Great Expectations

I agree with James Nickel that it would be helpful for students to study CBA’s, the role of an orchestra committee, etc. At the end of the day negotiations offer musicians the only real opportunity to move their orchestra forward. Negotiations will only be successful if musicians are united, have a specific and realistic vision for their orchestra, and if management and musicians both have the best interest of the orchestra at heart.

I agree with Adam Pijanowski that educating the audience is vital. Our challenge as musicians is not only to be able to play exciting music, but to help the audience experience what we feel when we listen to music. This is one reason why a more well rounded curriculum may not be a bad idea. Even though my main focus at Eastman was my playing, theory, music history and humanities courses all helped me to see the bigger picture.
Those of us who teach have a great opportunity to promote our orchestras. Many of my students have started coming to our concerts, just because they know me.

It is important that orchestras develop education programs for people of all ages. One of the most important starting points should be with very young children. At this stage it is easier to develop their ears and often young children are more open to what is put in front of them. If someone played a short twelve tone piece for a very young child it might not even sound “weird” to the child!

Leonard Bernstein remains an inspiring force for music education because he may have been the first conductor to realize the importance of demystifying classical music for the general public. As a substitute violinist with the Albany Symphony, I saw conductor David Alan Miller do the same thing, except often dressed as a cowboy! That orchestra regularly sells out a 3,000 seat hall for Sunday afternoon family concerts and even as a sub, I enjoyed being part of something that generated so much excitement for classical music.