Music Seen not Heard

[Disclaimer: There are many generalizations in the following piece. Many exceptions exist, and always will. This article is intended as a general indictment, but not as a blanket one.]

As time goes by, we have- for better and for worse- become more and more a visually-oriented society. Fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, radio was the prime form of entertainment in the home, only to be usurped by television and its additional visual component in stunningly rapid fashion.

I don't blame television exclusively. In fact, it very well may be that it, too, is a symptom rather than a cause. Also, there's no doubt that the way things look has always been a very important part of our lives. I simply believe that the balance has shifted to such a degree that the visual now trumps all else, regardless, and that this has led to the loss of much that is valuable.

This has affected all aspects of culture, especially the arts and- of course- music. Where musicians before focused first on the music itself (well, duh!), they later shifted to looking at the overall “package,” and now place image above all else- even musical skill and artistry. I call this (not entirely accurately) the MTV effect: as it has become more and more apparent to them that flashy special effects were more effective than anything at improving the bottom line, artists have done and producers have required more and more, until this has become the central thrust of most musical endeavors.

At first this was great, because musicians at the time still had musical sensibilities, and the videos served to enhance the art by enabling artists to put yet another distinctive mark on their works. However, as time went on, what had been the magic ingredient to improve the dish became the dish itself. Gone was the main ingredient, replaced by a pound of seasoning.

What's interesting, though, is that there are still many situations in which our visual apparatus is not at all required. In an elevator, for instance, or at a shopping mall, we hear music without any accompanying video. In fact, this is true “music” as the word is understood.

On the flip side, there are not too many times we watch musicians perform with the sound muted. Oh, sure, there are times when we walk by a storefront and see a monitor with the newest star gyrating on the screen. It may be that several people are watching. It may even be that he or she is most well-known for those gyrations rather than for the actual music. I submit, then, that this person is a dancer who sings rather than a singer who dances. Music without sound is nothing.

Many will take issue with me and say that this distinction is arbitrary- that an artist is an artist. I don't dispute that. On a certain level, artistry- whether it be defined narrowly or broadly- is artistry, and I would be the last person to begrudge someone his success, even if he were a poor musician.

You see, I love beauty in art, and if someone's efforts are appreciated widely then he has brought something beautiful to people's lives. In no way would I diminish something so wonderful.

However, I am also for honesty and for the recognition that any choice requires a sacrifice. Most of today's musicians are simply not as good at music as yesterday's. Why?- because the music is not as important a component of their overall performances and because they have less time to devote to it, their attention being focused on other aspects of their work.

I notice this when I am in the elevators, shopping malls and grocery stores. I can hear the difference. I suppose many don't mind, as they imagine the music videos playing in their heads, but what if you've never seen it?

Speaking strictly musically, I think the older music is better. As I write that, I can't help seeing that it echoes the sentiments of all other generations as they compare their experiences to those of younger, more current ones. Maybe I just don't understand the “new way.”

Perhaps. But I've also been around long enough to see (and hear) the difference. For all their advantages, people of a younger generation don't have that.

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About the author: Ralph Schatzki has been a lawyer and a teacher but always remains an opera singer, husband and father. He tries to sing whenever he can and to promote great music and singing throughout our world.

http://www.ralphschatzki.com
http://www.la-coffee-melodie-suite.com

Substance over Style

Well, today I'm trying to get some music back in my head. As I become more mature (a euphemism for saying I'm getting older), I find this to be a slightly more difficult task than it was for my younger self. My memory's not as rock solid as it once was- some would say I'm delusional, and that my memory was never too solid to start with...but then, that just proves my point, doesn't it?- and all the nuance that composers put in seemingly just to trip you up is hard to retain. (I know: variety is the spice of life, but why does Mozart have to be so darn hot?)

In some ways, though, things are easier, now. I'm far more musical, having years more experience under my belt, and I've inevitably picked up a few tricks that serve me well from time to time.

All this has made me think: Why are more experienced artists cast aside for younger ones? Experience in performance can not be overvalued, yet every day we hear of green performers- and I don't mean envious- replacing established stars. This is a great loss for everyone, not least the public, whose expectations are slowly lowering as a performer with years of artistry is cast aside to the curb in favor of a fresh, young face who barely knows his right from his left.

In recognizing how I've changed through the years as an artist, I can see where I've improved and where I've declined. I cherish the areas in which I've grown, I bemoan the things that I've lost, and I accept that this is process is inevitable.

Younger artists, though, are ignorant of this: they only know the now, since they have as yet no significant past experience to think back upon. As such, they are typically brash and confident, if not subtle and experienced. This certainty appeals to many. Unfortunately, this world of ours seems to be much more drawn to confidence, now, than to actual ability: we're becoming more and more an image-based, rather than substance-based, culture.

Now, image is not a bad thing- it's simply not the only thing. We need to be sure to impress people with substance, and then perhaps they won't think any less of us simply because we've lost our brashness and replaced it with artistry.

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About the author: Ralph Schatzki has been a lawyer and a teacher but always remains an opera singer, husband and father. He tries to sing whenever he can and to promote great music and singing throughout our world.

http://www.ralphschatzki.com
http://www.la-coffee-melodie-suite.com

Where do we go from here?

So, the economy is in a recession, and arts funding is being cut or even eliminated. Opera companies and symphonies are filing for bankruptcy, and the public loses more and more of its cultural treasures every day.

Hardest hit, in a way, are the performers themselves. Audiences move on and organizations disappear or restructure, but artists and musicians still have to survive, both financially and spiritually. With so many outlets becoming unavailable, though, what are they to do?

If live musical performances were more valued, of course, the problem would be less acute. The movie industry is hardly in financial straits, simply because the cinema is so well-entrenched in society. Television appears to be here for the long haul, as well.

Unfortunately, live performance doesn't have the cultural foothold that cinema or television do. Part of this is due to other economic realities. (Movies and television programs are mass-marketed, and all one needs is a way to play them in order to enjoy. Live performances are- well- of course, live, and require the actual performers to be present!)

Yet, there are still- and always have been- local performing arts groups that satisfy a community's hunger for the excitement that only live performance can bring; although even these, too, are now feeling the pinch of tightening purse strings. But while the larger of these entities- symphonies and opera companies- may or may not be able to survive, it is the perfect opportunity for smaller organizations and individuals to fill the void.

New times call for new methods, however, so no one should expect “business as usual.” Novel approaches and cost-cutting will be the norm, and those who are content to sit back and play the game the old way will not be at all successful; especially considering that those ways are what got us to where we are today.

Still, I am guardedly optimistic that a new generation of art lovers will be born from this economic crisis, for the necessity that will motivate diligent artists will prompt them to reach out to any group they can, to demonstrate in ever-more intimate, and therefore effective, fashion the unique power that live performance can bring. It is now up to the artists to carry out this important mission.

By Ralph Schatzki
For La CoffeeMelodie Suite

Acknowledge the ART within your heart.
Make the MUSIC from your soul.

Sing&Play&Meet&Eat

When: Saturday, April 4th,2009
Where: A private Residence in Easton, PA - will be reveled with a RSVP 'yes'
To RSVP please go to http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

What: "Sing&Play&Meet&Eat = Make great music, make good friends and have great food (I was told many times that I'm a good cook!!!)

Since last month's meeting was an introduction, this up-coming meeting should include 'action'!!!! I would like to invite all members to get together for Sing&Play&Meet&Eat This is an informal setting. The idea is for all of us to share our talents by performing to and for each other - singing, playing instruments, etc - in a positive and friendly environment. Members who are 'Friends in ' Classical/Opera Musicians & Friends of the Lehigh Valley, please, do come and enjoy the arts with us! Let's plan to meet around 4 pm. The actual Sing&Play will start at 4:30 until 5:45. If you are/have friends who are pianists and like to accompany voice, please come/invite them along, otherwise, we'll just take turn accompanying each other! We'll have time after the Sing&Play to Meet&Eat - I will provide food and beverages (non-alcoholic) - both for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. There is a small charge of $6.50 for good food. Please RSVP soon!

Please prepare up to 3 pieces that you would like to sing and/or play for us!

I would love to see all of you and can't wait to share our talents and experiences."

Please go to COM-LV official site for details http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

Singers Unite! - by Ralph Schatzki

http://www.meetup.com/Classical-Opera-Musicians-of-the-Lehigh-Valley-COMLV/

I've posted before about how singers have to take the initiative in creating performance opportunities for themselves and their audiences. Not only is it good business practice, but it is such a unique privilege to be able to bring great music into peoples' lives. There's nothing quite like a live performance to enrich the soul.

Still, musicians often feel that they are “against the world” in their endeavor to perform. Let's face it: it's not as if the want-ads are full of job listings for freelance performers, and audiences aren't usually beating down our doors clamoring for us to perform.

There's a bred-in-the-bone distrust of fellow musicians, as well: in the past, the few jobs that were available were fiercely fought over, and musicians would often try to keep whatever information they had secreted away from others in an effort to remove their competition and hold onto their precious domains.

Now, the competition-cooperation dichotomy is one that truly fascinates me, and I could devote many, many chapters of a book to its discussion. Don't worry: I'm not going to subject you to that, here. What I will say, however, is that we should make a clear distinction between jobs that are advertised versus ones we create.

When the Metropolitan Opera throws out a casting call, you'd be a fool to inform your five closest rivals. After all, you want to be the best singer that gets heard. This is the traditional way of thinking about getting hired.

In creating jobs, however, we are not in competition with each other at all. In fact, there is tremendous strength in numbers that only our cooperative efforts can bring about. If singers can get together and brainstorm various ideas about how to generate performance opportunities, it's the better for all of us. We can introduce each other to our acquaintances thereby generating a large audience base, and we can be there to troubleshoot each others' ideas.

Remember that your product is unique, so there's no need to worry that someone will preempt your product. If I buy a Mercedes today, that means I won't buy a BMW tomorrow. But if I go to a soprano's recital on Thursday it doesn't mean that I'm done with recitals until I get a new one, and that the baritone's performance on Sunday is off-limits.

It's a rough world out there, and we need friends to help weather the storm. Don't be one of those artists who sits on the sidelines and complains about the unfairness of it all, and how you don't get a chance to perform. Take charge, and along with your colleagues band together to strengthen the community of artists wherever you find yourself. It's not only in your best interests, but your duty to the Art.

http://www.pradichaya.com/coffeemelodieandcommunity.aspx

Singers in 2009 by Ralph Schatzki

It's 2009, and we have our first African-American president. We're in a recession, if not a depression, and an unprecedented stimulus bill has been approved by Congress. And opera companies- an important portion of this country's artistic community- are failing.

We are all of us in the position of having to make difficult decisions, and there's no doubt that having food on the table (never mind having a table) takes precedence over an evening of music. Still, I don't believe that the arts should be relegated to (or beyond) the fringe of human activity. As a singer and performer I'm rather biased in my views, of course, but I will nevertheless defend the arts over many other activities as being worthy of our time and effort. Entertainment is a facet of our lives that we crave: it diverts, it enriches, it makes us feel complete. And music is something almost everyone enjoys on a daily basis.

But that discussion is for another time.

For now, I want to rally fellow musicians to the cause. The old saying goes, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Well, I believe that the tough times we are entering- and things are not getting better anytime soon- actually gives rise to the opportunity to make the arts both stronger and a more integral a part of American life.

What we need is action. We can no longer wait for any opportunities to come our way, but rather we must make them. Yes, it's true that people will now spend less on entertainment than what they may have used to, but that doesn't mean they won't seek it out or they need it any less. And I believe this opens a door of opportunity.

It's time to approach audiences at a grass-roots level, to introduce them to artists that may, one day, be world-famous. Then, they can say, “I knew him when he was just starting out.” Do you know any movie or sports stars? If so, isn't it great? You can say, “I know so-and-so,” and everyone looks at you through admiring eyes. If not, don't you wish you did? (Come on, admit it...)

But even if 99% of performers will never achieve stardom, it doesn't matter. A live performance, whether it's a play, opera or basketball game, is infinitely more satisfying than a recorded or televised one. We've become such a media-driven and media-obsessed culture, that the “true” experience has become something of a rarity. Still, even the most jaded audience (and by that I mean a group of high school teenagers, but the premise applies to all) never fails to be impressed by a live event- especially if it's relatively intimate- where it becomes something tangible, real, to be touched and savored. It becomes something that touches them somewhere deep inside, and connects them to an aspect of themselves that before they didn't know existed.

We need to bring music to the living rooms, the way it used to be one, two, three hundred years ago. We can increase the number of people who love great music, which in the future will pay untold dividends for generations through more music lovers and more support. For most of us, a major performance at an international venue is even more of an unattainable dream than ever before; but that doesn't mean we can't create and bring great music to audiences that will enjoy it equally as much.

This means each of us must become an advocate for this art form in which we passionately believe. We have to take the initiative, to advertise and promote, to “talk it up.” We have an advantage, too: we can bring music into people's homes where a lot of entertainers are actually constrained by their grandness- movie stars can't bring a film production to a house, and Kobe Bryant wannabes don't shoot hoops with neighbor kids for a few bucks. It just isn't done that way, but we musicians can touch people on an individual level in a live performance. That's what it's all about.

And that's what we need to do.

Please visit http://www.pradichaya.com/coffeemelodieandcommunity.aspx for details.

The Value of Musicians

by Ralph Schatzki

Music is one of the most important parts of our lives. Who has never sung, whether in the car or in the shower? Who has never tapped his fingers or feet along to the a rhythm of a song he heard on the radio? Tunes are stuck in our heads for hours sometimes despite our best efforts, and we hear music everywhere: from elevators to commercials to people humming on the street.

To call oneself specifically a musician, then, is to acknowledge not only that music plays an even more central part in one's life than the already extensive role it plays in everyone's, but that in doing so there is a pursuit of excellence that can be achieved only through both talent and diligence.

This cannot be overstated. Because nearly everyone- at one time or another, and sometimes even more often- engages in musical activities, it is often extraordinarily difficult for a professional musician to be taken seriously. After all, music is something we all do, so how can one person's musical activities be viewed so qualitatively differently?

There is also the fact that music, viewed as our birthright, is not something so arcane as to be valued in the same way as, say, a doctor's medical knowledge or an electrician's ability to repair faulty wiring. How can someone be paid to do something that we all understand- at least to some degree?

Most of society's professionals are able to command the fees they do, not simply because of the services they provide, but because they have put in those countless hours of work beforehand that enable them now to provide us with the best service money can buy. Yet, professional musicians put in no less time- in practicing, in rehearsing, in developing technique, in learning music- and still the perception so often is that their fees, if they are even lucky enough to be paid at all, are only for the performance itself: as if all that preparation is conveniently forgotten and the audience is simply amazed at the performer's “natural talent.” Now, there are extremely gifted musicians whose talents extend toward and beyond the prodigious; just as, I'm sure, there are medical prodigies and engineering prodigies. Most, though, just have an aptitude which is buoyed by years of training and hard work..

So, the next time we hear a great musical performance we should think about all the hours the musicians must have put in to make it happen: assign to it an hourly rate and see what kind of a deal we're getting. Above all, we must resist the urge of assuming that a professional musician is just like everyone else and that he needn't be paid. It's a lot of work to put on a good performance, just as it's a lot of work to be a good doctor.

Now, there's no question that in a strictly utilitarian sense music isn't as valuable as medical or electrical knowledge, but- remember those rhetorical questions at the beginning?- most would agree that it is indeed centrally important to our lives. Just because its value is not of the same kind, though, is no reason for it to be any less respected. I can put on a band-aid as well as the next person, but I still pay my doctor. We all can hum in the shower, but we should pay our musicians, too.