[YoungPunk]

Hi. I was wondering, does anyone listen to modern (new) Classical or Jazz or any of the music conservatories like Juilliard are training our youngsters to make. I was thinking if no one listens to modern (new) classical or jazz these conservatories aren't really doing their job. Maybe we should replace them with popular music trainee systems like they have in South Korea. (Somewhere that won't get nuked soon lol.) What do you guys think. Would popular music improve if we did this?

[Fischman]

I think you’ll find out Juliard and Berklee (along with many less prestigious names) have broader curricula than you’re giving them credit for. Also, to the extent that they teach classical, that arms the student with important building blocks they can apply across genres. If you study nothing but country, for instance, you will be ill prepared for anything but country. But if that’s what you want, there are musical schools or music programs at colleges that will cater to that (or whatever you seek) as well.

I, for one, was surprised to learn that Rik Ocasek (The Cars) was a Berklee student. Berklee also gave us Ben McKee and Daniel Platzman (Imagine Dragons), Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent), Thomas Pridgen (The Mars Volta), and many other artists through the years who you would not relate to classical or jazz.

Berklee alum picked up 14 Grammys in 2015, including only 2 jazz and no classical. And that’s a pretty typical year. So yes, I’d say it’s working.

And about all that jazz, I’m all for that as well. Even though it’s not a popular genre, I still believe it to be a relevant one, and so many Berklee grads are doing so much not only to keep it alive, but also to expand its artistic boundaries, and fuse it with other forms, keeping it relevant into the future.

[RoundTheBend]

[RoundTheBend]

Damn... it was already said. Oh well.