Monday, October 6, 2008

The 21st Century Musician

In yersterday's Times, there was this interesting article about a young New York musician named Caleb Burhans. Burhans is a jack-of-all trades artist. He sings professionally in church choirs, he plays multiple instruments (violin, viola, mandolin, percussion) and he composes. As a freelance musician in New York, particularly in the new-music (contemporary western classical, experimental) scene, he has found several niches. As the article relates, he can easily sing Bach on one hand and be part of a techno band on the other. The piece is revealing because it brings up the evolving question of specialization, which has traditionally been heavily emphasized in a musician's training and career. Is it a boon or a handicap? Does the modern day musician have to be multifaceted to sustain him/herself? Is it worth spreading your energies over several different areas of music to increase your likelihood of getting performances, recognition, more work? Or is it like the old addage, "Jack of all trades, master of none"?

Another interesting point made was that a generation that has grown up with so much more musical exposure will therefore have more diverse musical ideas. We like to compartmentalize our styles - rock and classical could never have similarities, and so on. But so much of the new-music repertoire draws from Baroque, jazz, electronica, some types of pop. These boundaries are increasingly porous. We can't pigeon-hole music anymore, and perhaps therefore, we cannot pigeon-hole musicians either?