So long Academia

A history of Western music has been a history of finding patrons, the Church, the Aristocracy, and finally, the Academics. The difference between the previous two patrons and the academic ones, is a musician was responsible to someone other than their own artistic values. An academic would claim that it was not possible for these other groups to allow musicians to be true to themselves. (I can see Bach, Beethoven and Mozart cringing at the thought that an academic would challenge their musical integrity!)

So what has Academia given us? Mediocrity, and a lot of it! People that can't play, that can't teach, that couldn't get a job teaching P.E. effecting the dreams of many aspiring young talented people. Teaching from a contrived list of what I call Academic stars, the ones not listed in Norman Lebrecht's book, "Who Killed Classical Music", serving as a musical compass to direct the path of future musicians. (I think Lebrect failed to mention all the culprits killing music.)

For example, who is Arnold Shoenberg and why do we spend so much time talking about him? So we can imitate him, which is the highest form of flattery for a teacher since most academic composers spent much of their lives writing serial music, rather than encouraging to explore the variety of ways to write music. (If the academics say they are open to new ideas, then why are all the old ideas expected of a composer on his dissertation? I not saying old ideas like two hundred years ago, I am saying the old ideas from the sixties.)

Now that the Shoenbergian phase of academia has passed, no one knows what to do. But this is not new, all academia has ever done is study what everyone else had been doing. Academia can't lead music, they can't even play music.

Now you know I can not be talking about every music school in the world, just most of them. Since the academic system is in place, how can we rise above the mediocrity? First, recognize that you are getting a mediocre education, see it for what it is and don't equate the handing out of a degree as proof of musicianship. Second, design a musical path for yourself that is continually at odds with what the academics tell you, most of what they tell you about being a performer or composer is wrong anyway. Finally, think of a new way to where music can become liberated from the Academics--its basically an old folks home with people of all ages in it now. Work to when we will have a new patron to complain about.