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Who stands behind the great musician
Growing can be a pain, especially when you’re a violinist.
Napier Central School’s Olivia Unac, 10, is rapidly outgrowing her three quarter sized violin, and needs a much larger replacement if she’s to reach her lofty goals as a musician.”My arms are getting too long,” Olivia, who has been learning the violin for three years, said.“They get so crunched up, the bow can only move about a little bit.”
The result, she said, was often a less than inspiring sound: “Sometimes the bow touches the violin and it squeaks.”
But not for much longer - one of 10 Napier City Council youth development fund scholarship recipients, Olivia received $200 towards a full-size violin at an awards ceremony attended by mayor Barbara Arnott last Friday. full article
This small exctract from the local papers could cheer the superficial reader but the deeper glance at the musical education makes me feel sad. The best place to start the topic is to realize what type of art is music.
“Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. Elements of sound as used in music are pitch (including melody and harmony), rhythm (including tempo and meter), and sonic qualities of timbre, articulation, dynamics, and texture.
The creation, performance, significance and even the definition of music, varies according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions and performances to improvisational or aleatoric forms. For purposes of discussion and exploration of the topic, music is divided into genres and sub-genres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often unclear and/or controversial. Within “the arts”, music can be classified as a performing art, a fine art, or an auditory art form.
Music may also involve generative forms in time through the construction of patterns and combinations of natural stimuli, principally sound. Music may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, ceremonial or religious purposes and by many composers purely as an academic instrument for study.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music
So it is becoming a bit complicated. Well what do we need to enable music to thrive in the society - cultural, political, social and economical background. Coming back to the extract from local papers (Napier, New Zealand) I think the education system, surroundings and community is not able to produce the outstanding musicians. Just try figure out what is necessary to produce a good musician.
- cultural background (probably family tradition)
- affordable and accessible educational system (highly skilled teachers)
- community supporting the art and artists (musicians need to be able to make decent living)
- instruments for making the musical sounds (quality instruments can not be produced for $200)
Other excerpt about what was called Russian school of music (also from local magazine “Soundpost” 2004 N9).
Each week, all children in these schools have two one-hour lesson on the main instrument, a one-hour piano lesson, one hour of theory and aural, a one-hour musicianship lesson, two hours of orchestra, and one-hour ensemble practice. In every term the student has to play one movement of a concerto, two movements of a sonata, two contrasted pieces and a separate technical exam (scales and two studies). That is the minimum for the student.
I want to add that such schedule is not for Academy students but just for intermediate school and College students.
Fingers crossed? 
Birute
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