My book: Rebirth: The Future of Classical Music. For a while I unfolded it bit by bit online, posting drafts, or improvisations, or riffs on what the book might say. My idea was to promote the book, and to spread the ideas in it around. To get reactions to the ideas, and to how I put them. This was invaluable, but I was never happy with how the book unfurled. It seemed like something improvised, not like something planned, something with structure and a goal.
The oldest versions of the book are still online. They’re thoroughly superseded now, but they’re lively, and full of good insights.
Of course I rewrote them. And came up with the most recent version — until the new one. Still it all seemed like an improvisation, but this time there was, at least, more structure. I wrote an outline, and started riffing on various parts of it.
This, too, is superseded. But, again, full of good stuff. Here’s what’s available:
Outline of the book. Brief but thorough.
Riffs on the content:
Part I — The Crisis
Chapter one:
A riff on chapter one. “Rebirth and Resistance.” What the first chapter of the book is likely to say. Fairly long. Brings together, in revised form, the four riffs on chapter one that I put on my blog. (See below.)
Riff on chapter one — shorter. For those who want a shorter read. Many details, subtleties missing. But also some small revisions, maybe making a few things clearer.
Chapter two:
Riff on chapter two, “Dire Data,” in which I document the quantifiable part of the classical music crisis.
Chapter three:
Riff on chapter three, “The Culture Ran Away From Us”:
Part II: The Nature of Classical Music
Chapter four:
Riff on chapter four, “What Classical Music Is”
Chapter five:
Riff on chapter five, part one: “The Myth of Classical Music Superiority.”