Interesting blog ! What you say about bored, apathetic, cynical and burned out professional musicians may be true of some of them, but I don't think that the majority are like this at all. And you can find bored and apathetic people in any profession.


Robert Berger | Homepage | 10.01.08 - 9:19 am | #

Thanks for reading, Robert!

Perhaps I painted with too broad a brush here, and by no means are my comments meant apply to American orchestras across the board.

But I did try to choose these words carefully. Apathy is a common enough emotion among professional orchestral musicians, deriving I believe from years of seeing classical music marginalized in society at large and from mostly limited or inept efforts by their organizations’ leaders to address the root causes of the issue. Boredom is rife in some orchestras due to the weekly routine of performing unimaginative and/or repetitive programs created by conductors and orchestra admins [and sometimes due to conductors’ own deficient approaches to rehearsal and interpretation]. And the wrangling speaks for itself - there is no question that the contractual constraints at union orchestras often squelch creativity and inhibit the fundamental changes that need to be made at orchestras for them to remain relevant in the 21st century. These conditions are actually quite unique to orchestras [as opposed to other performing arts organizations].

One final thought... I have always sensed that music and the performing arts in general are distinct from many other professions precisely because of the intense emotional commitment they demand and reward. It's certainly one the reasons I consider myself endlessly fortunate to do what I do for a living, and also one of the reasons I am dismayed whenever I encounter fellow artists who do not.

Jason Weinberger | Homepage | 10.02.08 - 12:11 pm | #