SPCCAA 7
Do you love to teach?
Most who come to me want to be a performer – be it a soloist or an orchestral musician. The reality is that only an extremely
small number of music graduates can make a living solely from performing. Acquiring a degree in music – despite having the word
“performance” printed on your diploma – is almost an automatic step towards a career in teaching.
Naturally, you must ask yourself whether teaching is a calling, particularly of young children and beginners, which requires a level
of patience quite different from learning the Tchaikovsky concerto.
Before and above all else, I highlight this inevitable teaching component of the music profession, and strongly urge you to explore
and experience working with young children to get a feel for what it is like to have that lifestyle. You’ll go from one home or
studio to another, work somewhat unsociable hours, repeat pretty much the same comments and teach the same old Suzuki tunes
over and over again. Imagine, also, doing this six or even seven days a week, for your entire career, and realise there will be limited
room for career advancement or professional development.
American politician Condoleezza Rice was studying music performance at university; but in her second year, she attended a
prestigious summer festival where she realised that, although she was good, she was not good enough to have a performing career.
She said, “I just don’t want to be a piano teacher,” and changed her major after that. The rest is, as they say, history. She went on
to become, among other things, the US Secretary of State and the Provost of Stanford University. What foresight!
Do your research
Just as a financial adviser is obligated to inform his clients of all potential risks before signing them up for an investment product,
I feel equally responsible to present my rational analysis of the profession, probably influenced (some say, corrupted) by my year
in business school.
After all, dedicating four years of your life to studying something in such depth, not to mention the rising costs of university
education, is undoubtedly the most substantial investment a person can make. So it would be silly not to do your research and
learn about the potential risks.
I once invited Prof. Michael Friedmann of Yale University to speak to my students at St. Paul’s on the topic, “Opportunities
and Challenges for the Aspiring Musicians in the 21
st
Century”. Frankly, I do not recall much of the content of his presentation,
except the fact that he spent the entirety of his talk exclusively on the “challenges” part. Ever since, I have been collecting stories
and articles, mostly about the growing list of bankrupting orchestras and record companies. These articles have now become
mandatory reading assignments for my students. I also keep a copy of Robert J. Flanagan’s
The Perilous Lives of Symphony
Orchestras
on the bookshelf, which illustrates the struggles faced by orchestras with concrete data, just in case any strong-willed
individuals like to challenge the idea.
Supply and demand
The numbers of graduates in professional fields like law, medicine and architecture are somewhat calculated and controlled in
accordance to the law of supply and demand. As a result, those who are good enough to get into these university programmes
are almost guaranteed promising career prospects. For the field of music, there are approximately 400 students graduating with
a degree in music (undergraduate and postgraduate) every year in Hong Kong, compared to around the same number graduating
from medical schools. Do we really need the same number of performing musicians as we do doctors in the Hong Kong
workforce? While this question may be oversimplified, I nonetheless present you with this hypothesis, “There are more music
graduates in the world than it needs”, for your own debate. At the very least, it should motivate you to practise harder.
All about money
Presuming that most music graduates go on to become private tutors, I do not worry too much about them not being able to make
a living, at least in Hong Kong. Some indeed do very well, so long as they are passionate about teaching.
As for those wanting to be a performer, I salute them; but at the same time, they must understand that the odds of going to a music
school and landing a steady orchestral job or launching a solo performing career upon graduation is not unlike a student going into a
law school and expecting to be a supreme court judge. The only difference is that you do not hear about bankrupting supreme courts!
