Re: a pause for thought (my two bits)


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Joe Baker on March 19, 2003 at 13:53:05:

In Reply to: a pause for thought (my two bits) posted by Micky Wrobleski on March 18, 2003 at 06:04:06:

I might be able to give you guys a slightly different perspective, because orchestra music is not one of my favorite musical styles. I like it okay, there are a few pieces I really enjoy, but I'm just more of a 'folk/country/bluegrass/jazz/big-band/70's rock' kind of guy. I don't expect anyone to change their likes to suit me, and I won't change mine to suit them, that's just the way it is for me.

I think this qualifies me as more of a 'Joe Sixpack' than most of you, but a Joe Sixpack who's listened with interest to you guys' concerns for several years now. So here's my diagnosis, to be taken for whatever you think it's worth.

You guys say (under this topic and in previous ones), to paraphrase 'we need orchestral music, so much so that the government should pay for it if necessary'. Joe Sixpack is here to tell you, "We don't 'need' orchestral music." We also don't 'need' folk/country/bluegrass/jazz/big-band/70's rock music. I guess some folks think we 'need' to keep disco - or bagpipe music(!) - alive. How'd you like to be subsidizing those, hmmm? I mean, if the city is going to build a concert hall, why not a discotec? I vote: neither. Many will disagree; I can live with that.

I believe that, in our humanity, we NEED beauty and artistic expression, but it doesn't 'need' to be any particular sort. I'd LIKE to be able to buy lots of different types of music, and attend lots of different types of concerts, but there is only so much money to go around. Should the government take that money and decide what music we should get; or should individuals do so? I say, let me fund the music I like the most, not the music someone else likes. Let them fund the music they like the most, not the music I like. Music that is enjoyed by enough people will survive.

But the number of people who listen to orchestral music is declining (my perception; I have no proof), and the cost is skyrocketing (evidence abounds); something must give. You can decrease costs (i.e. pay -- no one here wants to do that), increase income (no one seems to know how to do that), or shut down orchestras. Now, I hope orchestras will remain afloat. I hope more audiences can be attracted, and several people here have offered useful ideas how this can be done. But until there is an acknowledgement that orchestras are a desire -- a luxury, really -- rather than a need, it will be difficult to make the changes necessary to keep them going. Those changes, in short, amount to some combination of fewer orchestras, smaller orchestras, or lower pay. Please note that I'm NOT saying that orchestras are paying 'too much' in terms of how hard the musicians work, the education they have, the cost of acquiring their instruments -- I'm just saying you can't pay out money you don't take in.

It is my prediction that in the future there will not be as many smaller-city fulltime professional orchestras as there have been in the past. If the objective is growing the number of jobs, I don't see how that will happen (again, unless the pay gets lower). But there could be some new models for orchestras. Jay Bertolet, on this board, is in an orchestra that goes to several venues in a region where no one city could keep an orchestra going. That concept could be expanded, with orchestras that tour much more broadly. Yes, it will be more demanding on the musicians. Yes, playing in 20 different halls per year will make it impossible to fully acclimate to any one venue. But it's a lot better than shutting down altogether, right?

My final comment: 100 years ago, there were quite a few professional bands. Now we have military bands and the JPS band, which is largely (or completely, I'm not sure) a band that picks up local musicians when it comes to town. Band music as a professional enterprise has, for the most part, died. But band music as an art form flourishes, in innumerable community bands. We need to be clear, when we talk about the 'survival of orchestral music', whether we speak of the survival of the profession or survival of the art.

Joe Baker, who pays for his own entertainment.


Follow Ups: