From Michael Oneil Lam (who's married to one of the students I work with at the University of Maryland) -- an idea for making orchestra concerts more comprehensible to outsiders. And, believe me, he's got reasons for thinking about this. He's not a classical music person, but he goes to hear his wife play the bass in the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra. And wishes he could have a little help in following the music.He wrote this for his blog, The Free Arrow. I'm reposting it here with his permission. Thanks, Mike! What you wrote is … [Read more...]

Each fall, I teach a graduate course about music criticism, at Juilliard. As I've said here before, it ends up being a class in how to talk about music, more than a class about criticism itself. Though we do read my favorite classical critics (George Bernard Shaw and Virgil Thomson), as well as current reviews from the New York Times, which the students pick, and bring into class.They also have to do a bit of writing. I tell them (and I mean it) that they'll be judged not by their writing skills, but by what they say. They're musicians, after … [Read more...]

Here's a thought that's been on my mind for a while. Lincoln Center, in New York, has heightened its branding. Now (on 65th Street, next to its main campus, where all the big halls are) it's got a row of very tall video displays, which often show moving images. Across the street from them, in front of the remodeled Alice Tully Hall, is another video display, looking spiffily contemporary. Well, fine. A move into current culture. Contemporary branding. Two problems, though. The images vary. Some are low-res. Painfully low-res -- … [Read more...]