Archives for 2016

Well, this is a festive photo! Rafa — my son, five years old (can barely believe it) — outfits himself and a neighbor’s dog with fireman helmets. Grinning like a mad thing, because he’d just done a prank. Stuck out his tongue for the first draft of the photo. Happy holidays, everyone. I hope they’re joyful for you. As for me — your warmth, your support, your interest in what I do helps keep me going all through the year. So thanks for that! I’m grateful. And in return, I'll send very strong wishes for your happiness. And now a gift … [Read more...]

On Facebook and Twitter I’ve been talking about bad graphic design in classical music. Why does bad design matter? Because we need a new audience. Our new audience comes — will come — from the outside world, where good design is everywhere, taken for granted when you’re dealing with professionals. If we can’t match that, we look like we don't function in the real word. That we're not professional. That what we do can't be very good. Which, to put it mildly, isn’t in our interest. I'll give an example -- the Kennedy Center program book. Not … [Read more...]

A joyful Thanksgiving hello, to everyone. In my life, I'm thankful first for Anne and Rafa, my wife and five year-old son. I'd start with them, and end with them. My loving warm, smart family. Our big kid, who figures things out “in my brain” (as he says). Climbs anything, jumps from unexpected heights, and with happy abandon throws himself through the air, from ottoman to couch and back again. And who loves us with all his heart, as we love him. And then music I’ll just make a list, things that wowed me in concert or on recordings. Won’t … [Read more...]

My own Weegee Photos. Premiered by Jenny Lin on my Strathmore concert in April. Based on dark, very film noir photos by Weegee, who photographed emergencies and crime scenes in New York in the 1940s, and sold the pictures to the tabloids. That’s one of his photos, called “Gunman Killed By Off-Duty Cop at 344 Broome Street.” Weegee is a cult figure now, a recognized artist. Shows in museums. So these are eight piano pieces based on his work. Here’s the score. Plus a link to Jenny’s Strathmore performance. This is hard music. She played … [Read more...]

Write a good subject line! This is something I stress in my consulting work. If you’re sending out professional email — designed to advance a project of yours — make sure the subject line gets people interested. It’s amazing how often I see email from publicists with the subject line “Press release.” Why would that interest me? I get so many press releases. Wow, another one. Why not tell me what it’s about? As in: “Lost Beethoven symphony to be premiered.” Well, sure. No way I can believe that someone publicizing that wouldn’t say so in the … [Read more...]

One winter evening in Cincinnati, I went into the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, and I saw the musicians of Classical Revolution Cincinnati performing there. And they were taking their music straight to their audience. … They booked their own clubs, they found their colleagues, [they] chose what they were going to play. And I saw creativity, joy, life, music and this beautiful connection between audience and performers. And it was like I had spent 10 years banging my head against a door that would never open [honing her flute technique, auditioning for … [Read more...]

Anderson and Roe, the piano duo, at the National Gallery in DC, on October 30. And why was it ideal? Well, first, the perfect blend of art and entertainment. An afternoon of short pieces, more or less Halloween-themed, But going deep in many ways, and vividly played. In a blog post called “Four Keys to the Future” I long ago said that we in classical music would have to play more vividly, if we wanted a new audience. Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe do that. When music is supposed to be loud and exciting, they lift you out of your chair. … [Read more...]

My Juilliard course this fall is well underway, and its title (slightly shortened for clarity) is “How to Speak and Write About Music.” We read descriptions of music, by critics and others. We practice describing music I play in class. And, in the spirit of entrepreneurship, we study press releases, bios, and program notes to see how they’re written. And — you knew this was coming, if you’ve read me on these subjects — how they could be written better. They do a terrible job, so many of them, describing the music they’re trying to … [Read more...]

There are new things you have to do now to publicize your work. This is something that most publicists, I fear, may not understand. But one of my former Juilliard students provides a good example of what needs to happen now. (He's given me permission to blog what he and I talked about — you could call it informal consulting — but asked me not to use his name.) What not to do My former student is a composer (whose music isn't only classical), and he has a new CD out. He asked me how he could publicize it, saying that the publicist he'd worked … [Read more...]

I'm going to reprint this right from my latest newsletter… I'm humbled by the response I've gotten from my consulting clients. I've been working with musicians, helping them build their careers, especially by focusing their branding, the ways they describe and promote themselves. And how they pitch themselves for gigs. I love doing this work, and I've felt that I've been helping. But then when Paul Haas — a unique meld of conductor, composer, and installation artist — sent me a testimonial, I almost fell down: If you’re willing to put in … [Read more...]

I'm often asked what I think the future of classical music will be. Here's a summary of what I think. It's been sitting quietly in the Resources section of my blog, but it's time to give it some bigger play. Here we go: I Classical music is in trouble, and there are well-known reasons why. We have an aging audience, falling ticket sales, and — in part because our audience is shrinking — persistent financial woes. And behind the numbers lies a deeper problem. Classical music has grown distant from our wider culture. We don’t connect well … [Read more...]

The talks at the important — and inspiring — DePauw School of Music Symposium — have started to stream. I gave the keynote, but that’s not as important to me as what others said. For instance, David Wallace, chair of the string department at the Berklee College of Music. What he said in his talk was life-changing. He showed us a new way to teach — in which the string department functions as a community, and every student can (and very likely does) work with every teacher. Across many genres, incorporating world music as well as everything … [Read more...]

Well, I think it’s thrilling that Bob Dylan won his Nobel prize. One of the most profound artists alive today. Someone who goes very deep in me. dylan-blog And I’m also thrilled because by choosing him the Nobel people validated something I’ve been talking about for quite a while — that art has migrated beyond the arts. “The arts” in this case being defined as an industry (made up of institutions offering high art) that claims to represent all art. But doesn’t, because art — and this started long ago — has migrated outside it. And is found all … [Read more...]

Four things the National Symphony could have done to bring diversity to the classical half of their season-opening gala: Instead of opening with Dvorak’s festive Carnival Overture, they could have opened  with the Festive Overture by William Grant Still, the leading African-American composer of the 20th century. Instead of Lang Lang, they could have had a black soloist. They could have started the concert not only with the "Star-Spangled Banner" (which they always play at their season opening), but also with "Lift Every Voice and Sing," an … [Read more...]

Let's agree, first, on one thing. A gala that opens a symphony orchestra’s season should feel like a gala. Should be fun and lively, with some glamour and glitz. But to create a gala like that, you have to do some planning. And — for their gala last Sunday — it seemed like the National Symphony didn't do that. Their problems First, the board chair. She come onstage after the first piece on the program, and the air went out of the show. Nothing against her — maybe she’s a fine board chair. But she’s not a public speaker. And apart from some … [Read more...]