I keep getting this repsonse...

[kenjari]

As I'm sure everyone has figured out by now, I'm a composer. Over the years, whenever I've told people this, I have frequently gotten a somewhat odd response. One of the first things non-musicians often do after I tell them I'm a composer is to reveal or even describe their own lack of musical aptitude or knowledge. "Oh, well, I can't carry a tune in a bucket". "The only thing I can play is the radio." "I was never any good at the (insert name of instrument here)." It's never resentful or negative in any way. In fact, these statements are more like disclaimers, or even confessions. I find this a little puzzling. I can't ever recall reacting in a similar way when meeting people of other professions. I don't respond to artists by immediately blurting out "I can't even draw a decent stick figure", or to programmers by admitting that I never could find sufficient patience for code. I wonder if other composers or musicians with other specialities (performance, musicology) get this response as much as I do. And I wonder if there is something in particular about music, or even about me specifically, that elicits this response. I don't really mind - it's a lot better than the people who immediately inform me that I'm not going to make much money from my chosen profession (thanks, tell me something I didn't figure out 10 years ago). It's just odd.

Comments

[anacrucis.livejournal.com]

what frustrates me is just the level of ignorance, and the general state of music education in this country. When I was teaching in elementry school, the classroom teacher would come in and make comments like "oh I don't know anything about this stuff" and I'm like "If I walked into your math class, I would be able to do the stuff you were teaching your kids."

I've often commented that, as the holder of an undergrad degree in music, I feel about as well-educated in music as your average european high-schooler.