I am trying to decide how I feel about this article in The New York Times about the ratio of conservatory musicians (in this case, Juilliard) who actually continued to make livings as performing artists 10 to 20 years after graduation. The central point seems to be that despite being highly skilled musicians—enabling them to get into an elite school like Juilliard in the first place—nearly half of the graduating class of 1994 ultimately ended up doing other things. While these stats may seem a little frightening for anyone contemplating music as a career choice, I have to ask, how is this any different from any other field of study, and why is it always so popular to pick on musicians as the ones who are likely to have no future? Yeah, we get it—it’s hard to be a musician in today’s economy. Well guess what? It’s hard to be anything in today’s economy!

The article highlights the struggles of some of the graduates who tried to make a living in music but wound up having to find other careers. I think my biggest problem is the unspoken implication that those who aren’t making a living performing, or those who left the field of music altogether, somehow failed. And if a “Juilliard” grad can’t even succeed, what hope is there left for the rest of us?

I did some research about what majors lead to the best chance of employment success after college. The fields that seem to be at the top of many lists are—not surprisingly—things like accounting, software development, and engineering. My husband graduated from Rice University—a big engineering school—so I asked him to tell me what some of his buddies were up to these days. One spent five years working for Exxon, then went back to school for an MBA. Another spent three years with Mobil before leaving to work in “pricing” at pharmaceutical company. And my husband? He left engineering altogether after his first year in college (he hated it) to pursue degrees in music and English, but now he works as a software engineer—a field he taught himself.

This highlights another problem I have with the article. Isn’t it OK to change your mind? Look around at all the people you know and compare what they are doing now to what degree they hold—if they even have one. If your friends are anything like mine, many of them probably changed direction somewhere along the way. Maybe they got tired or burned out with their original career choice. Or maybe they found something more lucrative. Or maybe they couldn’t find a job. Or maybe they hated their boss. Or maybe at age 18 when someone asked them to pick a field, they just didn’t know what they heck they wanted to do for the rest of their life. Whatever the reason, in other fields it seems to be OK—even encouraged—to move up, on, and over, whereas in music, it is often perceived as a failure. Didn’t land that orchestra gig? Welcome to Starbucks.

Except that most of the music school graduates I know don’t work at Starbucks. Sure, some of them landed a big performing gig, but most of them happily piece together careers that include not only performing, but things like teaching, publishing, recording, or working in music-related businesses. Or maybe even a business outside of music that they discovered along the way they’re good at. Then there are the colleagues who left music school and went on to med school, law school, or business school. One became a public radio host. Another founded a record label. The list goes on.

Which highlights another problem I have with the article. There seems to be an implied line of success vs. failure between the Juilliard grads who earned their paycheck solely performing vs. those who didn’t, regardless of whether they’re still, at the core, musicians. A good friend of mine who is a physician in a major University healthcare system recently cut back on her patient load to pursue a research project, but I don’t think anyone would accuse her of being any less of a doctor. Why is there so often a perception that if a musician isn’t performing 100% of the time, they’ve somehow given up?

I guess the ultimate reason I don’t like this article, is that the question of the value of a music education comes up time and again for me, mostly from students and parents who want me to guarantee them a “sure thing” when deciding on a career choice. Majoring in music—especially performance—seems like a risky proposition, and this article highlights all of those scary pressures, risks, and potential failures lurking around the corner.

The reality is, there is no sure thing. As far as your eventual career goes, a college education does nothing more than slightly improve your odds of being employed. The value of a music education, on the other hand, is the experience of pursuing something single-mindedly for four years. This article misses the point, because the point, in my mind, is not what kind of job your degree will get you, but what kind of person it will make you.

Want to play more and give back at the same time? Just take a cue from Meghan Caulkett and plan an ambitious series of concerts (47, to be exact) to bring the concert harp into schools, retirement homes, homeless shelters, and beyond. The Rice and Boston University alum is about mid-way through her personal challenge of performing 47 concerts—one for each string of her Salzedo model harp—throughout the Houston area. We asked her to tell us more about the project. (For more about how you can help, scroll to the links at the end of the story.)

How did you get the idea for 47 Strings?
I think everyone graduating from school has that panic moment of “What am I going to do next year?!” For me, I felt that I needed to improve on my performing of solo and chamber repertoire. I haven’t done any competitions since high school, so the few times I’ve performed solo rep have been on my senior, graduate, and studio recitals. I was trying to think of how I could perform more combined with community involvement. As a joke someone suggested to me that I do 47 concerts. I thought the idea was genius. Over two years, I could perform an extensive amount of repertoire while doing these concerts. Simultaneously, I had been thinking about how I could be more involved with
the community, and this seemed like a way for me to talk about the harp and present what an incredible instrument it is. So many people are fascinated by the harp, but never get to see one up close. Even seasoned orchestra goers tell me how they’ve never seen how intricate a harp is or heard its solo repertoire. That was how the concert series began; it has grown to be completely focused on community performances, involvement, and education.

Tell us about the concept and why you did it.
The idea is simple: bring classical harp music to people that aren’t often exposed to it. Since the harp has 47 Strings, there are 47 concerts in the series, focusing on performances for schools, retirement homes, and homeless shelters. A few things were really important to me when starting the project:

—That other musicians respected the project and wanted to get involved
—That the community responded positively to the impact classical music was having
—That the highest quality music was being performed (for example: Tournier “Sonatine”, Ginastera “Concerto”, and our own arrangement of Bartok “Romanian Folk Dances” for double bass and harp) I didn’t want these to be background music concerts.

Each program is unique in repertoire and what we discuss. For the younger kids, we go over if big strings make low or high sounds, and create stories to go along with the music. For the young adults in homeless shelters, I talk about where they can see free concerts in Houston, ranging from the Houston Symphony to solo recitals at Rice.

How far are you along in the challenge?
I have completed 27 concerts. I’m planning to finish the remaining 20 performances this fall, with the final community concert being this December.

It looks like you've played for a lot of young kids—what has been the most unexpected question you've been asked?
The majority of performances have been for elementary schools, or children in homeless shelters. So far I’ve played for over 1,700 kids! During one of the first performances I did for a kindergarten class, a little 5-year old boy raised his hand: “Are you married with a son?” he inquired. In his mind, he thought everyone must be exactly like his family. That was when I learned to be specific about asking for harp related questions.

Is the outcome of your project what you expected? What have you learned?
The reception has been more positive and exciting then I possibly could have imagined. The community has been so supportive. Both Rice and Boston Universities are profiling the concert series for their alumni magazines this summer. Rice awarded me the 2013 Richter Fund for Music Outreach which supported me with six performances in Houston Homeless shelters. Boston University featured 47 Strings on their “Arts for Social Change” panel this spring, where I was able to talk to current students about outreach projects.

I’ve learned that there is no way to do this alone. I have close friends that look at videos and grant applications before I send them out, people that help collect donations at the doors of community concerts, and amazing chamber musicians that come to play on concerts. I’ve also learned how much administrative works goes into a concert series.
Most of my time has been spent in planning and organizing. Everything from setting up a website, updating the Facebook page with recent pictures, and researching different grants. One of the most exciting things is that now other musicians are wanting to perform. Duos with other harpists, violinists, horn and flute players, and even a double bassist have made for numerous successful chamber music concerts. I have heard from singers, cellists, clarinetist, and other string players that are wanting to get involved. 47 Strings is evolving into an outreach platform that expands beyond solo harp music—and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Are you able to earn an income doing this, or will that come later?
Now that a lot of the administrative set-up for the concert series is completed, raising money to continue these performances has become a main focus. I personally haven’t made any money yet, but through a grant from Rice University and private donors, I have been able to pay for all music and transportation costs, as well as pay every
chamber musician that has played with me. It is a fine line to walk, but it has always been one of my main points that every musician that plays should be paid. The people that are performing have degrees from Oberlin, CIM, Rice, and Carnegie Mellon, and hold positions in New World, Grant Park, and Houston Symphonies. In order to produce the highest quality music we all have extensive training and quality instruments. Since being freelance musicians is our profession, I think it important that we are compensated. I also think it adds value to the program, and the musicians in turn value the performances in a different way then they would if they were volunteering. These organizations are receiving top tier music from some of the best up-and-coming musicians.

When it's over, will you do it again?
I am definitely going to continue outreach programming, even if it not in the context of a set of 47 concerts. My plan is to continue to perform under the 47 Strings name. The money I am working to raise this summer will go toward establishing a residency at three of the homeless shelters for Houston children and young adults in 2014. Houston
has an incredibly large population of homeless youth. 10,933 children were registered as homeless in Harris County School Districts for the 2011 school year. Covenant House (one of the organizations I play for) is the largest Harris County youth emergency shelter, and served over 5,300 children and youth ages 10-21 in 2011, the majority were
ages 18-21.This musical residency would benefit the community by helping give a generation of troubled young adults a positive hobby and passion. I have found that homeless youth are the group I am most passionate about performing for. My plan for the residency is to increase the number of concerts throughout the year, incorporate
more general music education, and partner with local orchestra and chamber groups to get the young adults tickets to professional concerts in the city. There are also a few grants I am in the process of applying for, and I am hoping 47 Strings will be accepted into the Houston Arts Alliance next Fall. My goal is to raise another $6,000 before the end of the year through private donations and other grants. This money will go toward establishing the musical residency at three of the homeless shelters next year. 47 Strings is fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas, so every contribution is tax-deductible. If you or someone you know are able to contribute, every donation from $20—$200 makes a huge difference.

Anything else you want to share?
Outreach is something that benefits everyone. I think the more people that are exposed to classical music and the harp, the better the outcome is for everyone.

Want to know more? "Like" 47 Strings on Facebook www.facebook.com/47strings, visit their website at www.fortysevenstrings.com, or contact meghan directly at meghancaulkett@gmail.com.

This is the time of year when my students perform their annual harp ensemble concerts, so I hope you all will indulge me as I share some of our efforts! I'm really lucky, because the string department at the Temple University Music Preparatory Division has taken the harpists under their wing. It's become an annual tradition for the harps to be featured with their Youth Chamber Orchestra at the end of year gala concert in the beautiful Church of the Holy Trinity, on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, and the more harps, the better! It's a challenge to find new and interesting repertoire for lots of harps and string orchestra year after year, so we've had to be a little creative. This year we tackled an ambitious project: the Aria in Classic Style (Grandjany, Marcel). It was quite a challenge getting five harps to play in unison, but we pulled it off.

The week before we played our spring ensemble concert at Temple University's Rock Hall. We tried out a new arrangement of the Water Music Suite (Handel, George Frideric), arranged by Lynn Williams, our featured interviewee in this month's Harp Column. Here's the "Allegro" from her collection. And of course no ensemble can go wrong playing a little Ortiz. Here's "Llano" from his Flexible Ensemble Collection, Vol. 1. Enjoy!

Last week, famed harp retailer Sylvia Woods announced that she would be moving to Hawaii and subsequently changing the way she operates her harp business.
http://www.harpcenter.com/hawaii_news
I'm happy for her and glad I scored some great bargains but I'm also a little sad. When I joined the harp world, I would spend ages poring over The Sylvia Woods and Melody's catalogs. I picked my dream harps from their pages, knowing that as much as I loved my little 22 string, I would someday have a full-sized folk harp. I admired the Guinness gift items with the harp logos, the harp angels and large variety of accessories, such as benches, tuners, carts and stand lights, to make harping a little easier. I made long wishlists of CDs. Most of all, I dreamed of traveling to Houston or California to visit their showrooms. Melody's and Sylvia Woods both downsized a few years back and changed their showrooms.

Granted, it's a lot easier now than it was twenty years ago to visit a harp convention of some sort and try harps galore and paw through bins of harp jewelry and music. There are also wonderful sources of independent music just a click away. But there's not quite the one stop shopping there used to be. It's just change and not necessarily a bad one but I'm still a little sad.

Last weekend I found myself wrapped in several layers of wool playing my harp as the temperature peaked at 45 degrees. I love outdoor gigs but there are times I question my sanity. And it’s not just outdoor gigs either. Those of us in the Midwest have experienced a prolonged early spring/late winter with freezing rain and snow into mid-May. Just a few weeks ago, I had a white knuckle drive to a funeral in another town as I dealt with high winds and freezing rain. I guess I’ve never encountered a tornado or hail during a gig. However, there was the time the mother of the bride stood looking out the window as it sprinkled saying “We could still have it out side!” Within less than fifteen minutes, the heavens opened and we were deluged. Glad we were already inside! There was also the time we had a Christmas Eve blizzard and the musicians were nearly the only ones in the church.

Having a weather clause helps but you need to be ready to enforce it and even be willing and able to suggest alternatives. It’s also one thing to calmly discuss weather conditions in a consulting session and another to deal with it on the day of the ceremony. There is nothing rational about a bride who has her heart set on an outdoor ceremony, even if it looks like the world is about to end! I am grateful to the bride who decided she didn’t really want to plan two ceremonies and just decided to have her wedding indoors as it ended up being over 100 degrees that day! I’ve also resolved not to take outdoor gigs outside of my “season”. The last two weddings I played really pushed the boundaries of what was safe for me and my harp. Plus, there was a lot of stress leading up to the gigs as I contemplated weather conditions.

That being said, having a nice long concert dress helps when you have to wear long johns underneath! Heavy wool socks and fingerless gloves don’t look out of place with Renaissance garb. For this last gig, a Renaissance Faire, I brought my harpsicle. The bright yellow paint was a little out of place but I didn’t need to worry quite as much about keeping my instrument safe. And, while I don’t want to do it again, I was surprisingly comfortable!

Really honored to play the première on May 15, 2013

99% A-live on a snowing day, the new album by VIBRARPA, in free download!

The unique duo in the world VIBRARPA, with Raoul Moretti on electroacustic harp & effects and Marco Bianchi on vibraphone is coming up with the second album "99%", a live recording of the new concert with new compositions.

In 2002 Vibrarpa invented a duo and a repertoire with different arrangements from classical to contemporary music, from jazz to pop and a couple of original pieces, now Raoul and Marco write their repertoire opening a new way:
The result is a very personal style,where irregular musical forms and odd time stay side by side to flowing melodies and sharp harmonies, in continue evolution with strong artistic tension.

Vibrarpa without crowd founding decide to auto produce and distribute the album in Creative Commons on the platform Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/vibrarpa/sets/99-a-live-on-a-snowing-day

I've been teaching voice for three or four years. It started with a phone call from a local church at which I'd sung, "Do you think you could teach us how to sing?" Well.... yes, I think I could. And so my teaching ministry was born. I spent the first two years teaching church vocalists and choirs how to sing without charging for it. As I gained experience, I also gained a few paying students -- and learned that I absolutely love to teach! Then, last month, I won a grant from the NH State Council on the Arts, and in July I'm going to Boston for a vocal pedagogy seminar.

Teaching harp started the same way: a friend said to me, "My mother bought a harp years ago, and has always wanted to learn to play. Could you teach her?" Well.... no, but I could show her what I know. "Showing her what I know" became two years of teaching (the limit I've set for free lessons), and a little more than a year into it, I realized that 1. I could teach novice lever harp, and 2. the only way I'd ever create a harp circle here would be to raise up the harpers myself. One college enrichment course and a harp workshop later, I taught my first paying student last night.

It was fantastic. As with voice students, harp students come in flavors. This student is the "asks intelligent questions, practices, pursues information on her own between lessons, enthusiastic, open to learning" flavor (aka, Madagascar Chocolate).

If you've ever had Madagascar Chocolate, you understand how happy I am.

We met last week to go over studio policies, take care of the rental contract, etc. and she was itching to start playing, so I gave her a chord progression to work on before her first lesson. She came to her lesson five days later with the chord progression conquered, knowing the names of all the strings (on the harp and in the chords), and with a favorite tune she had picked out on the harp.

I am in Teacher Heaven. I'm not sure how long I'll have anything of value to pass on to her, but I'll simply tell her when I can't help her anymore -- and in the meantime, I'll have to work to keep her engaged and moving along as fast as she would like, which is a delicious challenge.

Mmmmmm.... chocolate....

Having a fun time doing a harp demo today!

I heard a performance by Duo Scorpio this week, which included the piece Raga (Lizotte, Caroline). It's so much fun to play! The piece calls for percussion instruments including suspended cymbal, finger cymbals, and ankle bells, along with extended harp techniques like tuning key slides and using a rubber mallet on the wire strings to imitate the sounds of a whale. Here is the piece performed by Harp Duo Toronto (Emily Belvedere and Sophie Baird-Daniel) . Read more about Canadian harpist/composer Caroline Lizotte, who we featured in a Harp Column interview, at calyane.com.