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The Golden Age of the Guitar

A few months ago, I received a letter from a young man about to complete his degree in guitar performance, inquiring whether, in my capacity as Guitar Forum editor, I was in a position to advise him of any college-level teaching positions. The writer of the letter expressed considerable dismay that in the previous six months he had seen no position vacancies announced in the College Music Society's listings. Understandably concerned about his prospects of making a livelihood, he earnestly solicited any information I might offer. Sadly, I was able to offer him very little beyond a sympathetic assurance that his situation was not, at this time, unusual. Very shortly thereafter, at the NAMM show in Atlanta I met another young man, a recent graduate from a guitar degree program in a goodsized Southern city and presently a teacher with a thriving practice in the same city. Realizing near the end of his studies that he had no real prospects either in college teaching or in pursuing a concert career, he sought out a music store in which to hang his shingle, specifically with the idea of reaching a broad clientele of "ordinary" people and their children, especially the latter. He very soon found himself teaching fifty students, and at the time I talked with him was considering various possibilities of group instruction. The contrast between these two cases is informative. The first typifies a possible majority of recent graduates, oriented by the success pattern of the previous decade, faced in this one by diminished opportunities and drastically increased competition. The second case points a