2020-11-16
Sing that bison song again!
Yesterday, I did something I have never done before... I gathered those of my students who were able to attend, and we played for each other and a few other people in attendance over a Zoom videoconference. Thanks to this cursed pandemic, I know that we are now surrounded by activities moving into the virtual space in a relentless attempt to progress when so many obstacles have been placed in our way.
The students who played did well! They ranged all the way from a child who has just begun piano to a high school senior who shared a fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier. I am a huge fan of these get-togethers... to develop your musical skills and share them in a group is one of the truly countercultural things one can do these days, as we all watch the wholesale movement of life into cyberspace and the automation of more and more and more of our lives. I am deeply concerned about this erosion of human skill when it comes to the arts and how we view entertainment; the market and cultural pressures on young people to become voracious consumers of digital content of questionable worth is enormous. I have observed a marked drop off in the number of teaching referrals I have received in the last two decades. I don't believe this shrinkage has to do with my teaching abilities, or my inability to use Web tools to make my presence known, or the networking we >used< to be able to do pre-pandemic. My gut tells me there has been a huge cultural shift among humans where the practice and appreciation of "human" skills like mastering a musical instrument have been badly undercut by an instant gratification, "where are the cool effects?" culture. Frankly, it takes a fair amount of work to express yourself in music. Our family has been blessed, truly blessed to live in a community where there is still a deep commitment to all the arts and some young people are still willing to take the time and instruction to become first rank players on their instruments; but when I widen the focus and look more broadly, my spirit sinks. It would appear, some days, at least for art music, that the opportunities and support are evaporating like the Arctic ice.
My students probably get tired of me telling them how much I admire their willingness to learn, to take risks and to share. They probably think I am just one more old-fashioned curmudgeon who speaks some strange dialect they don't really understand. But I know of which I speak; it is forever scary to get up in front of a group of people and present a complex task in real time. It has been this way since the first cave person got up around the campfire and sang a song about hunting the bison. Your body goes straight into fight or flight (and there is no bison in this instance!), your legs shake, your palms sweat, your concentration goes south, your stomach overflows with butterflies. But we really, really need to do this. To ask the machines to tell our stories and to create our dramas is essentially inhuman. Like any other challenging skill, performance needs to be prepared and rehearsed. I will always strive to have several get-togethers every academic year so we >all< can have several chances to work on this challenge. I like to think that my students grow to enjoy playing for each other, because we try extra hard to make it clear everyone's contribution counts and we are doing something exceptional. The activity itself is hard enough without adding in competition or comparisons. There is plenty of that in the rest of life to go around.
So once again, I thank my students and all who support them. I hope human beings will never lose interest in "speaking" their narratives through their artistic media. I hope humans will always remember that passing the "inside knowledge" along to generations of arts newcomers happens with actual teachers, not YouTube tutorials. Let's remember the name of Stephen Colbert's band leader, Jon Batiste's, group, "Stay Human". I think I know what he means.
If you have more questions about this topic, don't hesitate to contact me and we can chat.
K
Previous blog entries