Eat, Sleep, Music

You know you are at a music conservatory when you are sitting in a history class and, in addition to the professor's voice, you can also faintly hear a soprano wailing in the next room, a violinist practicing fast licks in the room across the hall, a trumpet being blown in the room below, and a double bass rattling the ceiling from the room above. Music is literally all around you in a joyous din. It is noisy, but it is a harmonious noise, vibrating with youth and excitement.

Concerts and recitals occur almost daily at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a few blocks south of the Civic Center, a small school in a new building where everyone knows everyone else. As a recent graduate myself, I recall the enormous amount of music that I played and heard, and appreciate how my understanding of my Conservatory experience has grown. I kept the programs to all the concerts and recitals — several shoeboxes full of them — hundreds in all. It is a place where the curriculum is designed to allow the students to focus on their music rather than a wide but diluted range of topics; it is a special musical haven.

Yanni Burton, a fourth-year undergraduate majoring in double bass at the Conservatory, thrives in the atmosphere. On a typical day, Burton practices five hours — a staggering claim proven by bandaged blisters on his fingers. That doesn't include an average of three hours per day spent playing the bass at orchestra or ensemble rehearsals. This is in addition to his academic coursework that, over the years, has included ear training, theory, music history, and general education electives such as English and philosophy. When he's not practicing, Burton balances three jobs: helping with the stage crew, teaching bass to teenagers through the "Conservatory in the Schools" program, and working at the Conservatory's cafe. He also plays jazz and classical gigs throughout the city. (Don't ask about sleep.) This level of activity is not atypical for conservatory students. Their days are abuzz with music.

Big City Life

Originally from Australia, Burton, graced with many talents, quickly outgrew the musical educational offerings of his native town, so he applied to the Conservatory. "I chose the San Francisco Conservatory for two reasons," he says. "Firstly because I really wanted to experience life, and [there is] no better place to do that than San Francisco. Secondly, because of my teachers, Scott Pingel [principal bassist of the S.F. Symphony] and Stephen Tramontozzi [assistant principal], who pass on to me great wisdom and a contact to the classical music scene."

All conservatory students would name their private teachers as being prime motivators for their matriculation. Students work one-on-one for an hour each week, developing their technique and musical sophistication. Frequently, personal and professional relationships result from these intimate, intense private lessons. Just as in any field, connections are vitally important when building a music career. Without having contacts with personnel managers, conductors, and the local freelancing crowd, it is virtually impossible to get your foot in the professional door. Luckily, the Conservatory is a hub for active musicians. "Students are always putting on concerts, working on new projects, while mastering their instruments. Everyone is here to do one thing," says Burton, "and that is to live and breathe music."

Burton hopes one day to play in the bass section of a major symphony orchestra. But connections will get auditioning musicians only so far. Anytime a top-tier symphony orchestra announces an opening, literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people apply. Consequently, the Musicians' Union has instituted blind auditions, in which players are blocked from the view of the hiring committee by a screen during live auditions. Therefore, gender, race, age, and personal contacts cannot play a role and the decisions are made blind, based only on sound.

Finding Your Way

Even extremely talented musicians may not land the revered orchestra chair. "It's so competitive out there, especially my instrument," says undergraduate piano major Sharon Lee. For nonorchestral instrumentalists, the postconservatory situation can be even more challenging — but also more wide open. Traditionally, such musicians would embark on solo performing careers. But there are now many other paths for aspiring young musicians: teaching opportunities in anything from pre-K to college, accompanying assignments for pianists, options in music history and writing about music, and a myriad of nonclassical independent performing possibilities. The options are as wide as each individual's talent, imagination, and desire. The Conservatory's associate dean for student life, Yunny Yip, explains: "Students who used to have doubts about traditional performance as an ultimate goal usually held it as a secret close to their heart. It was a taboo. Now there are more expanded horizons." Guitar major Van Jackson-Weaver, who hails from New Mexico, appreciates the classical background that the Conservatory has provided him, but he does not see himself going on in that direction. He still cannot imagine doing anything other than music, but he wants to expand to other genres. "I came to the Conservatory because I didn't want to get stuck in a cycle. ... It directed my life somewhere where it definitely wouldn't have gone otherwise," he says. "It's unbelievable how much I've changed." Foregoing the option to attend a local public college practically for free, instead he chose the Conservatory's $31,000-plus annual tuition and the unique musical life experience that it offers.

Although there is something to be said about the incompleteness and lack of well-roundedness of any conservatory education, that is compensated for by its opportunities. A student's goal in pursuing a conservatory education is to find his or her individual place in the realm of music. It is a personal journey. While a career can be made out of it, that is not the point of gaining a musical education. There often seems to be a lack of funding for the arts, and many people will point to that as the reason musicians have a hard time finding jobs. Music has never ever been a safe career choice. But the love of it and pursuit of it has always been a good life choice.