News Service

Musicians today are called upon more than ever to become cultural entrepreneurs, says Mark Clague, assistant professor of music.

“Rather than cogs in a cultural machine, the successful musician in the 21st century will need to know how to connect with audiences and to understand issues of budgeting and marketing,” he says.

The future of the arts depends on musicians having these skills that combine artistic intuition, historical knowledge and musical analysis with business acumen and audience rapport to create an engaging arts experience, Clague says.

To ensure that his students find success in their chosen arts programs, Clague challenged his 100-plus students in Musicology 140 to plan, publicize, rehearse, perform and assess a live musical performance for the University community. Working through these challenges has given the students the opportunity to put the abstract ideas of the course about cultural practice today, and in the past, into direct hands-on application, he says.

Bombarded with news of record labels folding and orchestras and other large cultural presenters cutting back or going bankrupt, talented students are leery of entering and finding success in the arts, Clague says.

“In many ways there are more opportunities in the arts today than ever. This project helps give students an understanding of the tools they need to become successful performers, composers and a lot of other music industry participants,” he says.

With financial support from the Arts at Michigan Course Connection Grant, Clague’s class developed seven live concert performances for non-traditional audiences, many from diverse communities. The performance of “The Throbbing Eye” in a rehearsal hall at the School of Music consisted of avant garde, electronically manipulated vocal sounds.

“Our performance is one that focused on the new age of music and how the concept of chance plays into musical performance,” the producing student group wrote in comments to the professor. “This half hour-long concert performed by U-M students exposed attendees to a type of music not heard before, but lovingly described as somewhere between ‘industrial gone bad’ and ‘Bjork on crack.'”

Another group from the class put together a performance of folk dancing for residents of the Glacier Hills continuing care community, who then were taught the steps and encouraged to join in the dancing.

Clague peppered his classes with presentations from University and area professionals from the arts world who shared their expertise on such subjects as marketing, budgeting and copyright issues, media, and directing an association of artists.