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in Econ and most other fields, professors need to be active and publishing in their fields, which imposes a fairly high level of technical competency (though not necessarily aligned with what the market needs)
Is there no similar requirement for music professors, like that they need to be active in the performing community?
Many perform regularly, including faculty recitals and what-not. What many can't do, is actually hang on a pro gig. Obviously, there's a massive diversity of routes one can take to get paid to perform, and there are a decent amount to music profs who can't really hang in any of them. The typical audience at a faculty recital isn't the demographic that's paying for it, and many music classes force the students to go to them as part of their grade. On one level, that makes sense as you can't learn music if you don't experience it. On another level, it creates a fake sense that these professors have a consenting audience. Don't get me wrong. There are lots of great musicians in academia, but there are plenty of terrible ones as well.
I think more than ever, what you get out of it depends on what you're willing to put into it. You won't get a better opportunity to network with experts at the forefront of their fields than at university.
And to be honest, the bar to engage with them is pretty low. Most profs are so jaded by disengaged students that they're pretty happy to talk to ones that show genuine interest, even the ones who aren't that talented. And talent can be compensated for by training/practice... but passion can't.