Key changes
How, asks John Evans, are music colleges preparing students for the realities of a modern career?
ust days after one of his students, the 16-yearold pianist Lauren Zhang, won the final of BBC Young Musician 2018, Julian Lloyd Webber (pictured left), cellist and principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, is in typically defiant mood. ‘There was hardly a thing in the press about the final,’ he says. ‘The Eurovision Song Contest, which happened a few days earlier, got massive coverage. It’s part of an unfortunate trend in the West. The classical music stars of the future will come from China.’
It’s a familiar refrain, but as a former world-class musician – he retired from performing in 2014 – Lloyd Webber is perhaps more qualified than most to express it. The difference now, though, is that where once he spoke as a freelance musician with a profile to maintain, today he’s boss of one of the UK’S leading music colleges. Surely he, of all people, is in a position to ensure his prediction does not come to pass?
If you’re a music student about to leave Birmingham, or indeed any one of the UK’S 40 music colleges, specialist music institutes or universities offering tailored music courses, you should look away now. ‘The traditional classical career is still there but for how long?’ says Lloyd Webber. ‘For example, orchestras are increasingly tough to get into. Sheku Kanneh-mason [the 19-year-old cellist who won BBC Young Musician 2016] and others like him got their big breaks at royal weddings, but where will we find the next
‘‘Where
will we find the next generation? People will say ‘talent will out’ but that’s not necessarily
’’ true anymore
generation? People say “talent will out” but that’s not necessarily true anymore.’
Alasdair Tait, CEO of the Young Classical Artists Trust, has some sympathy with
Lloyd Webber’s view. ★is charity supports promising young artists taking their first steps on a professional career. It’s tough for young performers, he says, and getting tougher. ‘Being wonderful at your instrument is no guarantee these days. The base level is so high thanks to global competition. There are so many music colleges in Europe alone. The training they offer is wonderful and the general proficiency is very high but the age at which a young artist blossoms is now approaching 30 because it takes that time to become genuinely proficient.’
As this article is being written, in music colleges, institutions and universities up and down the land, the final end-of-year recitals have been performed and the last exams taken. A fresh cohort of music graduates, still awaiting their degrees or diplomas, is emerging into the big, wide world. Fortunately, many should be prepared for the world described by Tait and Lloyd Webber. Thanks to the way courses are run and designed, and institutions’ readiness to engage with the wider musical sector, many students will already have experience of a professional musician’s life and a growing contacts list, and will be skilled in promoting themselves and open to new experiences. More than anyone, they’ll know things won’t be easy.
Anton Clarke-butler, 26, has just completed his Master of Music in Instrumental Performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. ‘The major issue now is that there are loads of people coming out of college but not enough work in particular areas of the music industry,’ he says. ‘Funding is also questionable with most projects.’
Flautist Catherine ★are, 24, a former Royal College of Music student fresh from the Master of Performance course, shares his concerns: ‘While music has always been a competitive industry, the decrease in funding for the arts is having a big impact on young professionals building their careers. As budgets become tighter, there are fewer projects for freelance players. Unfortunately, many gigs are offered at a low rate or even unpaid.’
Despite their concerns, students’ energy, talent and sheer enthusiasm still seem to prevail. Linda Merrick, principal of the Royal Northern College of Music, claims that for the past three years the proportion of the college’s graduates working in the music industry after six months has been
‘I didn’t wait to be noticed but instead made my own opportunities’
running at 84 per cent. ‘This is a seven per cent increase since 2014, which suggests that what we’re doing here is working,’ she says.
What the college is ‘doing’ includes compulsory work placements in ensembles, orchestras and the wider music industry. Associated fields include health care, Dragons’ Den-style entrepreneur schemes – where, in bidding for project funding, students acquire business and presentation skills – as well as traditional artist development courses that focus on communication, presentation and programme building. ‘It all helps to develop the portfolio careers they’ll need,’ says Merrick. ‘Our focus on musical excellence hasn’t left us but it’s now excellence plus helping them acquire the connections, experiences and business flair they’ll need to succeed. Without this, we won’t see those six-month outcomes.’
Possibly not, but what about 12 months, two years or even five years down the line? ★ow does a music graduate ensure they’re still making a living from music? Alex Parker, 27, graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in music in 2012. While he was there, he continued to study the piano at the Royal Academy of Music, where he had previously been a member of the junior school. Today, he has exactly the kind of portfolio career in musical theatre – singing, accompanying, directing and conducting – students are encouraged to develop. When I speak to him, he’s working as associate to the British conductor John Wilson, preparing for his performances over the summer at the BBC Proms with both his own orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. ‘Working with John is terrifying but whoever it is and whatever you’re doing, you just have to work hard and slowly a career starts to feel attainable,’ says Parker. Studying the piano at the Academy kept him connected with London. ★e made contacts and took work opportunities so that by the time he had done his degree, he was able to move straight into a job.
‘I didn’t wait to be noticed but instead made my own opportunities. It’s music and so you have to let people see what you can do, whether that’s
solo or ensemble work, outreach or teaching. Three years since leaving university, I’m still putting myself out there, making connections and learning.’
★is energy, optimism and grip on reality are impressive. They’re qualities he shares with another former student, James Cross. The 26 year-old left the University of Southampton, where he gained a BA (★ons) in popular music performance, five years ago. ★is first job was with ★ampshire music services, for whom he worked as a peripatetic drum teacher. A couple of years later he left to start his own practice. ‘It takes time to build up a teaching practice, so to pay the bills I’ve taken a “proper job” part-time, while continuing to teach and perform. I’ll play anywhere and at any time – you don’t know if a talent scout is in the audience.’
Cross accepts he’s working in an industry that is over-supplied with talent and which can knock you down. ‘It’s not secure and never will be. You have to be positive and keep at it, otherwise you won’t stand a chance.’
Alasdair Tait of YCAT is one of the people who sees first-hand how over-supplied the classical music profession. ‘We get 120 applications for our annual auditions, of which eight go to the final and from which we select up to three,’ he explains. ‘It then takes up to four years to develop an international platform for them, against an increasingly competitive background.
‘Not everyone can be a soloist. Students need to ask themselves where they sit in the music world. Do they have to change their aspirations or even their career? Can the skills they’ve learned be used elsewhere in the music industry? Questions like these require people to be honest with themselves but they don’t often give themselves that reality check.’
But if his organisation can’t justify investing time and effort into a promising soloist for a period of four years it is at least prepared to help students during their development through its Sounding Board initiative. The scheme offers seminars and workshops, project mentoring and individual coaching. ‘It helps students grasp the reality of the profession,’ explains Tait. ‘They need to leave the comfort blanket of college behind because it’s more competitive out there than ever before.’
More expensive, too. Like their peers elsewhere in the higher education sector, music students have to pay course fees. Are music colleges and conservatoires simply feeding off their fragile ambitions? ‘Students are building up large fee debts, so coming here for a four-year course is not for the faint-hearted or something you choose to do on a whim,’ says Linda Merrick. ‘Fortunately, they’re motivated – and it shows.’
James Cross accepts that fees have risen since his days at Southampton University – what his three years cost then would buy just one year today – but remains supportive of the system. ‘A student loan is the best loan you’ll ever have, and the years it bought me studying music will set me up for life.’
That’s surely one thing Julian Lloyd Webber won’t disagree with.