An engaged, enthusiastic, and diverse audience is one of the strongest standards for justifying an orchestra’s value. During my years as a violinist in various orchestras around the country, I have witnessed audiences lose their enthusiasm for live concerts and turn their backs to orchestras as the result of behavior from those inside the ensemble. The last two months I covered how music directors and musicians alienate audiences, and this month’s article will focus on managers. Unlike the previous two groups, managers are somewhat different in that they are not as visible ... Continue Reading

An engaged, enthusiastic, and diverse audience is one of the strongest measurements for justifying an orchestra’s value. During my years as a violinist in various orchestras around the country, I have witnessed audiences lose their enthusiasm for live concerts and turn their backs to orchestras as the result of behavior from those inside the ensemble. Last month’s article showed how conductors alienate audiences through certain behaviors and this month is the musician’s turn. Of course, not every musician is guilty of the transgressions below but they happen often enough that they contribute ... Continue Reading

An engaged, enthusiastic, and diverse audience is one of the strongest measurements for justifying an orchestra’ value. During my years as a violinist in various orchestras around the country, I have witnessed audiences lose their enthusiasm for live concerts and turn their backs to orchestras as the result of behavior from those inside the ensemble. A growing reality is nobody seems to learn from these mistakes and instead, treats them as though they should be expected behavior. Concerts and rehearsals are becoming as predictable as bad sitcoms but instead of turning preachy ... Continue Reading

One of the best activities after a concert is to talk about it over drinks. For musicians, talking about a concert that has just been performed boils down to a musical postmortem. What went well, what went horribly wrong, how it could (read: should) have been better, are all tossed about over beer or wine. By the nature of their training, musicians are trained to be hyper-critical with their own performances. Whether it is solo, chamber music, or orchestral music, the inner critic never shuts off. And while this is a very ... Continue Reading

Crazy things happen during the final weeks at some music festivals, and this summer was no different. I was wrapping up my fourth week at the Grand Teton Music Festival when sudden inspiration hit me. I wondered how easy it was to play the trombone solo in Bolero! Fortunately, my brother is a professional trombonist and since we were both playing the festival and sharing housing, I coaxed him to play the Bolero trombone solo. I asked if he could teach me, and what started out as a crazy joke turned into ... Continue Reading