Seems as if everyone wants to know how all those music students are going to support themselves when they get out of school.

In next month’s Opera News, Allan Kozinn writes about how conservatories are incorporating career training into their curriculums, and News Hour ran its own report a few weeks ago on the travails of fine-arts students.

Jon Marcus of the Times Higher Education Supplement (UK) put the focus on the new Paul R. Judy Center at Eastman (disclaimer: my employer), which will be dedicated to helping students create their own ensembles, as did Rochester’s own Democrat and Chronicle and RBJ. 

There’s a lot of optimism surrounding new groups like Alarm Will Sound and the International Contemporary Ensemble, but so far the work they create doesn’t pay nearly as well as a even a third-tier orchestra job (granted, there are few of those). More and more, musicians are surviving by piecing together a living from playing a little, teaching a lot, and taking on a part-time job outside of music. 

There’s also a danger with career courses that students might interpret the message as this: if we  write a good resume and find the right photographer for headshots, we can get those few high-paying gigs–or shine brightly enough to be a rich and famous star.

That said, when people ask me what you can do with a music degree, I respond, What can’t you do? Never underestimate the power of intelligent people who love what they do to survive and thrive.

I thought it was a joke when I heard about it a couple of years ago, but Finnish tango is a real thing.

So is German-language-loving dirty ol’ Finnish men, apparently. Sheesh.

Tango came to Helsinki as early as the 1910s, and was at the height of its popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s, when songs like “Satumaa” by Reijo Taipale’s “Satumaa” caught on as indigenous popular music:

Want to learn more? Go here and here. The New York Times recently ran a story about Finnish tango as a dying art; read it here. 

On Deceptive Cadence, Anastasia Tsioulcas praises Vi Hart for “demystifying” serialism. Perhaps the best way to understand twelve-tone composition, though, is to listen to great music written using the technique, which is why I picked these as two of my favorite American symphonies. 

Real-estate agents really love their jobs here in Rochester. Especially Ira Jevotovsky:

And there’s this:

The house is really clean, or it actually comes with sequins. Either way: awesome.

My favorite, though, is the sign posted after the sale mocking tardy customers. “Too late!” it said. Hilarious.

In the UK, Andy Doe on Proper Discord criticized both the Times Higher Education Supplement and The Independent for reporting that the Royal Academy of Music has a 100% employment rate among its graduates. According to Doe, the survey upon which both sources base their articles omits over half the RAM’s graduating class and defines employment very loosely as basically doing more than simply sitting around all day on the couch.

The Times Higher Education Supplement‘s American correspondent, Jon Marcus, cites some numbers in the US, and frames them optimistically. Citing a study from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Marcus says that the unemployment rate for music students is only one per cent higher than the unemployment rate for university grads in general (8.6 per cent versus 7.9 per cent), and lower than other arts majors (almost 10 per cent of them can’t find jobs after graduation).

(Disclosure: Marcus discusses the Eastman School of Music at length in his article, and as director of communications I provided him with information on the school and set up an interview with the school’s dean.)

Doe was right to look at the Royal Academy of Music stats with a jaundiced eye; clearly there is some wishful thinking going on there, and the uncritical reception by UK news outlets reflects a possible bias towards fine-arts education. On the other hand, we in the US assume that music graduates are unemployable, which might explain why Marcus responds to the Georgetown study as if they are a cause for optimism.

On NPR’s Deceptive Cadence blog, Tom Huizenga is looking for the great American symphony, and he provides a comprehensive Spotify playlist of candidates. Here are a couple more to consider.

The first is Rochberg’s Symphony No. 2, which George Szell premiered in 1959 with the Cleveland Orchestra. It’s got all the things that makes Rochberg great–it’s aggressive, ironic, and filled with breathtaking musical contrasts–without the (at times) hammy reliance on stylistic allusion that marked his mid-’60s and ’70s music. I think it’s his best piece.

The second is Wallingford Riegger‘s Symphony No. 3 from 1948. It’s alive with rhythmic energy; it’d be a great piece to choreograph:

Back in September 2012, the board of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra plucked Mark Niehaus from the ranks of its trumpet section and appointed him president and CEO. On Wednesday, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra replaced disgraced executive director Richard Dare with acting principal oboist James Roe.

Hopefully, hiring from within will help both of these orchestras avoid the distrust between musicians, management, and board has exacerbated so many of the recent crises in American orchestras. It’s heartening, I hope it works, and it will be exciting to see if it becomes a trend.

Thanks to Eric Snowdon and the NSC, Orwell’s back! 

When Wegmans was building its new store on East Avenue in Rochester, the word on the street was that there would be an underground parking garage for customers. There is indeed a parking lot under the new store, but it’s for employees. Here’s how everyone found out: 

In a recent post, I lifted some data from the Detroit Free Press that showed just how little the Motor City should care whether the city’s emergency manager sells a few pieces of art to cover its bills.

That data was part of the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey, and today The Atlantic highlighted a group of maps that use the survey’s data to paint a revealing picture of America’s income inequality.

You can view the maps here.

Through Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish, I came across a blog post by 22-year-old Mary Sydnor, who bemoans the dearth of fellow classical-music travelers her age:

Sadly, at age 22, it is not an exaggeration for me to admit that I have no one my own age willing to discuss my greatest passion with me: classical music. I’m sure there must be other millennials out there who scrimp and save for yearly orchestra subscriptions or who’d prefer to party with Poulenc instead of P. Diddy (is that who the kids are listening to these days?), but I have yet to meet them.

Granted, the classical-music audience is predominantly 50 and over, but it’s hard to believe that in a city like Philadelphia there aren’t other 20-somethings out there going to concerts. The Philadelphia Orchestra is certainly trying to draw them out: it has a $25 subscription package for university students and a young professionals membership program.

I am so glad I didn’t have to learn this lesson the way that John Tortorella did: no one likes a bully.

Last week, the New York Rangers unexpectedly fired Tortorella as their coach. He is infamous for showing utter contempt to the media, but reports have surfaced that his abuse of players led to his ouster. Certainly, speaking hard truths to players is part of a coach’s job, but criticizing them in public? Not so much.

If you act like a mean jerk, eventually people will assume you’re a mean jerk and tune you out. It’s the fast track to alienation–from your job, but also from family and friends. Reading about Tortorella reminded me of how important it is to keep my own abrasiveness in check, both at home and at work (because I love my family, like my job, and want to keep both).

Tortorella’s now-former boss said after the firing, “Every coach has a shelf life.” Because of his behavior, Tortorella greatly shortened his. The next time you want to have at someone, think about whether it’s worth it. It probably isn’t. Don’t be like John Tortorella.