Modern musician blog 2

Insights and experiences from musicians and people from the classical music industry about how it really is to be a "Modern Musician".

Blog 2 from Dorothy, classical music event organiser, music teacher and ex artist management:

 

Musicians should look at the consequences of the economics of today's world confidently and react positively to this.  It is important to get a clear understanding of your strengths and qualities and assess how you are currently positioned in your home territory as well as internationally.  It is fascinating to work out whether you are in a good position due to the variety of avenues available at this present time.  In classical music, the routes to one's visibility has expanded at an unprecedented rate in the last years.  Musicians continue to give concerts and recordings at the very highest quality and with the expansion of the digital era, we are able to push the boundaries of creativity to whole new level.  

The music scene outside of classical music has been developing many digital and internet avenues for a long time, sometimes with huge successes and other times not so, alongside with the technology which is constantly improving.  Classical music can take the best from this learning and use it to their advantage.  For example, we are now seeing a huge growth in the downloading of classical music and more recently, the streaming of classical concerts.  I find this wonderful as you can make contact with a whole new audience, a "live from your living room" experience.  This experience gives the viewer a feeling of personal contact to the soloists, conductors and orchestras and a sense of how they coorperate and work.  Taking the streaming one side step, I am inspired by the number of students and young musicians who wish to stream their weekly lessons, masterclasses, concerts and also their fruitful discussions on where they feel the future of classical music will be.  There's a great new discussion panel which is streamed (then downloaded onto YouTube) called the "Young Artists Forum" which brings together students, professional musicians, conductors, agents and orchestral managers.  There are no boundaries in this forum and any topic is warmly welcome.  

The key to education and learning is to share.  The traditional forms of education are taken through classroom lessons, lectures, music masterclasses, concerts and so forth.  To achieve the present and future trends of education and to help build the next generation of classical music audiences, I strongly believe you have to share your educational moments using all the present online and technology and in doing so, you are giving something to someone that may not have the resources to experience this directly.  

My view is that we have so many tools at our disposal at the present moment.  Work out your goals.  Make something happen.  Just do it.