutor em Praticas Interpretativas pela
> Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
