My teacher Jorge Mester taught me something vital from the start: focus on Conducting before focusing on a career in Conducting. It may seem obvious to do this, but when I served as a faculty member for a conductors workshop with Jorge a few years back, many of the students were more concerned with their resumes than with their downbeats! An article I read today took me back to the beginning when it first clicked…..
Odds & Ends
Edumacation…….
Today I noticed a very scary article that was posted on ArtsJournal on Friday. The US society has gotten to the point where there are some States spending more on prisons then they are on higher education. If this doesn’t scare the livin’ bejesus out of you then……….
Real Water Music!
Sometimes music hits you when you least expect it. The opening work on our concert this Saturday will be the second suite from Handel’s Water Music. In picking up a few things from our local grocery store yesterday I noticed both the water and the music were for real…..
For Goodness Sakes Let Me Move, and Please Clean the Piano!!!
When I go to Syracuse I sometimes stay with a wonderful couple, Todd and Debbie Cornell. They are Symphony subscribers, donors, and volunteers. Whenever I am with them we have long discussions (usually while gorging on Debbie’s incredible blueberry pancakes) about the orchestra world, and as audience members they recently expressed to me two very different desires for the concert experience………
What’s in a Name?
It is funny – as a Music Director you’re responsible for putting together a season that is coherent and musically fulfilling. But then it’s thrown into the hopper of PR/Marketing and God only knows what is going to come out. You’re thinking one thing and then you catch a glimpse of what is going out to the public and – “that’s not what I had in mind!” So, what’s in a name?
Gung Hei Fat Choy, Columbus…….
For those of you not up on your Mandarin that means “Happy New Year.” Today is the start of the Year of the Rat, and I figure that it’s as good a time as any to ask the question: “Whither Columbus?” (Remember – Chris was actually trying to find China on that voyage.) Teraquads of information have already been spilled on the conundrum that the Columbus Symphony faces. I don’t know if I’ll be able to give any insight but I shall give it my best shot.
Music Everywhere
It was just one weekend, but it proved to me that everything that we do has music at the heart of it, one way or another. Here are four highlights………
Super Music Tuesday
It’s primary season. I realize that this column is not about politics but for those of us living in the USA this is important, and I have a personal story to tell about one of the candidates.