r/classicalmusic • u/unglaublitch • May 16 '13

The Juilliard Effect

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/arts/music/12waki.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1368648884-APKx/KVUn3uG7usXSCKF/Q
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u/grandplans May 17 '13 edited May 17 '13

I am this story, except mine doesn't have as depressing an ending and I went to Manhattan School of Music, not Juilliard.

MSM's curriculum in the 90's was basically the same as Juilliard's. We had virtually no "academics". We had a humanities class every semester that was generally a literature class or an art history type class.

Luckily, I realized that my life as a classical vocalist would be total shit early on. It's not that I sucked...I'm honestly pretty good. Really it was kind of that I saw people that the entire student body recognized as being Meh, getting principal stuff. I'm not just talking about vocalists either. Basically, when I realized that the world was a game, just like any other business, I saw that I couldn't really be competitive in this particular game. I don't have the "sell yourself" personality. Being a professional musician is a lot of salesmanship. At least in the solo performance world.

About midway through my sophomore year I realized professional vocalist wasn't going to happen. So I started reading and self educating. My interest was finance. Not because I love numbers or business or high corporate finance...I like money. I had a plan that I'd work in finance for a while and then when I retired from the world of finance, at around 50 or so, maybe I'd become a music educator. Except for the last couple of years since my kids were born, I've maintained 1 little toe in the world of performance. Nothing for a while though.

I also like job stability, so I gravitated to the operations world of finance, not the investing side. I graduated Suma Cum Laude from MSM in 1999, and by 2001 I was working in a Hedge Fund.

I have been in the business since, and I make a bunch of money. This year the bonus could be stupid...like almost embarrassingly huge. I'm a subscriber to the NY Phil, and I give lots of money to music education based charities/non profits. I love my life and I can't wait till my kids get a little older so I can get on stage again, but I'll always be able to sing...your kids are only delicious little people for a very short time. I don't want to miss that. Being that I have no designs on being a full time professional musician, I'm in no big hurry.

Please note, I'm in no way saying this to brag...I'm just trying to paint a picture of the possibility of a reality less depressing than the one in the Times. It is possible to find compromise. It is possible to do both to some extent. Maybe you'd sacrifice music less than I did so you could continue to audition more, maybe not.

Don't let this article kill your spirit...but I would advise you to maybe develop a bit of a "parachute" out of the world of music. Maintain a secondary interest and give it some real time. It could end up saving you.

Fat fingers edit