Extra-Classical String Player: Explained
How string playing will change in the future.
💡 There is no money in classical music.
Duh, right? But get this—according to a Nielsen Report from 2019—classical music accounted for 1% of total music volume in 2019. Check out this chart, ya’ll.
The numbers don’t lie. Based on this data, pursuing a career exclusively in Classical Music is a losing strategy.
But I got big dreams, baby! How can string players like me build a well-compensated career in music?
My solution: become an Extra-Classical string player.
What does Extra-Classical mean?
Extra-Classical = Beyond traditional string playing.
In Music:
The Extra-Classical string player goes beyond playing different genres of music. Whether it’s Jazz, Funk, Bluegrass, or Pop, they make artistic choices with the same vigor and detail as they would toward Mozart or Prokofiev. Extra-Classical string players seek to understand a genre’s culture, history, and nuances in order to develop techniques outside the standard, Western Classical approach to string playing.
Extra-Classical string players have been around for decades.
Ex:
Turtle Island String Quartet: Jazz and Rock
Yo-Yo Ma: American Bluegrass, Traditional Chinese, and other World Music
Time for Three: Americana and Modern Pop
Lindsey Stirling: Dance Choreography and Dubstep
In Business:
Gone are the days of the anonymous, anti-social string player. Extra-Classical string players craft compelling stories for their audiences. They see themselves as storytellers that breathe life into their art, bringing their audiences along for the ride.
Extra-Classical string players are entrepreneurial. These artists can carry an idea through the entire creative process, from conception to fruition.
In a nutshell, they know what they want to make, how to make it, who they made it for, and how to deliver it to their target audience.
An Extra-Classical musician’s business knowledge allows them to have the capability to operate independently. Paradoxically, this also makes them capable collaborators as well.
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Isn’t there already a word for this? Crossover?
Per Wikipedia, “‘Crossover’ is a term applied to musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audiences.”
Oftentimes in Classical Music Culture (CMC), describing a performer or genre of music as “crossover” is pejorative.
I can only speak to my personal experience. In my world, CMC string players typically look down on crossover string players. When talking about crossover string players, CMC string players would say things like:
“I bet you they’d never win an orchestra job anyway.”
“That’s not real music.”
“Must be nice to sell your soul and play Pop.”
“Crossover players wouldn’t make it in the Classical world.”
That last one always pissed me off.
CMC trained artists who decide to venture beyond CMC tradition are often viewed as sellouts that cheapen the art.
I can see CMC’s perspective. In a way, these notions make complete sense. In order to preserve the museum of classical music tradition, new ideas must be relentlessly scrutinized. For an institution to preserve it’s tradition, it must vehemently resist change.
However, just as in nature, organizations that refuse to adapt will die. Classical Music is dying from self-asphyxiation.
So, f*ck that crossover baggage, and I’m creating a new word.
But why bother tho?
I don’t want Classical Music to die. I want my future children to be able to go to their local symphony hall and see my homies tear up a Prokofiev Symphony. I want to live in a world where there is demand for Classical Music.
I can’t change the world. But I believe changing the way we talk about our art will make a real difference.
We can build fresh demand by guiding the next generation of string players toward a new set of skills. These skills will give them the opportunity to create careers where they can ACUTALLY MAKE MONEY playing music that audiences ACTUALLY WANNA HEAR.
What a concept. We don’t have to choose. We can have both.
String players that can earn a predictable, livable wage will have space to practice, create, and pass the art form on to the next generation.
Extra-Classical Skills
To become an Extra-Classical player, one must learn to:
Improvise over chord changes.
Compose music.
Perform as a member of the rhythm section in music, using extended techniques to add percussive richness.
Adapt to different genres of music. Extra-Classical players understand the history, influences, and relationships of different genres. With this understanding, they can make nuanced, creative decisions that perfectly align with a genre’s unique sensibilities.
Tell compelling stories that capture audiences’ imaginations.
My Dream
I have a vision for a future where stringed instruments have as much utility in music as the piano, electric guitar, drums, or bass.
I can see a future where conservatory graduates can seriously say “I’m going to be an Extra-Classical cellist.”
This is a future where string players are armed with the ability to improvise, compose, collaborate, adapt, and communicate. They will use these skills to pay their bills and support themselves and their families. They will be able to plan, organize, create and fund their own projects—pushing the bounds of human creativity.
My vision for the future is where CMC string players look at Extra-Classical players and think “I wanna be able to do THAT someday.”
Only time will tell.
Takeaways
Please don’t ever call me a “crossover” artist. I prefer to be described as an Extra-Classical violist <3
In order to survive in a world that’s constantly changing, string players need to develop skills beyond classical music.
Developing Extra-Classical skills will give string players more opportunities to thrive and prosper.
Building in Public
This is a segment where I highlight some developments in my business and share some of my strategies and thought processes!
wholesoul/Whole Soul Music
Working on our Owner Profit-Share Distribution Agreement.
Developing plans to hit my yearly KPIs to be eligible for a Profit Distribution at the end of 2024.
Continuing work on 3 arrangements.
ThatViolaKid Productions
Working on my writing skills so that I can become a better writer/storyteller.
Calling 3 tax attorneys to try and find a new one.
Calling 3 entertainment attorneys to try and find a new lawyer.
Putting the finishing touches on an interview form (I’m looking to hire part-time contractors).
Recording a Pokemon Sun/Moon cover with some new friends!
Dude, you're preaching to my choir! It's time for sting players to do what string players have done for the last 400 years--participate in their own popular musical culture. The 20th century is an anomaly because it is the first time in history that string players (or any musicians for that matter) were not only encouraged and trained primarily in the music of the past but taught (as I was) to disregard and disrespect the contemporary popular musical culture all around us. Bach didn't do that. Mozart didn't do that. Tchaikovsky didn't do that. The popular musical culture is the language they used and what gave them success and sustained their careers. Otherwise we would never have heard of them. And the contemporary string players of the past played the music of the contemporary composers, who were writing the equivalent of hit tunes. Let's do the same thing our classical music idols did and participate and excel within our own musical culture of pop and hip hop and rock and jazz and everything else so that we are recognized and appreciated for making contemporary cultural sense, as they were. Having an actual impact on the popular music culture! Let's do as they did--working within their contemporary popular musical context--and not just play the music they produced, as amazing as that is. We should never ignore that body of amazing work, the classical canon--but we also have a responsibility as artists to be relevant, or we risk becoming extinct as string players. Adapt or perish. Thanks for this wonderful post and wake-up call! Rock on!
Yaaasss Drew👏 Dredging out the shame and ostracism that happens in this so-called "divide" between Classical and other genres is such a potent and important topic to talk about. Even progressives in this movement (I would include myself) can intellectually understand it, but still unknowingly participate in the stunting of new ideas and the claiming of available resources. Out with scarcity, in with supporting the nuances that all of us bring to the table!