All Entries Tagged With: "define the arts"
Quick Takes: How about thinking INSIDE the box? and request time!
A completely overused statement “thinking outside the box” needs to be reworked and soon. I used to love using it, but now I feel it is a cop out statement as if to say we are going to try something new and different and if it doesn’t work, well at least we tried! Also my [...]
Things that move….
I’m in the midst of the busiest schedule of my life in Lake Placid and in Syracuse, with 3 (this week 5) concerts a week till mid August, but that doesn’t mean there is no time to be moved….just not much time to write about it! Yesterday something struck me and a friend shared with [...]
We are for Profit…aren’t we?…..
I am up here in Lake Placid for 6 weeks of concerts in the glorious Adirondacks with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta. Something is really bothering me, even though I am here in paradise. The words not-for-profit have such a negative connotation. I know it’s a widely used categorical description but it’s not accurate in the [...]
Terry Teachout and how we go from Zero to Hero! – plus a mini tribute
Ernest Fleischmann passed and I had one treasured experience with him that I want to share, but first to Terry Teachout. Terry I say thank you for your article raising the question of eliminating regional orchestras, yes thank you! He opened an even bigger debate than in my Context/Urtext post (it is somewhat related) which [...]
It needs to be about CONTEXT not URTEXT!!!!
At Cliburn last year I kept hearing “it has to be about the music”. I’m sorry MUSIC IS NOT ABOUT MUSIC, it’s about everything else! We spend so much time focusing on trying to get people to fall in love with music and with what we do. This will only happen when we do the [...]
More ASS in clASSical – Unexplain This!
So I’m late in getting to the widely panned Philly marketing campaign Unexpect Yourself. Now to their credit it has created a lot of buzz in the blogosphere but whether it translates into sales and repeat business….well time will tell. What marketing in general seems to lack is creating a connection to relevancy with this [...]
Very STATisfying! – part 1
It’s about Artistic excellence, We want to be the best orchestra this side of the…(insert iconic river or Great Lake here!), We’ve practiced, practiced, practiced…now we want to go to Carnegie Hall. How many times do you hear how great an Executive and/or Music Director wants their orchestra to be, but what does great actually [...]
Adjusting the Seasonings in Salt Lake! – Time to Make a Play!
The Utah Symphony and Opera have been rescued by a very large gift which is great news. A couple of articles about their situation got me thinking more about community outreach and how the tangible resonance of a hall needs to be matched with the resonance felt within and even beyond our communities. More importantly [...]
Hope for the Next Decade: A Call to Arts!
Community Outreach was the catchall category of the last decade in the Orchestra world, and has become so non defined that we take for granted that it’s happening at every orchestra. It most certainly isn’t just because the words are used. It is time to define it for real, give it real teeth and [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Two Takes – Entrepreneurship and Michelle Obama’s Speech
My class brings current blog posts and/or articles to debate, 3 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday. In the clips below first Mackenna and I discuss the perception of what an entrepreneur is from an article by David Cutler, author of the soon to be released Savvy Musician. Then 3 of them on Tuesday brought [...]
Bill Eddins wrote:
Geof Applegate wrote:
Anonymouos wrote:
Xylo Guy wrote: