Youth -
the Golden Age of Music
by
Arthur Butterworth
It was in 1948 that
the musical establishment in Britain
first really became aware of the musical
potential of young people. Until then
there had always been a patronising
acknowledgement that young people
- children - could, on occasion display
unexpected musical talent, seemingly
beyond their years. Up to that time
there probably still persisted the
notion that "children should
be seen and not heard". That
said, throughout history there had
been instances of an adult maturity
sometimes being vouchsafed to unusually
gifted young people, such as Pitt,
the prime minister in his twenties,
mathematicians and scientists of seemingly
tender years, young kings and princes,
apparently able to establish authority.
In music perhaps the most obvious
young musical genius of all time was
Mozart. In later times there had been
gifted solo performers, even singers
although it had to be realised that
the voice, physiologically, could
hardly ever be expected to reach a
full potential until full adult-hood.
However in instrumental ability there
had been notable examples throughout
the ages: Vivaldi‘s string orchestra
of young girls in Venice, for instance.
In the twentieth century there had
even been a spate of orchestral conductors
who were thought to be curiosities
of popular appeal because they were
still only children: Willi Ferrero,
aged 7½ in 1914 who drew admiration
for his conducting, and was still
remembered in Italy as a reliable
and capable conductor, attracting
stable audiences in 1946. In the late
1940s there was also Pierino Gamba,
who at the age of about 9 appeared
as guest conductor with the Liverpool
Philharmonic. His photograph in the
popular press showed him being chaperoned
by some of the kindly women string
players of the Liverpool orchestra.
It should have been
no surprise when Ruth Railton (later
Dame Ruth Railton) founded the National
Youth Orchestra in 1948. For quite
some time afterwards it was treated
with a faintly patronising incredulity
on the part of blasé London
critics. That a huge orchestra - around
130 to 140 or more players - comprised
of teenagers could actually play a
major work such as a Tschaikowsky
or Sibelius symphony, or a Wagner
overture was thought to be almost
unbelievable. Now, after sixty years,
the National Youth Orchestra is no
longer regarded in the demeaning way
that it once was; rather it is acknowledged
as an enormous cultural asset. It
inspired numerous other youth orchestras
both in this country and abroad. The
youth movement was not, of course,
confined to the promotion of symphonic
music; it brought about the National
Youth Brass Band - established in
1952, by Dr Denis Wright - the National
Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the National
Youth Choir. Not only at a nation-wide
level though: county youth orchestras
and bands sprang up throughout Britain.
There was a rising tide of culture
in the 1960s which made it de rigueur
for all county education authorities
to promote the teaching of musical
instruments. Peripatetic teachers
of orchestral and band instruments
were widely sought after by all local
authorities. In the earlier years
these were very often former professional
players, who, having retired from
the hard grind of constant travelling
and (largely indifferent pay) as members
of professional orchestras; They brought
to young people the real, practical
experience of professional performance,
more often than not totally - and
mercifully- un-fettered by academic
background. Times were good, or so
it seemed. So how are things now?
Education - in the widest sense -
has "rationalised" the way
we teach children in just about every
subject. Academic qualification has
become an essential in whatever one
aspires to. However, there are some
aspects of life where academicism
is of secondary importance to practical
skills. Now it is all very well for
educational establishments to offer
all manner of degrees and diplomas
in musical academia, but the performance
of music does not primarily consist
of ‘book-knowledge’.
Like other handicrafts
- engineering, farming, workshop skills
- it benefits from some kind of apprenticeship
under the guidance of one who has
himself or herself "been through
the mill". While many of the
earlier peripatetic teachers had themselves
been performers - perhaps knowing
little or nothing of the dates or
other academic facts about the composers
whose music they were called upon
to perform - they certainly were able
to bring the essential practical skills
of playing the wide repertoire of
the concert hall.
To some extent a
following generation of peripatetic
teachers had not themselves "been
through the mill" of experience
in a professional orchestra, so were
to some extent unable to bring to
their pupils that ‘hands on’ experience
of the repertoire.
In Germany there
had always been a different approach
to musical education: Hochschule
meant practical study of an instrument,
rehearsing in a chamber group or orchestra.
On the other hand Universität
(‘Musikwissenschaft’) meant academia.
In Britain it was at one time possible
to attain a degree (Mus.Bac., Mus.Doc.)
without ever being asked to demonstrate
any skill whatsoever in an ability
to play an instrument.
So that, to some
extent, otherwise academically well-qualified
young teachers were not always as
good as their earlier - essentially
practical - and thoroughly experienced
predecessors who had been members
of professional orchestras. However,
in more recent times almost all the
musical educational institutions have
sought to rectify, and bring together
these disparate attitudes to musical
studies, by offering some kind of
combined courses in which practical
skills are required alongside purely
academic approaches.
How has this affected
attitudes and the eventual abilities
of young people involved in music
in the widest sense? For those fortunate
enough to attain a higher level of
education it has, of course, been
a great advantage. However, not all
practical music at school level has
benefited, for many schools are not
able to afford the kind of teaching
skills that were so readily available
forty years ago, and in almost all
cases parents are now called upon
to pay for such specialised instrumental
instruction whereas in the halcyon
days of the1960s instrumental teaching
in schools was free, provided for
in just the same way as English, mathematics,
science, geography, history, languages
or sports.
There is however,
a dilemma perhaps more marked now
than ever before: the numbers of capable
and well-qualified (in both senses,
practical as well as academic) music
students who have come up through
the ranks of efficient youth orchestras
and bands and sooner or later seek
employment in some branch of music.
There are now more professional orchestras
than a couple of generations ago,
but there are potentially vastly more
players seeking posts in the profession.
Fifty years ago applying for a job
in an orchestra could be a matter
of competing with three or four other
aspiring young applicants for the
job; but now the prospect can be fearsomely
competitive: An oboist, viola-player,
or trombonist (or for that matter
any other instrument) can expect to
compete against forty or more others
equally desperate for a permanent
post. Do we then train too many musicians?
Do we encourage members of youth orchestras
to expect a job in the profession
at the end of their few years in a
youth orchestra? What should the purpose
of ‘youth music’ (in the widest sense)
be?
There has been much
concern in recent times about the
way ‘serious’ (‘classical’) music
is going. The huge interest which
seems to have been brought about in
the 1940s and 1950s does in many ways
appear to be in a decline: cultural
tastes have inevitably changed. Young
people overall, while demonstrating
a maturity which seemed at one time
to be exceptional, are now accepted
as being the norm: they are more independent;
seek out their own cultures. Some
indeed, are fulfilling expectations
in serious music, but others choose
a different kind of cultural self
expression.
So what is the purpose
of the youth orchestra? Accepting
that most players, even the most proficient
and enthusiastic are not likely to
become ardent professional performers,
devoted to and successful in the art,
at least the phenomenon of the youth
orchestra is still a rewarding and
indeed heartening one, in that it
keeps alive a great culture and inspires
those who have been members of a youth
organisation of this kind to appreciate
all that the long classical tradition
of music has meant to society.
Arthur Butterworth
April 2008
