Ron Spigelman – Page 30 – Sticks and Drones

More Jacksonville thoughts -Your mediator is already in the house!

December 19, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

It is a path well traveled and it always seems to lead to a dead end. An orchestra hires a shiny new Music Director. He or she is hailed by the staff, the board and the orchestra as the great unifier who will bring all parts of the organization together for the common purpose of bringing great music to a city, developing a unified mission for the community’s cultural and economic goals, the face, the voice, the one….yeah right!

Has anyone seen or heard from Fabio Mechetti?

Let me set one thing straight right off the bat: I am not calling Fabio out, well not exactly. He is not the problem. However, if the now paper thin assertions I mentioned above about the position of Music Director were actually true, he might be the solution because of the fact that a music director is a unified and many times unanimous choice…..

Part 2 of 2: Putting the all in Hall, Audience Connections Final!

December 17, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

Ron_spigelman_3 Welcome to The Underground!

What really surprised me about this concept is something that inadvertently came up during the final presentation. This Hall might actually provide a solution for saving money whilst working in concert with the environment, the community and the audience!…..Here is my summary and grading of Paper # 2:

Part 1 of 2: Putting the all in Hall, Audience Connections Final!

December 14, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

The idea is to build a performing arts center that truly does accommodate the needs of a community. Just saying it does or will, is not enough! For their final, my Audience Connections class of 4 divided into 2 groups and were charged with creating a concept design. If we want to attract the 20 somethings, shouldn’t they have a say too!…….Here is my summary and grading of Paper # 1:

All roads do not lead to Rome!

December 12, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

Book me on the 6am, you never know what will happen in December but it will give me all day to get there if I need to find alternative routes…..

Concert in Rome NY at 8pm, Dec 10, starting point: Springfield MO.

Awake at 4:30am, 4 Airports, a cross-state car dash, an ice storm , snow, rain and semi-naked in the back of the car on the final leg! Concert Impossible!

Random Acts of Art – Not a smackdown!

December 11, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

This week (and next) I am going to wrap up my Audience Connections Class by grading their papers right here plus showing my gratitude for some recent experiences. Traveling today to Syracuse for concerts though, I couldn’t resist adding to Bill’s Airport Post. I say yes, a phenomenal idea and I think we don’t have to limit it to just airports……

Challenge = Opportunity part 5: Better Orchestra = Less Rehearsing!..

December 6, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

Orchestras improve with more performances not more rehearsals! The act of being at your best happens at the point of contact with an audience. The challenge is:

How do we perform more with expenses rising and budgets stagnating?

Simple, if you have good musicians, TRUST THEM and don’t rehearse them to death! In fact by cutting rehearsals an orchestra can become better and fast!!…..

Introducing the Electric Celestetophone

December 4, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

This past weekend in the middle of conducting “The Nutcracker” a thought occurred to me. Didn’t composers try to use new instruments as soon as they became available? Case in point the Celeste. We hear Sugar Plum now and the first thought from conductors and musicians is probably Great only 10 minutes till the end of the ballet! Seriously though, when it was first heard it would have been like hearing an Electric Guitar in the orchestra today the sound was so new…

YO!!…We put the ASS in clASSical!

November 30, 2007 by Ron Spigelman

Time for a rant! The obsession with attracting the younger audience, making music cool and hip with hip advertising, funky clothes and punky billboards is the same as trying to sell a Yugo by putting a great stereo in it. After a while they will realize what it is and buy a bicycle and an ipod because it will go faster! Worse, it might be discrimination….