The profession of music critic

In general, criticism as the art of analysis and evaluationappeared almost simultaneously with art as such. The task of the critic is not just to give a rating from the series "like - do not like". He must analyze the object of criticism, determine its weak and strong points and, as a result, formulate an objective judgment and give an assessment. Anyone, including a music critic, is a A connoisseur and connoisseur of a particular art form, often having professional training.

Previously, a music critic is often at the same timewas also a composer (for example, Rimsky-Korsakov was engaged in musical criticism): if you are engaged in music, the music is much easier to evaluate. Now musical criticism is closely intertwined with musical journalism, so a music critic must not only understand music, but also be able to writeto bring your point of view to the audience.

To become a music critic, it's not enough just to love music (although the love of music is undoubtedly very important). It is very desirable to get a professional education. But here only where they teach music critics? Should a music critic necessarily receive a musical education?

To work as a music critic, it is not necessary to be a certified performer. Much more useful will be education in the field of musicology: by and large, a music critic is not so much a practitioner as a theoretician (although it is not forbidden to combine these aspects).

Specialty "Musicology" is available in many creative universities (conservatories, academies, etc.). Please note that for admission to these universities you will first need to get a secondary vocational music education. Future musicologists study the theory and history of music, music literature, learn to analyze musical works.

Sometimes music critics are obtained from graduate journalists, but, frankly, it is easier to teach a musicologist to write than a journalist to understand music. Being a music critic is not just writing about music. A music journalist can write a concert report or an annotation to a new album, but such material will not necessarily be criticized.

So it is necessary to distinguish between musical criticism and musical journalism: they may overlap, but this does not always happen. A music critic is often a journalist, but not every music journalist can be considered a music critic. Of course, there are examples of successful music critics who graduated from journalism, but this is more an exception than the rule.

A music critic can specialize in both classical and popular music. Critics of classical music are rarely known to the general public: they write for specialized publications and are usually people "widely known in narrow circles."

And here critics of popular music often people are public. They write not only for specialized, but also for mass editions, they can act on radio and television. In fact, they combine musical criticism and musical journalism.

But education for a music critic is not all. There are certain qualities (delicate taste, imaginative thinking, analytical abilities, attentiveness, tactfulness), which you can not learn in high school. They need to develop independently in themselves, constantly working on themselves. A music critic should be ready to learn all the time to keep pace with new trends in music.

If you think that a music critic is a profession that is not dusty and profitable, you are mistaken. Not everyone is able to become the second Natalia Zimyanina or the second Artemy Troitsky. To achieve the necessary level of professionalism, it is necessary to work, work and once again work.