How lucky am I to have had the honor of working with Marvin. For 4 years I assisted him, accompanied him and produced a Holiday album when he was Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic and I was associate conductor. I have a story, a moment and a couple of classic one liners that I want to share as my tribute…
Ron Spigelman
The search for the perfect (Cease) Business Model!
It seems that there is a lot of energy being put into finding ways to either shut an orchestra down or seriously compromise it’s existence. I don’t remember receiving an invitation to the “20,000 (Orchestra) Leagues Under the Sea” conference. The plans range from bankruptcy (Syracuse), canceling a season (Delaware), to trying to hire “new” musicians (Louisville). They all have one thing in common though…
If it hurts everywhere….your finger is probably broken!
Yet another article on how to save Classical Music or at least in this case live concerts. On the list: Slow down Bach, clap between movements and after solos, the score is only a suggestion so improvise….I think more cowbell would be as good as a suggestion!…
Quick Takes: The M Word!
Morale, is one of the most misused and abused catchall words used in our business. Often the charge “morale is low” is used as an accusation against a leader or leaders of an organization if things aren’t going well. Those who throw it out there might be justified but also might be just as responsible for low morale with a pervasively negative approach to dealing with problems and issues…
How to turn up the quiet…by Alecia Lawyer
With several incidents of conductors stopping performances for children (this article from Dayton) and cell phones (seemingly the only way to make the news these days), it begs the question especially in the case of children: is there something short of ostracizing them (and their parents) that can be done to allow quiet in a concert hall with children present? Most definitely yes, as guest blogger and Founder/ED of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra Alecia Lawyer will explain…..
Moneyball meets the Mellonball!
So a hot blow in Miami meets a cold blast in Denver as two completely different orchestras try out two models for attracting audiences. There are huge differences between the future plans for the New World Symphony and the Colorado Symphony, not the least of which is the fact that in Miami they are using someone else’s money and are not taking any risks, whereas in Colorado they are risking it all!….
The CON in Conscience…..
I have written that the true deficit that leads to an orchestra’s downfall, is the deficit in leadership. There is something else that also is a huge contributing factor that can also lead to major systemic problems, and potentially can lead to the deficit in leadership: The erosion of a collective conscience. It takes on many forms, but the whole pension debacle puts it into a very sharp focus….
Swimming Upstream with Sandow….
Firstly Greg Sandow is one of the first bloggers I started to read regularly, and I still do. I have met him, I admire him and respect him greatly. I think his recent post though about relevance doesn’t take an important thing into account, which is that a determination of what is relevant is not really our call to make….that belongs to our audiences and our communities….