The musician of the 21st century: the world around us

The world of music is changing fast. Under influence of technology it is possible to create digital and electronic music. For some instruments the imitation is good enough to confuse professional musicians. An example of a marvelous combination of music and technology is exposed in the opera of the future: Death of the Power. Our kids grow up with I-pads as if the world has always know I-pads. The next generation only knows a world in which technology is important to making music.

the musician of the 21st century

Several disciplines of music interact and get mixed up. So it is sometimes hard  to say whether it is jazz, pop or classical music.

Musicians get a more important role in our society regarding community-art projects. As we learn more about how our brains work, music becomes a well know therapy, especially for elderly people suffering of Alzheimer. In The Netherlands the government used to be involved by financing music projects. For the next four years there will be less money available, so entrepreneurship gets more important for our musicians. Artists are working over the boarders of their discipline. This why we see experiments with a new sort of music-productions. Like ‘Het Nederlands Blazersensemble’ is working together with for example a writer who reads us his book while the music is playing. A good example of several disciplines working together in a production is also the ‘State of ArtEZ’, a festival of our own Institute of the Arts.

It will be hard to define how the world of the musician looks like in 203o. One thing is sure: as a conservatory we have to deal with many changes, from which we do not know on forehand what this changes will be and where they will lead us.