Ever since Alice Tully Hall unceremoniously turned off the one plug in the seating area of their lobby, I’ve been auditioning new mobile office locations in midtown. Today, I’m here at the MoMA Cafe, and have located an outlet and a seat by the window facing…I think this is 54th street, but I’m bad with directions. Free wireless, check. Clean countertop, check. Annoying children behind me, fine; unavoidable. $5.92 cappuccino – ack, check double minus.
Every time I see ads for classes at MoMA, I comb through my schedule in hopes that I can find 5-week period during which I wouldn’t have to miss two or more night classes for work stuff. I was an art history minor at school, and my favorite part of interning at The Whitney was getting to walk through the museum on the days it was closed with the curators. This summer, I was especially disapointed to miss the MoMA class on New York City architecture. ((shakes fist at the sky/job))
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MoMA courses offer adults the rare opportunity to study modern and
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artists, and Museum staff. Enrollment is limited to twenty per course
(twelve for studio courses), so sign up today.Prices for courses are listed below. Sign up for Museum membership
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the discounted course prices. Additional discounts are available for educators and staff of other museums.FM headsets and neck loops for sound amplification are available for all courses.
One of these terms I’ll just sign up; concerts be damned. But I figure, if I miss/like school, other people must miss/like school, so why don’t arts presenters offer music history classes that coincide with their season programming? I work in the industry, and if Alan Gilbert were teaching a class on Schoenberg at Lincoln Center in September, I would pay to take it. Concert tickets could be part of the cost for the course. I’ve previously wondered why presenters don’t offer music classes (Alvin Ailey offers dance classes for children and adults) but adult/continuing ed classes would serve the same purpose: get people in your building, make them feel like they’re a part of your organization.
Just thinking out loud/on screen.
I’ve wondered about music courses like that too. As a musicologist, I’d love to do that kind of thing; at the moment, it seems to bring little interest from the public. The American Musicological Society is looking into ways of doing outreach, particularly in terms of short courses and pre-concert talks, that will attract larger audiences.
Probably one of the smartest things that a music presenting organisation can do is to collaborate with institutions that are established in the business of providing short courses/adult education of this type.
That way the concert presenter doesn’t have to dilute its resources (staff or financial) or delve into an activity where it might not have much experience (running courses). Instead the presenter can offer an educational organisation access to expertise and good speakers, and guidance re themes that might complement the concert activity that’s going on in town during each season. There is the implicit cross-endorsement of such collaborations as well.
A friend of mine is a pianist on Vancouver Island and she has had great success with giving lecture recitals in her living room.
Groups of about ten people come for 8 weeks and discuss the work of one composer each week. She plays a few representative pieces and then talks about what makes that composer’s voice unique, weaves in some amusing biographical anecdotes and fields questions from the group.
The series is not connected to any concerts in town but is hugely popular because everyone feels as if they can participate. It’s a more collaborative format than a lecture where the information is only going one way.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot – even wanting to go back to grad school for music history. Not that I want to derail or put my career on hold, but because I am a big classical music dork (it’s a disease!) and I would love to learn more. Programs like Beyond the Score in Chicago, Off the Cuff at BSO, etc, are taking this approach of educating everyone and tying everything into the music. Gerard McBurney is brilliant with what he does in Chicago & I can only pray that I can produce something even remotely as good. He has the benefit of amazing connections.