The Question No Young Musician Wants To Hear

"So, what are you studying in school?"

Yes, that question. And you might think that that is a very ordinary, unassuming question but for anyone in college who's had to answer that question and the questions that always follow that question, then you know just what a hassle that conversation can turn into. Unfortunately, I have spent a considerable amount of time this year in the hospital. While there, I suppose to make some sort of small talk, the nurses and hospital workers would ask me questions about myself. Think of any uncomfortable question that someone could ask you and they asked me but I brushed those off with ease. But then, it would always come back to the aforementioned question. And I would always sigh a great sigh.

So why is this question so bad, you might ask. Well, there's a myriad of reasons but I'll start with the basics. Apparently, no one seems to study music anymore (this being the opinion of the general populus) and whenever you say "um, I study music", the response is always the same. one of astonishment and confusion. This leads to the second question --- "do you sing/what instrument do you play?". For me, I always get the people who believe that if you study music, that automatically makes you a singer. And so when they ask me do I sing, i never know what to say. First off, all collegiate musicians sing in some respect even though we may not all be singers. And I, personally, do sing but that is not my primary instrument. This is where it gets complicated for me. I always respond with "no. I play bassoon."

I'm sorry?

That always gets their goat. Now i don't mind that people don't necessarily know what a bassoon is. I tell them not to be ashamed or feel bad or try to hide the fact that they don't know, I don't mind. What bothers me are the people who say "bassoon? that's so weird. like no one plays bassoon! what made you play that?" spoken with a tone that reeks of disappointment, confusion and "wow, this girl is an idiot.". I don't know why I always seem to get that reaction, as if I've just made the biggest mistake of my life by choosing to play bassoon. But not even that's at the heart of this matter.

Apparently, if you go to the Czech Republic, they have a 95% music literacy rate, meaning, if you stopped someone on the street and asked them to sing a major scale, they probably could. If you asked someone that here, on the streets of New York City, well who knows what would happen. It's no surprise the lack of arts education in America. Now I do realize that this is not Europe where the Western art music tradition is so closely tied to the culture, nor should it be. My feelings about the state of music education in all its forms in this country are too many for this short commentary. And I can't even get into how questions like this, loaded if you will, can attack the already fragile identity of someone who chooses to study music. There is no support in the families, in the schools and in a society that values making money and moving up in the world as opposed to doing something you love and doing something that creates beauty and brings life. I know I've been the victim of feeling like it would have been better if I had gone into a "respectable" profession. This coming from the know-it-all adults who move through the muck and mire of life just to survive. All I want to say to the adults of this nation is this:

Yes, music is a real profession. It's been around longer than all of the IT jobs and upwardly mobile urban professions (well, most of them anyway) and it's not just singing do re mi, it's history and it's math and it's science and physics, acoustics, literature, physiology, psychology, human nature. It's the language of some of the most innovative, foresighted, creative geniuses in recorded history --- the myths of Wagner, the dreams of Berlioz, the religion of Bach, the vitality of Mozart. And not all of us want to play some piece you've never heard of at a concert you'll never go to. We're in law, medicine, business, education, publicity --- all of these things are part of the great doctrine that I study. I do not mock you for the thing that you work hard in and devote your life to, please try to return the courtesy.

And for all of you who wonder about the bassoon? Well, you have no idea what you're missing.