Classical financial crisis

[Peter]

The financial crisis facing orchestras, particularly in the US.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...ngulfing-clas/

[AeolianHarp]

Oh dear- they need to get that sorted out!

[dahc]

Music education is in crisis here in the US. The violin is more often reffered to as a fiddle and a piano is called keyboard. Pedagogy is no longer emphasized and good musicianship is seen as being able to "jamb" in a rock or country band. Schools of Rock are becoming more common where students learn a few basic chords, time signatures, and how to write lyrics.
That's my rant.
Trickle up to appreciation of symphonic and chamber music. There it is.

[Humoresque]

It's co-incidental that you should write this! Last Friday I was with a friend who is on the part time staff of the local university Conservatorium (he is a pianist who accompanies singers, and also instrumentalists for exams). He and I co-convene a voluntary Music Appreciation group (how I detest that term!) for the local community. He told me about a conversation he'd just had with the Head of the Conservatorium about the appalling and ever-declining standards of students, saying that many of them couldn't even read music and most were only interested in rock (not the geological variety!).

A public lecture of interested parties later this month will openly discuss this matter and address the "where to from here" issue. The staff are demoralized and there are fewer and fewer post-graduate students than ever now. The recorded music library has been closed and 'relocated' (actually, they've given away most of their large collection of CDs). I expressed the view that only those music schools in our two largest capital cities should be allowed to continue - those associated with the older 'sandstone' universities (as we call them) and where the staff have international reputations as academics and musicians. The smaller cities and regional areas need to close their doors. The writing is on the wall. The music courses will soon not be worth the paper they're written on if this continues.

Some unpleasant facts have to be faced; declining academic standards across the board, the lack of employment opportunities for music graduates, changing cultural habits and values (bog standard school music programs) and the perilous financial situation for most arts organisations in the age of rising sovereign debt.

It's even possible these days to get a Musicology qualification with scant knowledge of anything other than rock music!!

[dahc]

I understand that in Vienna, during Beethovens', time you could not throw a stone without hitting an accomplished pianist. Has any one got a time traveling machine?

A local library near me once had an enormous collection of classical cds for the borrowing. I returned one day on a mission to enjoy some fine art only to find the collection had been reduced by about two thirds. I was sad. I couldn't find my intended recording and left disappointed. I didn't even want to know their reasoning behind the change because I knew I would not agree and get upset.

Yes declining academic standards is at the root of our social problems as well.

[Joy]

That's been going on for some time now it seems.