The Three Am”egos”…..

The common wisdom is to always look forward, live in the present, never in the past, whats done is done and so on.  However at the Springfield Symphony’s season opening concert last Saturday, we brought the past to life in celebration of the our 75th anniversary season.  We didn’t bring out archives to display in the lobby, we didn’t project pictures of the orchestra in embarrassing 70’s clothing above the stage.  None of that.  Instead we brought the past two Music Directors back for a joint concert, including a piece we conducted all at the same time!  It was quite a week!….

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In order to move forward, first you must “retreat”….plus handing the keys to the musicians!

We had Drew here this week for the purpose of beginning the process to re-structure our organization to be ready for the future.  Being that we are in a strong position and not in crisis makes this the perfect time for that process.  In other words, rather than waiting for the fires to start, we are attempting to make ourselves fire proof!  There were two retreats and many meetings.  I am going to let Drew extrapolate on his visit here and instead focus on his chat with myself and one of our  musicians about a program that I hope will be repeated everywhere!…..

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To bring back a memory is greater than any compliment….

As a music director I believe that my position is one of privilege more than one of power.  The true power lies in the opportunity to uplift and to lift up through the music we perform.  All of us at one time or another wait for a letter, message or email to let us know what the next step in our own personal journey or career path will be.  A letter I received recently though, put into even sharper focus that it’s about the next step in our audience’s journey and the privilege of being able to take it with them that defines success for me……

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Smack Down – Mahler 5 – It’s personal!….

It’s been a while since we did one of these, but since mentioning that I was conducting a performance of Mahler’s 5th, Bill suggested we don the gloves for yet another round. Now this time it’s personal! Mahler 5 is like family to me, it even stopped my rebellious teenagehood in its tracks…well for a day anyway….. First things first, our performance went over big, the audience reaction was incredible. If Mahler does anything, it makes at least the Springfield Symphony musicians check out their parts way in advance (some even last … Continue Reading

Audience Poll – Gorilla Style!

My Audience Connection class attended the Springfield Symphony concert on Oct 18, a Big Band themed Pops concert. They were not there to review the concert, but to review the audience! The audience response was tremendous, as was the review in the paper. The students however did an internal eavesdrop poll with interesting results. Our discussion is in three parts below as well as some audio from the concert. I highly recommend every performing arts group do this kind of review!: (podcast 15 and 16 will be up Monday)

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Cultural Trust – Redistributing Wealth Missouri Style!

So when we at the Springfield Symphony (Missouri’s 3rd largest Orchestra) read the news last week regarding the ruling against the Kansas City Symphony’s lawsuit to restore funds into the cultural trust that were not put in during a certain period as the legislature felt the money at that time was needed elsewhere, our reaction was : Oh that’s right they filed a lawsuit! We had forgotten about it. Arts funding in Missouri has risen the last two years….under a Republican governor! I have a little insight into what happened and some personal experience with the whole thing including some interaction with the governor….

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Shhhhpeak up!

I am always fascinated by the dynamics of an audience and perceptions when certain behaviors are noticed. It’s all to easy to jump to a negative assumption as to why someone would get up and walk out, or talk, or be disruptive.

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