Music Hacks versus Music Professionals

Music is arguably one of the greatest unifying forces in the world. The love of music transcends history, geography, racial and socioeconomic lines, and while people may have diverse tastes and talents in music, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who has absolutely no affinity for tones brought together to create some sort of rhythmic harmony.

Strangely and sadly, music is something that also divides. You see this in churches all the time, and I've had a front row seat in some of the conflicts that people in a church will have around worship styles, lyrics and genres as well as the philosphy of who is "permitted" to perform music at a church service and whether those people should be compensated financially or not. I've noticed that some opinions around especially the last point are largely correlated around the "professional" musicianship of the person - whether that be in the form of formalized training at a conservatory or a record of performing as a paid musician in clubs, orchestras, or festivals. People with these background tend to have very different opinions than people who I will affectionately call "hacks" - folks who are lawyers, doctors, contruction workers or otherwise ordinary Joes who simply like to sing or play an instrument decently well. For better or for worse, these conflicts are not confined to the church.

I came across a recent article about unrest at the New York Philharmonic due to the perception of the orchestra members that not only was a guest conductor incompetent, but the invitation to conduct was made only because of generous donations given in the past. Depending on your point of view, you can either view Gilbert Kaplan as a wannabe egocentric hack who has bought his way onto the conductor's lectern at the expense of a more well-deserving conductor who actually has formally studied the craft and has a depth of experience of the subject matter. On the other hand, you might view the complaining orchestra members as elitist snobs who hold thinly veiled resentment that they're being conducted by someone who hasn't required the same years of blood, sweat and tears to be a competent conductor and who has more wealth than most of the orchestra members could ever dream of.

My wife has a piano performance degree from Juilliard, so I've experienced some of the mindframe differences firsthand. When planning our wedding, I had suggested Twila Paris' "How Beautiful" for our special music, which was something that I enjoyed hearing at a number of my friends' weddings. Sarah might have been less outraged if I had suggested that we serve McDonald's Extra Value Meals at our reception. I remember at the time being a little miffed at that, feeling there was a little "musical elitist snob" in her response. Thankfully, we've come a long way in terms of mutually appreciating each other's point of view - she recognizes my musical opinions, albeit untrained are valid and important; I recognize that music is something that is something that she knows, loves and appreciates deeply - and much more than I do. Sarah, while being a big proponent and defender of classical music, also acknowledges that musicians can be immensely self-focused and elitist.

And that elitism does bother me. There's nothing more irritating that the implication that a layperson "can't understand" the transcendant power of song or "can't appreciate or identify truly good music" simply because I didn't go to Juilliard or Curtis or perform at Carnegie Hall. I've even heard classical musicians lament that popular music "isn't good music" despite the fact that it is loved and purchased is large volumes by the masses. Before soon, there emerges a bitterness that classical music performers are paid so much less than Kanye West or Beyoncé (nevermind Kobe Bryant and Adam Sandler), and by extension, a bitterness towards an "unsophisticated" public that hasn't created a supply and demand market where everyone who studies classical and jazz music graduates with job offers galore with $200K annual salaries.

To be fair, do insane misalignments exist for the salaries that are offered in American society? Absolutely. I find it absolutely mind-boggling that, for example, educators are paid so little compared to entertainers. But generally speaking, all of us go into a field eyes wide open knowing what our likely financial upside is going to be (e.g. you don't become a librarian for the money). Going back to the issue of hacks versus professionals - if professional musicians want to engender public interest and appreciation around their craft, maybe building a figurative wall between by "those of us who get it" and "those of you who never will" isn't the smartest thing. Specific to the issue with Gilbert Kaplan: here's a guy who loves and appreciates classical music and has been a generous donor - and you're going to encourage his love for the arts by tearing him apart and belittling him? Not the best way to treat your most passionate fans.

By the way, our wedding special music was a Schubert piece by sung by Thami Zungu, a Juilliard classmate of Sarah's. It was incredible.