Music Appreciation

You specifically cited the low number of black musicians in classical orchestras so lets start there; pro musicians and their options.

Classical performance don't make money. I know lots of professional musicians (I make music videos for them, do publicity, sing backing vocals). None of them are in love with playing covers or being in tribute bands (well one is but he owns two tribute bands...)

Think of it this way, for an artist, classical music performances are the equivalent of being in a tribute band. IOW you have to play it exactly the way the audience thinks it should be, no improv, no changing the tempo, the style the dynamics, etc. No having fun or expressing yourself. Worse, IMHO, is you get a patronizing pat on the head for allegedly being culturally superior but you make less money than musicians who play in modern tribute bands. Bands that perform note-for-note tributes to Pink Floyd, The Who, Zeppelin, and Dave Matthews charge $5000 a show and only have to split that among 4 to 7 members. Playing in an orchestra can require owning expensive and delicate instruments yet pay as low as $100 a gig. With no comp for transportation, lodging or meals, you can wind up losing money. If your instrument is lost, stolen or broken, you can lose a lot of money.

My impression is that efforts to recruit more black musicians into classical orchestras has failed because no one wants to be a token; no one wants to be patronized. Here is one experience: