Discussion Panel: Page 40

In my opening statement, I mentioned the Eastman Institute for Music Leadership and all that I gained from my experience during my undergrad and masters as a part of that curriculum. I would also like to mention that a year after I finished my masters and upon living in New York City, I was on […]

In response to Adam’s questions from Day 2, I found group piano to be the least helpful class towards winning and maintaining my orchestral position and music history to be the most beneficial. At that age and with the limited amount of repertoire experienced in student orchestras, music survey classes, especially the listening of recordings, […]

In response to Douglas Fisher’s recent post: This is a difficult one to address – I’m sure that as students we may have all gotten somewhat frustrated with spending a month learning two large orchestral works, but I now look back on those years and feel grateful when I play Brahms and Mahler Symphonies. Many […]

I would like to pose this question to the panel. In your view what was the most important class taught at your respective school and how did it help prepare you for the life of a working musician? And also what class was the least beneficial to your professional development? Are there ways that we […]

In response to Adam’s questions below , there are a few. As part of the Arts Leadership Program at Eastman we were required to take 3 electives I believe. One was Adrian Daly’s career class (I can’t remember the title) and the other was Ray Ricker’s “Entrepreneurship in Music”. Both of these classes featured guest […]

If we agree that there is more to being a successful orchestra musician than showing up and playing, it might be helpful to define what we mean. What specifically is the role of a musician in an orchestra beyond playing the music? If we expect musicians to perform functions that have traditionally been done by […]

It seems that almost all of the panelists agree in one way or another that orchestra musicians today must do much more than perform on stage. This subject alone could easily serve as the main topic of a future discussion so I will not go too far in that direction except to say that orchestra […]

I worry about the disconnect between what orchestras now expect of their musicians and support for these expectations. Sufficient preparation for life in today’s orchestras will necessitate difficult decisions both at the music school/conservatory level and within orchestras themselves. From my observation, expectations of orchestral musicians, whether stated or implied, include donor relations, board membership/leadership, […]

While a student I took my first audition for the purpose of funding my graduate school auditions and, in all honesty, there was a period during which it felt as if I was taking them because I “had to get a job”. Seven years after finishing my “formal” (meaning institutional) training, my thoughts have changed […]

Q. Which issues give/gave you the greatest concern as you enter(ed) the audition circuit? A. My greatest concern is failure. I have the skills and the training, if I fail in this endeavor I only have myself to blame. On the other hand music is a wide open field. I have the ability to create […]