Why are they called “conservatories?” In Naples in the
1300’s, conservatori was a church run
home for abandoned children. Many abandoned kids were named “Esposito” for
“exposed”. (Robin Williamson says that British names Hood or Robinson are
similar: if you were born from a tryst on May Day, when typical rules were
suspended, you were the child of Robin Hood and Maid Marian.)
Music was a major part of the training in the conservatori
in Naples. It remains so. As a student at Michigan State in East Lansing, I was
proud that Lansing’s Michigan School for the Blind trained Stevie Wonder in
music.
With time, conservatori meant a place for teaching abandoned and orphaned children trades
especially music. The conservatori in Naples helped music teachers to make a
living and gave jobs to Pergolesi, Donizetti, Bellini, and Scarlatti. Some of
the kids became great musicians, like Cimarosa. Over time, other
students of music began attend conservatori, but even into the 1700’s the numbers of orphans and students from
families were comparable. For us, the most famous teacher for orphaned conservatory kids
was Vivaldi in Venice: those beautiful pieces, including The Four Seasons, were written for the girls in the orphanage.
The majority of my favorite composers did not attend music
schools (e.g., Nancarrow, Partch, Satie, Gershwin) but plenty did, particularly
the French (Debussy, Ravel, Messiaen). Some of my favorites can’t read music at
all (Irving Berlin, Muddy Waters, Joni Mitchell, Vassar Clements, Brian Wilson)
and even some very favorite instrumental virtuosos are autodidacts who picked up tips where
they could (Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Buddy Guy). Others didn’t study music in school but
learned from their family (Aretha Franklin, Bach). As it’s become improbable to
make a living as a musician, it is no longer a way for a disabled or
disadvantaged child to prepare to make a living. We have to teach music for other reasons.
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