Letters to a Young Critic

 Frank Alkyer, Down Beat

Like most folk who do what I do, I’ve been approached by aspiring young music journos with some variation on the question: So how do I get into this racket? This happens a lot when I visit college campuses, and lately my response has involved some combination of research (i.e., listening, reading) and enterprise (pitching, bloggery).

But mostly what I say is: write. If you want to be a writer, you should be writing. Obsessively, thanklessly. When this advice meets with a distant, glassy stare -- rather than a glint of recognition, which is far rarer -- I feel like I’ve identified a hobbyist rather than someone bound for the profession, if such a word can still be said to apply. 

I bring this up by way of introduction to a terrific series compiled by Jason Gross, at PopMatters.com. The premise: more than 100 qualified people have been asked to provide a response to the question above. For anyone with even a passing interest in music criticism, the results make for compelling reading.

Respondents have been sorted alphabetically; so far we’re into Di. My hope is that a few jazz journalists have made the cut. We’re already past Davis (as in Francis) and Crouch (Stanley), which is too bad. Perhaps Giddins is up in the next round? Maybe Ratliff turns up later? No offense to Frank Alkyer -- the publisher of Down Beat, pictured above -- but it would be a disappointment not to have the voice of a prominent jazz critic in the mix. Still worth checking out, though.

Update: The series hits Gary Giddins, Howard Mandel

Comments

[Jon Wertheim]

I'd be interested to hear your take on aspiring writers starting up blogs. It seems to me that it's hard for bloggers to get the word out about their blog in a way that the Ethan Iversons and Blog Supremes and, of course, the Nate Chinens get there and see what's going on. Blogrolls are exclusive clubs nowadays...

-J

[Nate Chinen]

Thanks, Mike, 'preciate it. Though I swear I wasn't fishing for compliments with this post. (Really!)

[Michael J. West]

Not to butter you up, good sir, but I'm a little surprised you weren't approached. You strike me as the ideal combination of age, prominence, and broad tastes for the PopMatters target audience.