It’s summer, in case you haven’t noticed, and I’m finding it hard to sit down and write the 3,000 word exposé. I’m sure I’ll get back into it in a few weeks. In the interim – more random thoughts.
What the bloody hell were they thinking @ the Skylight Theater in Milwaukee? This is how organizations end up either permanently crippled or completely out of business. Flat out total mismanagement. Both the Managing Director and the Chair of the Board who allowed him to get into this mess should resign yesterday, if not sooner.
Wonderful article in Slate on the healing power of music. It does raise a few good questions: 1) what are the rest of us in music doing to help support these kids who are thrown into combat at such a young age; and 2) whether we should tip the balance of our profession more towards music education rather than music performance. I realize that #2 is a VERY big topic, but in order to get a new audience for music, any music, we have got to get people interested in playing instruments. Or at the very least screwing around with the new technology which makes music creation very very very easy. We would see the results 20 years down the line but that is much better than not seeing the results at all.
Pet Peeve alert – all you violinists out there, if you can’t play the 2nd variation of Kreutzer at the original tempo for the movement, instead of going way way way faster, why are you playing Kreutzer in the first place?
West Side Story alert – the boys & girls @ CollegeHumor have done it again.
Did anyone catch the story on the Shreveport Symphony? Obviously it has been a mess, but the most interesting thing is the frighteningly honest sentence –
Part of the reason the symphony ended the season in the black is because since the musicians were on strike, no symphony concert expenses were incurred.
I wish it wasn’t true but it is. At some point we’ve got to figure out a better funding model for what we do.
Looks like Jumbotrons at Ravinia are a hit. Whether you are for or against it is a sign of the times. As a wise man once said – “the only thing constant is change.”