Stephen Budiansky's Articles and The Unwillingness to Be Honest

Stephen Budiansky is notorious for his articles and speeches calling out composers and music educators for basically becoming sellouts. Most people do not have an appetite for his work, but I believe it is because many people do not enjoy brutal honesty in it's best form. In his article, The Kids Play Great, But That Music..., depicts the enjoyment of his children's concerts but the terrible, soul-dead music that they play. This is the man that has called out Robert W. Smith for being a sell-out and writing music strictly for the royalties, not for the advancement of music for our children.

While many educators may find his works offensive and outrageous, I think he is right. Take a deep look around at the music being pumped out by big companies like J.W. Pepper. Many of these songs have little to no meaning, or musical value, but are rather silly, annoying, and frankly, offensive to our practice as musicians and music educators. He is fighting for the sake of music to ignite a fire in the heart of us and our students. From someone who has played many Robert W. Smith pieces, I believe that his music is written to cater to the soul-dead, conformist, consumer culture that America has become, and it is painful to listen to music be silly for no reason.

What are your opinions on today's top composers? Do you agree with Mr.Budiansky?

"The way you advance as a student, even in mastering technical lessons, I think, is when you get a fire lit in your heart about the music itself."

~Steven Budiansky