It would be a sadly familiar scenario if 2 major orchestras are looking to their new maestros to seemingly solve all of their problems or even save their orchestras….please our egos are already big enough! We as Music Directors may be the leaders but we lead a team, and to suggest that a conductor can be the fix for major organizational problems would be akin to suggesting that an executive director can fix any major artistic problems……
Kill The NEA
I try to keep politics out of this blog but I think it is time to declare a revolutionary idea: kill the NEA.
Hobbits Found In Mid-America
So, what can The Hobbit teach us about unintended consequences? A surprising amount it turns out. Where’s Gandalf when you need him?
More ASS in clASSical: The secret to enlightenment….BEER!
How could we have missed it, the answer to what ails Classical Music is in fact…..ale! If all else fails then isn’t alcohol always the answer….hmmm. This according to Louise Jury the “chief arts correspondent” for the London Evening Standard, which I remember as the paper (when I was a student in London) I never needed to buy simply because no one commuting home (it is sold outside tube stations) would ever keep it, so I always had my choice of copies to read! Again here we go with the inane and the ridiculous and the worst of it is that it is not an original idea, and it has already failed before….
“You May Ask Yourself – How Did We Get Here?”
I meant to write a blog about the need for like-minded progressive people associated with the classical music industry to get together online and start a forum dedicated to revolutionizing our business, but then reality set in. I also got into a great conversation with a colleague of mine at a party recently. So, once again, this blog is about Detroit. The $64K question – “where’s the plan, man?”
The Whole World Is Watching…
Chicago Transit Authority. Anyone remember that album? One of the greatest debut albums of all time, right up to the track Somebody (August 29, 1968). Then it veers from a great album into tremendous social commentary with the chant “The Whole World Is Watching.” That was over 40 years ago, and perhaps we should remember that it’s even more relevant today than it was then.
Would the “River Run Through It” without an Orchestra?
What is really frustrating about the angst in our industry is the lack of creativity in the arguments we make for why an Orchestra is important. I put a heavy focus on why an Orchestra is important to its own community which is a firm belief that I have, but it seems that there might be a global crisis in confidence with the answer bandied about the most often being the dreaded “shrinkage” (what would we do without Seinfeld) that needs to occur. So for those commenting negatively about the Detroit Symphony, let me ask you this: What would Star Wars be like if the soundtrack only had a Synthesizer playing?…..
Here we go chasing our tails from Detroit to Duluth…..
There is always a hyperventilating that takes place when the so called “model” is challenged and why is it that Orchestras live in the extreme? When there are problems everything an orchestra does has to change, and when there are not, let’s spend spend spend, and ignore any impending problems. I cannot over emphasize enough that spending whenever we do it is never the answer, we would be all well served re-reading the Knight Foundation Magic of Music report (linked below). What is the answer?….