Letters to the Editor
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Conservatory Troubles
This is in regard to Fred Kirshnit’s September 12 article “The Problem with Conservatories” [Arts & Letters]. Mr. Kirshnit’s observations of the current scene are exactly right. Conservatories (and music education in general) prize technique (far) above expression. They have to – jobs in orchestras and universities go to (very!) accurate players, not expressive players. Buyers of CDs are also not ecentric – they expect to hear all the notes, every time, and make no distinction between a recording and a concert (two very different musical situations and experiences) – they feel cheated if a note is missed.
There is a way to get some of the “old” expressiveness back without giving up technique, and that is to go back to the past. Before the rise of huge Romantic orchestras and conductors’ and composers’ egos, it was a part of every musician’s training to be able to improvise, to know how to decorate, embellish, vary, and invent a theme. But there was no room in the huge scores for individual creative expression and the ability died out, leaving us with the “one-sided” musicians we have today, who know how to recreate impeccably, but not to create. Many, if not most, classical musicians associate improvisation with jazz and jazz only, when in fact there are countless ways and styles in which to improvise, many of which are much better suited to classical musicians and traditional classical instruments than jazz. A well-rounded musical training needs to have components both from aural tradition and “literate” tradition. Encouragement and training in improvisation gives players a chance to express themselves, rather than only what Herr Strauss was feeling that day long ago in Bavaria. Most players don’t even know that they have a distinct “voice” or can express themselves – the only path seems to be to follow the ink and conform. We start with the ink on day one; our instruments remain mute when not in the presence of printed music.
It’s possible to improvise without jazz. It’s possible to improvise without extensive additional training. Improvisation does not have to mean a blizzard of sixteenth notes. You can start with one note. You can start with just rhythms. The hardest thing for the new classical improviser is getting past the worry about making mistakes, letting go. It can be scary to make the transition from valuing right notes above all to valuing expression and imagination, learning that “mistakes” can be opportunities for new discovery. You might make fewer “mistakes” if you memorize phrases from Berlitz and recite them than to learn to converse in another language and make some mistakes, but at the loss of any real communication or understanding. The mental barriers to trying to “think in music” are strong, but it does not take long to become addicted to being able make decisions about what you play. I know because after 25 years as a professional orchestral musician, I became a university music professor and made the decision to begin improvising and teaching workshops and a semester course in nonjazz improvisation (along with regular teaching). It feels very good, indeed, after the stressful/boring life of a replaceable cog in an orchestra.
Classical music or expression in classical music doesn’t have to die. But without letting a return of aural tradition breathe some life into a rigid and ossified system, a continued precarious existence on life support is guaranteed.
JEFFREY AGRELL
Professor of Horn
University of Iowa
Coralville, Iowa
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