Recent Speech

TAMS Presidential Address

Robert Tucker

January 28, 2016

Music makes a difference in our world whether that is in the concert hall, rehearsals, entertainment, sporting events or even in nature. Sound is a result of vibration and vibrations are around us all the time.  Among the most dramatic musical sounds in nature is the sound of the bird. A new species of bird called a Thrush was recently discovered in the Himalayan forests. Although it is a Thrush, scientists realized it was not the same as the Mountain variety of Thrushes normally identified. A close look at the bird revealed it to have a slightly shorter tail and shorter legs although still in the Thrush family. The discovery was made due to the “tuneful song” played by the new species. When compared with the Mountain Thrush, the forest thrush had an increased number of notes and a steadier rhythm, musically catching the ear of the scientists and making them aware of the different species. This is yet another example of the role of music in our world. Music happens around us all the time, often altering our perception of our environment, and affecting us in ways we cannot always define, cannot always measure, but definitely making a difference on many levels.

Imagine for a few moments a world devoid of sound. While we know that this is impossible and absurd, how would it alter our other senses, how it would it shape our emotions and our aesthetics? When John Cage attempted to create a completely silent environment, he heard the sound of his own heartbeat and the rushing of the blood through his veins. Silence is not possible. The sounds we experience every day are a form of music in our world. Those sounds and more have been organized into a complex and joyous system of music as we know it and we as musicians have taken sound to a new level of organization. With this system comes the need for guidance and training to continue to develop music and musicians for today. The driving force of sound combined with a healthy love for music gives us the framework for our profession as music administrators.

In spite of the obvious love for music that exists in society, there continues to be a veiled or not so veiled suspicion that music does not serve the greater good and ultimately costs more than the gain. Although not a new suspicion, after all we can point to Plato who worried that music could cause unwanted emotions, it is a pervasive concern in economic down times. This concern leads us to be alert to possible budget cuts, resulting in our frequent need to advocate not only for our students and our faculty but for music at large. Advocacy and entrepreneurship have become standard buzz words for our profession and useful in certain settings, particularly when reminding people of our value, but deep down we wish it were not necessary. Isn’t it obvious that music makes a significant difference in our world? Why don’t they understand?

I recall as a young child, sitting on my father’s knee as he played guitar and sang to me. One vivid memory takes me back to the day he sang a sweet prayerful lullaby with a gentle rocking sound and a clear usage of tonal arpeggios…no, I did not know the word arpeggio at the time! After singing the song, he told me it was a melody from Beethoven’s 6^th Symphony. To this day, when I hear the piece or recall it my head, the memories come rushing back and I am filled with joy at the sound and at the melody. If, however, the marvelous symphonic melody only made a difference to me, it would not have a global impact but, in fact the symphony, as all Beethoven symphonies tend to do, makes a profound difference to thousands. Granted, the melody does have personal meaning.  Yet you might have some kind of similar story or experience at a young age, something that helped shape you into the person you are today.

But knowing this and feeling this does not necessarily pay the bills. Provosts and Vice Presidents often remind us in meetings to increase revenues and decrease expenses. While this conversation takes place every day in the business world, such conversations seem to be escalating in academia. McDonalds continues to explore ways to reduce expenses and increase revenues—all day breakfasts, no more lobster sandwiches, only 1 napkin allowed per person, and boxes that form into paper plates!  One prominent coffee shop closed several stores and then produced K cups for Keurig machines. Still not satisfied with their revenues, they duped the public into purchasing a box of K cups with only 10 cups per box rather than the typical 12. The empty space in the box has now become filled with a slightly smaller box and thicker cardboard for feel and weight…all to increase revenues and decrease expenses. General Electric sold its traditional appliance business to concentrate on technology for the future and Amazon offers Prime benefits which in the end help Amazon grow in profits. To translate the academic language from the university officials, we are encouraged to increase our numbers of students, maybe raise our music fees, become more efficient, and be prepared for budget cuts. My MBA side understands and respects this position, but my artistic side wants to avoid its being central to our cause.

As I think about the role of the music in the world and the charge to increase revenues and decrease expenses, I realize I should have turned to my Dad when I was four years old and told him that his guitar was too expensive and he should have gotten a cheaper model—or even better he should have used a midi recording. Perhaps his time spent singing old melodies should have been spent earning more money and studying data and ratios, such as numbers of notes per rhythm or maybe assessing the profit margins of Symphonies. Or maybe instead of singing he should have just said to me, “Robert, imagine a nice melody in your head and go out and earn more revenue and decrease expenses.” In fact, I probably should have interrupted his song and told him that Beethoven should have composed one symphony rather than nine and one piano sonata rather than thirty-two—that would be much more efficient. Beethoven should have gotten a real job to increase his revenue. Maybe compose a few notes, play those notes on the piano (which by the way did cost some money—he probably could have used clay pots instead!), and satisfied those who like music.

Or those silly little thrushes in the forest making tuneful melodies…they could save some breath by reducing their sound to just one note. Or perhaps at a Thrush convention, they could encourage each other to increase revenues and decrease expenses by avoiding sounds all together and stay in one bunch so as to communicate with a slight nod or wing flap rather than making a sound, I mean after all do they really have to make noise, much less a tuneful melody?

And yet while birds simply sing because that is what they do, we hear it as music and interpret it as beauty. Music becomes the tool for emotional satisfaction, for cleansing, for expression, for representation, for meaning, for depth of thought and ultimately for unification of society. It stands alone for its power and for its ability to synthesize, meld, and blend into its own system of resolution. Music seems to have the ability to bring people together and emulsify conflict. It has been suggested that Elvis Presley did more for integration of the races in the late 50s than did government action. Following 9/11, services were held across the nation using music as a tool for comfort. Church services, weddings, funerals, sporting events, and gatherings of all kinds use music to provide social emulsification. Music is our common ground and music provides substantive meaning in culture around the world.

How often have we noticed how a concert or a musical event seems to squelch or even cleanse conflict? I often deal with faculty concerned about their students or worried about an ensemble or even concern about another faculty member only to have that concern magically alleviated at a concert where suddenly all is well. If ultrasound technology is a more efficient way to emulsify immiscible properties, then it makes sense that music is an efficient way to emulsify each other. Oil and water may not mix but an emulsifying agent brings those elements together. Did you use salad dressing at lunch today? Do you ever add cream to your coffee or eat bread with butter? Do you use make up, lotions, or medical ointments? All these and more are emulsifiers.

Music is an emulsifier for our time as exemplified by the nature of music in everything we do. Ours is a profession of music making and music preparation. We recognize the value of sound and we order that sound into our musical vocabulary which we then develop into a complex system worthy of knowledge and worthy of practice.  This practice forms our schools into curricular programs, ensembles, faculty, classes, performances, juries, budgets, assessment, syllabi, reviews, committees, meetings, donors, scholarships, and evaluations. The demand for efficiency without sacrificing quality often leads us to forget the very reason we became musicians in the first place…because we love sound and believe in the essence of music, an essence that makes a profound difference in the world. Advocate for music we will do, and support it we shall, for to do otherwise is to give in to the pressing urge for apathy in a world that looks for revenues greater than expenses while, at the same time, and rather ironically, embracing and requiring the sound that music offers to our culture. 

As we deal with the challenge in TAMS for greater revenue in light of recent policy changes, let us remember that ultimately it is for the cause of music that we support our organization and each other. Our revenue must exceed our expenses and we will vote to find a way for that to happen. Yet regardless of our monetary conclusion, in truth our revenue is music, and our expense is the hard work that leads to the beauty of music in the world.  As I finish these remarks I want to remind all TAMS members to continue the respect, admiration, and equal regard we give to all schools, large, small, state, or private and to continue to use music to make a difference in the lives of our students. To the musical thrushes I say thank you for the tuneful melodies and for the reminder of the meaning of music; and to all TAMS members I say thank you for the opportunity to have served this fine organization as President.