Welcome to Music Today & Tomorrow
This is my way of sharing ideas about contemporary music (which for this purpose, means ‘classical’ music of the 20th & 21st centuries) and about preparing the next generation of musicians.
When talking about the next generation I mean ‘musicians’ very much with a ‘small m’, because one of the things I feel very strongly about is that for too long, music education (particularly instrumental) has been based on the conservatory model, with teachers often dismissing students as lacking in promise, talent, potential or whatever, in a system that often insists on ‘ear tests’ before admitting students to lessons at all! This means that the innumerable benefits of musical activity are denied those who do not fit the conservatory model. More later.
Likewise, I want to share ideas about where contemporary musical thinking is going. I know where mine is going, and it’s in the opposite direction to those who want to go back to tonal structures and write in styles called ‘neo’ this, that or the other! Issues such as this, and others, will be explored in time.
I look forward to some interesting discussion as a result of my posts over a period … possibly an extended period, because, in view of all the things I have to do, I think this blog might take some time to develop!
I am enjoying all your articles Robert although I just received them and have only scanned their contents. But I will study them further I am sure. I am a composer, conductor, trombonist, and teacher in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Retired but still very much involved in music. Dr. David W. Roe
Thanks Robert, I totally agree with your thoughts about the serious limitations of the ‘conservatory model’. Just like every other area of human activity, music also has its elitists
Good on you for addressing this issue!
Yes, I agree…there are too many disappointed students out there who think they have failed in life just because the ‘system’ didn’t give them the big tick of approval!