In Sunday’s (8/9) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Andrew Druckenbrod writes, “The recession has made an already tough existence even tougher for music students and those already looking for jobs. ‘It is an extraordinarily difficult time to compete for traditional full-time jobs, like those in academia and in orchestras,’ says David Cutler, a music professor at Duquesne University. ‘The market is over-saturated with talent, people are keeping their jobs for longer and orchestras are cutting back, not adding.’ … Cutler is among several professors at the forefront of this change in attitude; his book, ‘The Savvy Musician’ (Helius Press, $19.99, due out in November) is a guide to navigating these uncertain waters, targeted to those facing the ‘real world.’ Among the topics, the book discusses details of marketing, recording and grant writing, but it spends most of its time articulating bigger concepts of the ‘entrepreneurial mind-set.’ … Better funding, it is said, should be found to expand orchestras and develop audiences, and music should be cultivated at all levels. But for advocates of entrepreneurship such as Cutler, it is the musician who must adapt to the shrinking and changing marketplace.”
Posted August 11, 2009
