Three different groups announced financial news that will have a big impact on their respective organizations, but with each announcement the negative is the focus with little or no regard for the impact the actual announcement might have on their constituents confidence going forward. It’s We’re a 4 Alarm Dumpster fire, run for your lives!…meets…sheesh only 30 million dollars….meets…. welcome back to the Millennium!……..
Quick Takes
Quick Takes: The Gold Medal for the greatest Orchestra goes to…..
Another attempt to pit Orchestras against each other in an unofficial “Olympics” at Carnegie is a real head scratcher. What is the prize, who actually cares and what is the point? Thankfully Alex Ross provides some sanity but what is interesting is how Orchestras making the Carnegie pilgrimage seem to think it is a magic bullet to spur ticket sales back at home……
Quick Takes: Putting your mouth where the money is!
We have all heard it word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and who would doubt it? Problem is it is both hard to quantify and to come up with data to prove its effectiveness, or so I thought……
Quick Takes: And for the Record(ing) we need to go more “GaGa!”
While the rest of the universe is scratching their heads and debating how Taylor Swift won the Grammy for album of the year, the Internet broadcast of the Classical awards from earlier in the day on Sunday left me perplexed…and the sad thing is, it’s maybe just me who is. It seems not only are precious few Classical recordings being sold (very scary numbers below), but most of the winners for the Classical awards did not attend….and for crying out loud Roberta Flack, a living legend was handing them out!….
Quick Takes: How transparent are we?
We all make a big deal sometimes that as an organization we are transparent, see through, nothing to hide etc…but is there a test out there that determines just how transparent we really are? It is more relevant that with transparency someone can see, “who you” rather than see “through you”! Recently at the Springfield Symphony we were tested, but we didn’t realize it until we were put on the spot…..
Quick Takes: Gesturing….
My teacher Jorge Mester the first time I met him asked me this simple question “What is conducting?” I was stumped and after several feeble attempts to describe what conducting is (which is what I wanted to do with my life!) he helped me work it out. That lesson was the most profound he ever gave me and it is something I apply to this day allowing me to never lose sight of what it is I actually do and how I can apply it elsewhere……..
Quick Takes: What is Success?
The word success is defined for many in the performing arts as the accomplishing of a personal goal, to be continuously engaged, to reach higher positions, to be critically acclaimed and all of the above. Is it really success when it is only about ourselves? Is success not something that also given from ourselves to others? To take a great work and to give it a great performance actually pales into insignificance compared to a performance resonating to the point that that it alters someone’s being, gives them pause to reflect on themselves or even potentially saves a life!…..I pose a question….
Quick Takes: What’s My Job?
Every once in a while I want to post about things that I believe in, that drive me, ideas that pop up. Not necessarily related to anything that is going on specifically, but just to get the voices in my head on paper! For the first quick take:
What’s my Job?…….