As I do deal a lot with musicians on a daily basis (not just as a 'passive concert-goer') a certain observation of the Slovak and Czech music world around me haunts my mind. And the key word is, as awful as it might sound: STAGNATION. Oddly enough, there's an old proverb - and I must admit, maybe quite presumptuous, but for the sake of argument it is a nice starting point - "every Czech a musician". Proverbs sometimes do contain a slight historical truth, so let's ponder on this given. Just to make clear, since our long coexistence, I consider Slovakia still a bit similar to the Czech case in that aspect, as Slovak was labelled in the 18th century as Czech. But let's not delve too much on ethnographics and history right now.
If I remember Gustav Mahler's fan and acquaintance, whom I mentioned earlier in one of my previous articles, Ján Cádra, where he mentions a significant difference between a German orchestra and an orchestra from Prague, while Mahler rehearsed his symphonies with them, he did stress, that the Czech musicians seemed to understand the music better than the players in Munich - even though as far as the orchestra discipline is concerned, Munich seemed to have his favour. So perhaps. something in the Bohemian (Czech) culture was indeed notably music oriented. Not to forget the list of Bohemian composers, who even moved around all of Europe and beyond - Benda, Stamic, Rosetti (originally Růžička), and of course Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, Martinů and more. In such a landscape it must be inherent that passing on this cultural inheritance to the next generations would be the most natural thing. Well, ... not quite, as it appears. And in all honesty, I see hardly any big Slovak or Czech name, which in my eyes can truly compete with his colleagues from abroad.
I feel sometimes a bit depressed, when seeing how students struggle in schools, which offer hollow programmes - just the conventional dexterity excercises, teachers - who are not merely badly motivated because of the low wages, even sometimes have no fundamental pedagogical skills whatsoever - furthermore there is a chronic tunnel view (exceptions aside - but exceptions are exceptions; not the rule). Music education resembles an old outdated factory, where production is inefficient, producing low quality commodities which nobody seems wanting to buy. That's a bit of an alarming statement, but this persistently lingers in my mind, everytime I deal with cultural institutes in general.
Interestingly enough, when meeting musicians in a pub, after concerts or rehearsals, you hear suddenly very different and strong opinions. Not to downgrade pub talks - as these did indeed pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Obviously there's definitively a awareness around - maybe a bit limited to a certain group of musicians; those who have the talent, to look beyond their horizons. Fortunately! Naturally, the question follows, why, then, is stagnation so rampant? Is there such a schism between a quasi 'ruling class' and the others, where "the twain shall never meet"?
I see therefore one of the major weaknesses in education. An area, which needs a different attitude; the humble subservant teacher should be aware of his important role in shaping his pupil's skills and most of all - his character. I see a lot of scrap going on; people who should not be allowed to teach at all, as they devastate a potential talent causing perhaps lasting damage, rather than making him/her ready to be inquisitive, eager to learn new things, to look beyond, and be confident; confident to stand up, to start making a difference.
There is obviously a gap; what is diagnosed, does not get to the top, or the top doesn't want to change the diagnosed issue. Like a serious disease; you can perhaps try to ignore it for a while - pretending it's not there, but sooner or later, you will pass a point, where it becomes irreversibly incurable with fatal results. It is in the interest of all involved - and society - to jointly address this stagnation and get it moving again, to preserve a unique heritage while you still can. A matter of lacking money? But even with limited funds, the change can come even from within. The sad truth is, that there is enough money around; it's just a embarrassing lack of interest!
MS
If I remember Gustav Mahler's fan and acquaintance, whom I mentioned earlier in one of my previous articles, Ján Cádra, where he mentions a significant difference between a German orchestra and an orchestra from Prague, while Mahler rehearsed his symphonies with them, he did stress, that the Czech musicians seemed to understand the music better than the players in Munich - even though as far as the orchestra discipline is concerned, Munich seemed to have his favour. So perhaps. something in the Bohemian (Czech) culture was indeed notably music oriented. Not to forget the list of Bohemian composers, who even moved around all of Europe and beyond - Benda, Stamic, Rosetti (originally Růžička), and of course Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, Martinů and more. In such a landscape it must be inherent that passing on this cultural inheritance to the next generations would be the most natural thing. Well, ... not quite, as it appears. And in all honesty, I see hardly any big Slovak or Czech name, which in my eyes can truly compete with his colleagues from abroad.
I feel sometimes a bit depressed, when seeing how students struggle in schools, which offer hollow programmes - just the conventional dexterity excercises, teachers - who are not merely badly motivated because of the low wages, even sometimes have no fundamental pedagogical skills whatsoever - furthermore there is a chronic tunnel view (exceptions aside - but exceptions are exceptions; not the rule). Music education resembles an old outdated factory, where production is inefficient, producing low quality commodities which nobody seems wanting to buy. That's a bit of an alarming statement, but this persistently lingers in my mind, everytime I deal with cultural institutes in general.
Interestingly enough, when meeting musicians in a pub, after concerts or rehearsals, you hear suddenly very different and strong opinions. Not to downgrade pub talks - as these did indeed pinpoint exactly what is wrong. Obviously there's definitively a awareness around - maybe a bit limited to a certain group of musicians; those who have the talent, to look beyond their horizons. Fortunately! Naturally, the question follows, why, then, is stagnation so rampant? Is there such a schism between a quasi 'ruling class' and the others, where "the twain shall never meet"?
I see therefore one of the major weaknesses in education. An area, which needs a different attitude; the humble subservant teacher should be aware of his important role in shaping his pupil's skills and most of all - his character. I see a lot of scrap going on; people who should not be allowed to teach at all, as they devastate a potential talent causing perhaps lasting damage, rather than making him/her ready to be inquisitive, eager to learn new things, to look beyond, and be confident; confident to stand up, to start making a difference.
There is obviously a gap; what is diagnosed, does not get to the top, or the top doesn't want to change the diagnosed issue. Like a serious disease; you can perhaps try to ignore it for a while - pretending it's not there, but sooner or later, you will pass a point, where it becomes irreversibly incurable with fatal results. It is in the interest of all involved - and society - to jointly address this stagnation and get it moving again, to preserve a unique heritage while you still can. A matter of lacking money? But even with limited funds, the change can come even from within. The sad truth is, that there is enough money around; it's just a embarrassing lack of interest!
MS
No comments:
Post a Comment