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A wild time

June 12, 2012 by
wild horses blog

It's a wild time for classical music. That's the headline on my home page. And it's the opening sentence of the revised and final version of my book. Why is this a wild time? First because of the classical music crisis -- declining ticket sales, a shortage of funding, an aging, shrinking audience, all these things we've talked about for so many years. And, of course, lying behind all that, there's the sense we've all had that classical music -- at least for the past generation -- has been growing more distant from the rest of our … [Read more...]

06/12/12 10:42 AM | filed under: classical music ideology, entrepreneurship, finding a new audience, Preparing for the future, the position of classical music today, Uncategorized |

Classical music is easy

May 29, 2012 by
vf blog

Many of us think classical music is difficult, inherently difficult. That complexities of form and musical process aren't readily heard, without education in classical music, and that this is why people -- so many of them --  don't care to go to classical performances. But a survey conducted in March by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair suggests otherwise. You can read the results in the June issue of the magazine, the one with Marilyn Monroe on the cover. (Look for page 56.) More than 900 people all over the US were asked which type of music they … [Read more...]

05/29/12 3:55 PM | filed under: classical music ideology, finding a new audience, the position of classical music today |

My Shostakovich (continuing)

May 6, 2012 by
shos soccer blog

So I was listening to Jenny Lin's recording of Shostakovich piano preludes and fugues, and thinking back to my graduate school days, when Shostakovich was a nonperson among atonal composers. But, far more, I was hearing how vital the music is. Preludes and fugues seem like archaic forms, and you'd think anyone writing them in 1950, when Shostakovich started his, would have the weight of Bach bearing down on him. But of course the music doesn't sound archaic. It's the usual Shostakovich mix, which -- and I just love this about him -- … [Read more...]

05/6/12 12:52 PM | filed under: classical music itself, the position of classical music today, Uncategorized |

Let’s trust our supporters

April 18, 2012 by
trust blog

I'm amazed, truly amazed, at some of the pushback my recent posts have gotten. And maybe what amazes me most is the idea that we're going to hurt orchestras -- and all of classical music -- by talking about things that might be bad news for the field. Such as financial trouble, or declining ticket sales. Why do people say that talking about bad news will hurt us? Because -- allegedly -- it will scare away our supporters, especially those who give us money. Amazing. If we believe that, then we believe: (a) that our supporters (ticket … [Read more...]

04/18/12 9:47 AM | filed under: classical music ideology, Preparing for the future, the position of classical music today, Uncategorized |

Why don’t we know?

April 16, 2012 by
newspaper ad revenue cropped blog copy

As I look over the comments on my recent posts -- and of course over many things that have been done and said over the past few years -- I'm struck by something we don't seem to agree on. "We" being people involved professionally in classical music. And that's whether the field is in trouble. And, most pointedly, whether orchestras are in trouble, or whether they're essentially healthy. But then I have to ask why we're having this debate. Why don't we know? In the newspaper industry, for instance, there's no debate about how things stand. … [Read more...]

04/16/12 11:14 AM | filed under: classical music ideology, the position of classical music today |

How not to do it

April 10, 2012 by
serious cat blog

Here's a link to a speech by Bruce Ridge, the chairman of ICSOM, the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, which represents unionized musicians at 51 top American orchestras. The title of the speech? "Danger, Will Robinson! How Hyperbolic, Negative Rhetoric is Hurting America's Orchestras." And what Ridge says is that orchestras are in good shape, along with all of classical music, no matter how often we hear otherwise. Which is fine. He's entitled to his opinion. But his speech is a great disservice to his membership, … [Read more...]

04/10/12 9:31 PM | filed under: the position of classical music today |

Respecting the culture

March 2, 2012 by
lil kim blog

I already said much of what follows, in my post about Alec Baldwin's favorite records. But it needs saying again. It's crucial for classical music's future. Remember the commandment: Respect the culture we find outside classical music. So let's take another look at what that culture is. I was driving the other day, and listening to an NPR show about American vice-presidents, a subject it's easy to have fun with. So when the host mentioned George Clinton -- veep during Jefferson's second term -- all at once we heard music from George Clinton … [Read more...]

03/2/12 1:44 PM | filed under: Preparing for the future, the position of classical music today |

Why the classical Grammys don’t matter

February 14, 2012 by
Who is this man?

Well, maybe they give their winners bragging rights, or a small -- tiny? -- commercial boost. But in any larger musical, cultural, or commercial sense they don't matter at all. Not because awards shows might be silly, or because winning an award might be no guarantee of artistic strength, or because (as some people might think) classical music itself might not matter. No, the classical Grammys don't matter because hardly anyone -- including classical music fans -- hears most of the recordings that are nominated, so there's no context … [Read more...]

02/14/12 1:19 PM | filed under: the position of classical music today |
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