Josquin des Prez in the Eyes of His Contemporaries - Essay Response

The reading we did in class paints a picture of Josquin as seen by some of his contemporaries.  When taking all of the different view points together I can begin to imagine a little bit about him as percieved from the outside.  He was a very gifted composer, recieving the praise of each person cited in the reading on this account - even from the man who was trying to persuade a certain ruler not to hire Josquin to work in his court.  Besides being a great composer, he was apparently a difficult person to work with at times.  He did not always compose music when asked, but instead worked on his own time table.  When attempting to get hired by the ruler mentioned above he asked almost double the salary as another composer who was being considered for the position.  All of this information taken together points towards a musical genius, self-assured in his own brilliance and importance, expecting to receive special treatment.  But how much of the information from these quotes can really be taken at face value?  We don't really know much about Josquin, about his motives, about what he is thinking (in this reading).  His main voice is in the music he composed, and judging by that alone, he was brilliant and inspired.  We read a little about his methods of teaching composition to others.  He would first teach them how to sing, then if they could master that, he would teach them counterpoint and all of it's rules.  Finally, if they mastered that they could go on to composing their own pieces.  From those composers only one in many would actually create something that Josquin considered a great work.  Basically, it sounds to me like the apprenticeship system.  Those wanting to learn under Josquin are required to learn the fundamentals that he considers the most important.  All along the way he is trying to weed out those who are truly gifted and willing to work hard, and those who are not.  A discussion about this system versus our current education system arose in class.  I believe that in many ways this ancient apprenticeship system is a much better teacher than the education system we use in much of the world today.  First off, in an apprenticeship you learn only what your teacher deems to be important to the field you are studying.  They have already done what you are trying to achieve and so they know at least one path to take that can get you there.  If we are in a college or university we must take the courses that have been deicided for us by some body of people that we have not nor ever will meet.  At face value, we are to take courses from many disciplines in order to become "a well rounded person".  That is a fine goal, in essence to become a "renaissance man" - knowing at least something about many things.  But that is not the reason that most people go to college today, nor is it the reason that most people are told they should got to college today.  We are told to go to college because it is the only way to get a good job, and for many regulated occupations, you must have a degree in order to do anything in that field.  I don't have a problem with needing a degree to work in certain fields, but I think the requirements for most of the degrees could use some updating.  The biggest problem with our current college system is that the old promise - the carrot dangled in front of us - that we just need to get a degree and we'll get a safe secure job afterwards, is no longer true!  Would the apprenticeship system fix this?  Well, in many cases I think it would.  When you apprentice for something you are often working for the person or company that you are hoping to get hired by when you complete your training.  You are learning the skills that are actually necessary, and you are learning them from someone else who uses those skills daily in their work.  Let me make this clear.  I am not against college, or higher learning, or the teachers that are found at those places, but the system is broken.  The cost is way too high for what we actually receive.  I learn a lot at college, and I enjoy my classes (most of the time), but I think I could have learned all of it much faster, without so much wasted time if I was just studying under a master in my desired field (the apprenticeship system).  Back to Josquin to tie all of this together.  He used the apprenticeship system, and it is even possible that he was an apprentice under Ockegehm.  Maybe we should look to history for answers to our current education crisis in America.