tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9617011.post8612455535822544854..comments2024-03-27T23:45:06.093+01:00Comments on Renewable Music: The Composer as GeneralistDaniel Wolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093101325234464791noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9617011.post-51754283212463062812008-09-17T03:37:00.000+02:002008-09-17T03:37:00.000+02:00Here's a simple solution: budget cuts. The fewer p...Here's a simple solution: budget cuts. The fewer positions there are available, the more the schools are forced to combine responsibilities that used to be spread out over 2 or 3 positions into 1 person's job description. The smaller the school (i.e. budget), the more they must tend towards hiring generalists. This fact on its own probably accounts for at least a small part of the trend towards specialization, which connotes prestige to impressionable aspiring young musicians and their not-yet-totally-on-board-with-this-music-thing<BR/>parents. Personally, I can't disagree; in theory, it seems to me that hiring a lot of specialists offers some distinct advantages over hiring only a few generalists, especially in the performance area. Rightly or wrongly, aspiring performers (not just in academia, but everywhere) tend to flock to the eminent performers on their instrument and in their chosen repertoire. While I am well aware of the benefits of learning from players of instruments other than your own, and from one's peers on whatever instrument they might play, I see that as a complimentary rather than a primary component in one's development, and a poor substitute for nitty-gritty work with a world-class specialist. That's me the performer; I've never had a composition lesson, so I can't speak to that world.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps as you hint at in your final paragraph, we are all specialists in our own music and the world surrounding it. To that end, it would indeed behoove academia to include a more diverse array of perspectives on their faculties. On the surface, I can't see what harm specialists could do provided there are enough of them to cover all of the necessary ground; this, however, costs more money than most state schools have available to spend on music.<BR/><BR/>And come on; is it really possible to "borrow profitably" from cultural studies?Stefan Kachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03103517356905739209noreply@blogger.com