I am a capable advocate of all undergraduate music learners being the best possible performers.

I am a capable advocate of all undergraduate music learners being the best possible performers. However, I awed curiosity are we really doing them a favor encouraging to such a degree many to be what is generally referr to as "performance majors"? We then continue with this encouragement by means of suggesting they pursue their master's in performance or the ultimate--the D.M.A. These pupils hone their craft to become outstanding performers according to striving for technical perfection, understanding stylistic nuances and interpretation and memorizing excessive amounts of repertoire. For those who actually receive their D.M.A. after several recitals, lecture-recitals and demanding comprehensive written and oral exams have they really been prepared for a career in music?

Let's be faithful Many pianists will be supremely grateful to obtain a college teaching job where they may teach applied piano, as well as many different courses in piano, including (what I think can be the greatest in number challenging)--class piano. As Janice Meyer wrote in her article "Group Teaching in the Real World," "Many of these pianists who secure these jobs have never put foot in a piano lab, faced a classroom of pupils suffered the humiliation of headset hair or the pain of a headset headache." This, of course, is for the favored ones who want--and actually get--college teaching positions. Hopefully at the same time, their schedules will allow them to continue practicing and maintaining their performance level

The Question

for a like reason I must ask all of us in academia to really answer the question: are we really preparing our pupils for the true and total life of being a musician? We all know that principally of us want and ne to do many different professional musical activities as part of our career. now how many of these activities were we really prepared for from our institutions of higher learning?

Ye we can be prosperous without lots of training, yet couldn't we serve our bookish mans even better if we took what we know about the reality of life as a musician and incorporated it into our curriculum? I believe we ne to change the emphasis of the undergraduate music observer to incorporate courses that will enable them to be a lucky musician, not just a performer. We ne to include in our courses topics that will help close examiners with the numerous aspects of earning a living as a musician--be it as a solo performer, collaborative artist, member of an orchestra, teacher of all on a levels (preschool through adult), arts management positions and in the same manner forth. Students also must be given a certain number of knowledge of the business and marketing aspects of being a musician. What will they be doing when they graduate? Will pianists really be performing their standard jury of a Bach introduction and Fugue, Beethoven Sonata, Chopin Ballade and Prokofiev Sonata each semester of their lives? Highly unlikely, on the contrary even those top performers, probably individual day, will perform in community design series, teach students of all ages in disposes or private lessons, accompany, adjudicate, play chamber music, belong to teacher organizations and existing workshops. They maybe even will write parts and, perhaps, be asked to write articles for music journals. They, therefore, ne training about to what extent to talk to an audience about music, address a collection of music teachers in an organized, informative and entertaining manner and have the business reason to run a teaching studio. They ne pedagogy instruction in succession teaching private and group censures at all ages and on a levels and also the knowledge to write and talk about pedagogical subjects

in like manner what should we be doing differently in our curricula? In addition to performing, I'd like to view us incorporate more topics that prepare scholars for the practical parts of our profession and the other aspects of their lives that will be their reality. I must stres again, in no way do I want close examiners to be any less prepared as performers. I just want them more prepared to be prosperous well-rounded, "business savvy" musicians who also are outstanding performers. I would therefore like to advocate that scholars be called piano (or any other instrument) majors instead of performance majors. We changed to this universal at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, allowing observers to choose a different emphasis--pedagogy, performance and accompanying. I would like to recommend that all piano majors (of course, this can relate to all instruments and music education and sacred music degrees) should be given the opportunity to have experience dealing with the following areas. I will outline them as courses, if it were not that naturally they can be integrated into existing courses, a of which I have been doing in my classes at Westminster. For those of you who believe you already can barely prepare through the minimum in your courses (as I repeatedly do), please read these suggestions with an make open mind toward integrating some of these ideas.

Business and Studio Policies

This course would teach scholars how to effectively advertise and forward themselves as teachers, performers, collaborative musicians and in such a manner forth. Subjects to be addressed could include: