Facts and myths about classical music

There has been a lot of feedback over on my Facebook page in regards to my last post, and it made me decide to write one more post about what I see as the problem before I get to my thoughts on how to improve the situation. While I appreciate those that have given their opinions and love their passion, a few statements have been made over there that I strongly disagree with.

I am always reminding myself that saying something more dogmatically does not make it more true. I have to constantly watch out for that and I want you to know up front that I am giving opinions here. I could be wrong on some of them. But on the other hand, the other side is just giving opinions too even if they say them dogmatically.

So, here are some pro-classical statements that I have heard recently and my opinion about whether they are truth or myth.

1) If you are classically trained, you can play anything.

Myth. This is easy to disprove and we all know that is wrong on many levels. If that were true, I would not have pianists with advanced degrees in piano performance contacting me and telling me that they don’t know how to play church music.

2) Classical music provides the basic technique to explore other genres.

Truth. Technique is the physical, mechanical side of music. Classical music is technically demanding and is certainly a great way to learn technique. That being said, technique is only one of the things musicians need to learn about music. And frankly, classical music is not the only way to learn technique either.
 
3) Classical music should be preserved as a tradition and culture.

Truth. Classical music that has stood the test of time is great music and should be respected and preserved.

4) Classical music is not a career dead-end.

99.9% Myth. Except for teaching, there are very few legitimate ways to earn a living in classical music. The competition is fierce and the entire classical music industry is dying. It is not impossible, but in all practicality, classical music performance is a career dead-end. Here is a great article that discusses it.

The point I was trying to make is that when you are considering the path for your children, unless they show true genius and exceptional aptitude for classical music, you need to be wary of a big problem with traditional music education: generating musicians who can replicate technically-demanding music but cannot function as a practical musician in real life.

5) You will not have mastered an instrument until you play classical music well.

Myth. Seriously, that is one classically-biased statement. Of course there are great musicians who don’t play classical music. I will say that many great musicians in every genre have studied classical music but certainly not all of them.

6) Once you learn classical music, you can easily pick up other genres. 

Myth. Real life music is heavily based on improvisation. Traditional music study neglects and even discourages improvisation. Most students of classical music will never learn to master another genre for that one reason alone.

7) $1,000/year (the cost of lessons) is an insignificant investment in something that will impact your life so profoundly.

I will label this neither myth nor truth because I suppose it depends on the situation. I understand and appreciate the perspective; I really do. But I am not just a musician; I am a bread winner and I know that money is finite. For some, money is more finite than others. $1,000/year is a lot of money for most people. It represents 2% of the average household income. If you have multiple children, you could be spending up to 10% of your income on music lessons.

It is easy to say that the money does not matter until you are the one sacrificing to make those payments. Then you realize that the ideal situation is not always realistic.

Regardless of the cost, I think it entirely reasonable and within bounds to suggest that parents should consider the ROI on their children’s music education. I say that as a musician and as a parent who pays the bills myself.

Someone made a very good point that I wanted to pass on. He said that rather than looking at classical music as a dead end career, perhaps you should look at it as a stepping stone or tool for a music career. I think he is exactly right.

The problem I have with traditional education is not that it is rooted in classical music. It is rather how it views classical music. And that is what I will discuss in the next post when I give those suggestions I promised in the last post.