Take Care of Business

"Teaching jazz is like fattening frogs for snakes. I don't teach, but I tell kids at clinics what I'd do if I did teach at a university. I'd put them on a bus and paint the windows black, give them ugly uniforms and 400 pieces of music out of order that need all sorts of doubling (clarinet, oboe, flugelhorn). I'd drive them around campus for 30 hours in circles, going nowhere. Then I'd stop, everybody off, put on the plastic uniforms, set up on a dark stage with no sound system or sound man, tune up, call out a number, '14791'.... Scramble to put your music in order. Alright, now put it all away, hang up your uniform, get back on the bus and drive around in circles for another 30 hours.

"After a few days, I'd ask them: 'Now, who wants to make this their life?' You can save people a whole lot of trouble, because this is what the music business is. It's not about the music. The music is easy! It's all that other stuff. To play with young energy is simple, but to sustain a career in music takes a lot of dedication. You may major in Coltrane, but you gotta' play Britney Spears on tour for a living."

—Phil Woods (Down Beat, October 2004)

Very similar conclusions concerning whether or not teachers and programs in the collegiate setting are well enough equipped to teach our-up-and-coming jazz musicians have been drawn amongst us. Our general answer? Yes and no.. but really mostly no.

I studied and received my BM from a Midwestern university where I was lucky enough to be able to participate in the jazz program even though I was a classical performance major. Much to the annoyance of my classical music and theory teachers, I sat in one of the big bands playing sax and I loved it. Playing, listening, experiencing, and participating in jazz programs greatly influenced and improved the way I play and think about classical performance. And vice versa.

So that brings me in to jazz education in schools. Having experienced both sides of jazz and classical education (obviously more classical, but I feel as though I can make a valid point) it can be a bit easier for an educator to take a kid aspiring to be an orchestral musician, tell them to learn all their scales, learn X amount of excerpts, listen to these specific recordings, attend these concerts, and practice several hours a day. With some extra guidance from private mentors, the classical musician should have all the necessary skills to go out and win that job. So as a music educator who perhaps spent their undergraduate playing the oboe and then went off to teach high school band after graduation, this may be the first approach he or she takes when trying to push the interested jazz student in the right direction. This is a problem. I find it interesting, however, that the recipient of a BM Ed degree is certified to teach jazz, but a jazz studies major is hardly awarded teaching certification upon the completion of their studies. It is amazing to me that jazz teaching techniques are not generally presented (to my knowledge) within a music ed program. This is also a problem.

And now speaking as just a classical major.. it’s true that music education in college is largely based off a classical tradition, but this does not mean that this formula will result in my, or anyone else’s, musical success. Hearing remarks about how much easier it is to teach and become highly developed in classical music in comparison to jazz has been starting to get a little old. In both genres, the opportunity is offered by the school. Both require creativity, effort, and commitment, and these are things that are in fact difficult to teach. All teachers are actually required to do is to promote and facilitate Not to spoon feed the music into the student’s mouth with the promise of one day he or she will sit in a major symphony or become an influential and highly paid jazz musician.

As a class, we picked through the feisty Facebook discussion sparked by Matt Merewitz’s bold statement about how “so many kids (and their parents) are being sold a false dream” by schools offering degree programs in jazz. As all the other voices joined in, the general points touched on were basically about the overabundance of jazz schools in relation to available jobs and the issues of debt brought on upon overpriced institutions offering a sub par education. A common misconception touched upon in class is this idea that a college or conservatory with a big name in a big city will guarantee a big name job in comparison to that tiny state school in Iowa. In fact, colleges don’t owe us anything in that respect. They are not store in which we can purchase a job in exchange for their credentials as a music school. They provide an opportunity (at a cost!!) and it is our responsibility to either take advantage of the opportunity or to just be OK with the general formula offered by the degree’s curriculum. This of course applies to both jazz and classical students. I just don’t think that it is as black and white as Merewitz seems to believe. He does have a point, however, that colleges do take advantage. But one really cannot expect a college to turn a bunch of willing applicants away because the job market sucks. They are a business, after all. On the other side, these over abundant and over priced programs are only being created due to the demand of the students who desire to be a part of them.

But going to college and paying all that money isn’t a complete waste. Along with all that tuition and all those campus fees, networking comes along with it as well as the opportunity to connect with others who uphold the same goals and ideals. Because going to college does not equal work. We go to college to learn. What is this “further education” anyway??

And in a lot of ways, it is sometimes the student’s fault as well as the parent’s. We have all known that kid who has the best education and equipment because of how much money is available to them, but then flounders in the job market. Who is really selling who the false dream? Being a musician is hard. Being a musician with an aversion to teaching is even harder. Music majors should realize this, if they already don’t, because being a performer does not generally pay well. Teachers assume responsibility as well and should do a better job in the reinforcement of reality.

A career in music? You? Really?

If the ultimate goal of the musician is to have a stable job with a decent income, it might be best to just become a registered nurse..