ABSTRACT

Many music students enter college with a view that music is the vehicle that will provide them with a career, and possibly even fame and fortune. Most of us entered this field at least partly because of the “rush” we felt as an audience clapped for a performance-for our performance. Being a musician, however, is both a privilege and a responsibility. Success in the field of music requires one to also be an effective advocate for one’s art. In order for music to continue to be the vehicle through which we develop our careers, every musician must also “give back” to the field through effective arts advocacy, training the next generation of musicians, and insisting on the continued improvement and development of music as an art. It is only through these actions that we will be able to demonstrate the importance of live and new music as a cornerstone of our culture, build and retain audiences for our craft, and demonstrate the relevance of what we do. If we fail to do these things, then we imperil the future of the very thing that we ask to sustain us.