I know I let a large number of comments build up, unanswered. That's because of the press of other work, and also -- no small thing -- because of my quest to live a more balanced life, one in which I'm not at the computer every minute, typing, typing, typing. But now I've gone back over the comments from the past couple of weeks, and responded to a number of them, especially to the very gracious response from the man who conducted the Chorus America study. I can't say I agree with many of the points he made, but I'm grateful for his attention … [Read more...]

This post makes me just a little sad to write. Chorus America, a while ago, published the results of a study, which they say shows that people who sing in choruses are exceptionally good citizens. They then say that choruses should bring this information to the media, "to help establish an awareness of the personal and communal benefits of choral singing." Here's their press release about the study, and here's the study itself. (The quote comes from the end of the study.) So why am I sad to talk about this? Because the study suffers from an … [Read more...]

I've talked before here on the lack of solid information -- statistical data -- on the current state of classical music. This hits in two ways. First, about some things (ticket sales to orchestra and chamber music concerts) there either isn't any data at all, or else the data hasn't been made public. And second, the data that does exist (for instance the NEA's periodic surveys of the classical music audience, or my own work on the age of the audience in the past) doesn't seem to circulate enough.As an example, look at an eager essay by Karin … [Read more...]

Sorry for my silence here. I'm trying to find a livable rhythm for my life -- but then that's a long story. I've had a few projects that claimed priority time, and I haven't wanted to be obsessive about this blog. But I shouldn't neglect it, either.*When I posted some time ago about the new NEA stats, about attendance at classical music events, and their potentially dire implications for the future of mainstream classical music institutions, some people objected in comments and elsewhere that ticket sales didn't really matter that much. Live … [Read more...]