Art is too fine a word for music-making. Call it a craft.
Composition is a craft. Singing in an ensemble is a craft. Conducting is a craft. I am a craftsman, and a teacher of craftspeople.
A craft is an occupation, trade, or activity requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill.
When we teach music, we should consider it less of developing artistry and more of shaping skill and musical dexterity. How can you manipulate the music – with your hands, with your mind, with your instrument? What tools do you have available to make the music come out the way you want it to?
I love deep thinking and conversations about the artistry of music. But I think my musical work is that of a craftsman, and it is skilled craftsman who I hire and seek to work with.
The skills I teach in my ensembles and in the classes I teach (especially the aural skills class I’m teaching this semester) have more in common with skilled trades apprenticeship than with a pure art-school mindset.