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Don't you think it's terrible how musicians treat one another in such a competitive and harsh manner? Musicians should be sensitive, passionate, warm people instead of aggresive, elitist people who try to find what's wrong with another's playing rather than appreciating it or finding what's good. Music is made for people's enjoyment, not for competition. This is not true with all musicians but find it a concern in the musical sphere.

I also do not like how the From the Top radio show exploits classical music as if it were something like American Idol. If you do not know what From the Top is, here is the url to the website.

http://fromthetop.org/

I completely agree with your comment about the competitive/harsh/elitist tendencies in the classical music world. I do not exaggerate when I say that this is a major reason why I did not make music my career, and entered the world of medicine instead.

We certainly had our share of horrible medical teachers etc. who believed that the key to good education was to humiliate the student as much as possible, but their best efforts pale into insignificance compared to what I have seen musicians handing out to one another.

Just the other day I treated a lady who was suffering from anxiety and high blood pressure brought on by her church choir director. That's a VOLUNTEER choir, made up of enthusiastic amateurs who do not have to be there, but freely give their time in exchange for being abused by some wannabe "Gordon Ramsay" of music who has delusions of grandeur. Singing in a community choir should be a way of enhancing your mental and physical health, not the opposite!

All of this competitive rubbish just continues the myth that music should only be the domain of the elite few with extraordinary talent, and the rest of the great unwashed should just stay away as they don't belong.

No wonder someone estimated recently that there are about 5 million people in Australia who "USED TO" play music.

aldona

I know people as well who quit music to go into something that is friendlier and pays much better.

I agree with much of what is being said, and while I do believe that competition breeds excellence, there is a point where it goes too far. Musicians should always strive to become better and hone their musical skills, and it is only natural for musicians to "compete" amongst themselves to see who is the best. Without that sort of friendly competition the caliber of players we have in our world today would not exist. However, competing against other musicians just to prove that you are better than them so that you can put them down and increase your own self-esteem is the sort of thing that drives people away from music, typically the inexperienced but potentially talented ones. They never get a chance at music because others are intent on driving them away. It is that sort of thing that is wrong. Competition in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. It is the people that beat down others to increase their self worth that are responsible for the perception of the musical world being elitist and cutthroat.