As I keep saying, people in many places -- all over the world -- are moving into classical music's future. Nobody (as I also keep saying) catalogs these wonderful efforts, and so I'm trying to share as many of them as I can here. The latest -- and of course this is a "solutions" post -- came in an email from Billy Robin. He'll take it from here (quoting his message with his permission):I am a music student at Northwestern, and I can vouch for the ills of audience participation of classical music on campus. It is nearly impossible to … [Read more...]
What’s going on
I may have just taken my longest blog hiatus, or at least the longest I've taken without planning and announcing it. What happened: two days last weekend of flat on my back illness, followed by trips to Washington (for Peter Gregson's talk and performance at the University of Maryland), then back to NY, then out to the country for a happy visit with my inlaws. In the middle of all that, and into the bargain me not feeling well, the blog got lost. Tomorrow the whirlwind keeps whirling. I fly to Chicago, to do workshops Tuesday on the future of … [Read more...]
The culture keeps running away
Or, rather, the classical music world -- over the past generations -- has kept running away from our culture. Now presenting the second part of my riff on chapter three of my book, Rebirth: The Future of Classical Music. You can download it here. Find the first part here, and the very long complete riff -- both parts together -- here. There's also a page with links to everything I've posted from the book.And so the book proceeds -- more slowly, as I said in my last blog post about it, than I would have liked. I'm going to pick up the pace. And, … [Read more...]
The future comes to Maryland
(Well, OK -- maybe I'm overhyping this. But ever since I praised Schwalbe and Partners for the headlines on their press releases, I thought I'd better spiff up my own headlines. A work in progress.)On April 13, my friend Peter Gregson will be coming to the University of Maryland, as part of the project I'm doing there. He'll be doing two things -- playing a new kind of digital recital (on his electric cello), and talking with students about everything he does. Which has included, as I've noted here before (for instance in yesterday's post) … [Read more...]
You reached out, and nobody came…
No, this isn't going to be a downer post. It's actually a step toward solutions, but incorporating some necessary doses of reality. Here are two -- very similar -- promotional things that students recently have tried. First: As part of the project I'm doing at the University of Maryland, members of the school's symphony orchestra went out to the student union, and started practicing their parts for Strauss's Heldenleben, the big piece on their upcoming concert.And let me be very clear about giving credit for this idea, and for other … [Read more...]
CD covers I like
While we're still talking about CD covers, I thought I'd add a few likes of my own. Starting with this one, which I've loved ever since the recording came out on LP in 1962: Of course it's Siegfried, from the Georg Solti Ring. And there couldn't be a more iconic image from the opera, showing the moment (at the end of the first scene of the third act) when Siegfried heads up the mountain toward Brünnhilde and the magic fire. If I remember correctly, it's a photo of Wolfgang Windfgassen, who sings Siegfried on the recording, in a live … [Read more...]
New book riff — the culture ran away from us
At long last, here's the latest riff from my book. Or, rather, the first part of it. It's long, so I've divided it into two parts. I'll post the second part here in a week. But if anyone wants to read it now, it's here. And the complete riff, both parts combined is here.These new riffs cover chapter three of my book. See the outline (revised, by the way), to see where it fits. It's about the gap - the abyss - between classical music and the rest of our culture. And how that's the reason for the aging audience, and declining funding and ticket … [Read more...]
Lara Downes: Here at the Exiles’ Cafe
[Lara Downes was the first of our guest bloggers here, and she began with a post about classical CD covers she likes. And about how she came up with the cover for her own latest album. Her list -- along with mine, and others that I hope will come later — can serve as a resource for people looking for inspiration and encouragement.] Well, I've been enjoying the lively debate about Greg's comments on the cover art [on the right] for Exiles' Cafe. It's so interesting to see the wide range of personal responses to any image - I think we all … [Read more...]
Points of light
Been used before, I know, meaning my title. But should I say "solutions" every time? Anyhow (for those who remember the elder Bush) I'll offer only three of these, not a thousand. Anyone have more names I could slot in, in place of "solutions"? But any way you slice it, these are good ideas. Call it "sound art"Here's a communication from Margaret Crites, a composer who's getting her master's degree at Baylor University. (And do visit her website! A classy job, she did, putting it together, full of personality, and everything exactly the right … [Read more...]
Nathan Shirley: Videos — untapped potential
I've spent some time compiling a list of videos I think especially stand out from the very bland standard classical music videos (no easy task to find these!). Most bigger budget classical music videos are basically just documentations of performances. So they end up looking fine, but certainly nothing special which might better serve the music. They are typically filmed the same way a golf tournament or baseball game would be filmed — everything very well-lit (overly lit, with little or no shadow). Several different camera operators film … [Read more...]
Greg streaming
Today I'm going to the Yale School of Music, where -- very much at my request -- they're going to drain me dry. I mentioned my trip here earlier, and posted the text of a presentation I prepared for the school's excellent website. (My presentation can be found via a link here.) My main event comes Saturday, from 10 AM to noon eastern time, when I'll be talking to students involved in Yale's community outreach program. I'll suggest a shift of emphasis, in which they try to find an audience their own age. Loyal readers know that's one of my … [Read more...]
Surprised
I've been reading the comments on my post about El Sistema and new music, and truly I'm surprised. I criticized El Sistema for (if my information is correct) not teaching composition and not including new music in the music its students play. And people reacted as if I'd said they shouldn't teach traditional classical music at all. Douglas Laustsen put it very simply in a comment he posted yesterday:I think all that Greg is suggesting is that in addition to a core classical training, the kids are given the experience of music written in their … [Read more...]
El Sistema — troubling
This may be controversial.Yesterday I got promotional email about an event the LA Philharmonic is cosponsoring -- a three-day symposium in May about El Sistema, and the attempt to transplant it to the US. The other sponsors are El Sistema USA and the League of American Orchestras. And of course we all know the connection. Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema's proudest son, is the LA Phil's music director. The LA Phil is engaged, bigtime, in the attempted transplant. As are others. When American classical music people learned how El Sistema was teaching … [Read more...]
Orchestra. Circa now.
Conductor/composer Paul Haas sent this as a "solutions" comment:For our upcoming NYC concert - Tweetheart - Sympho has teamed up with the multimedia team Aytia|Matia and four intergenre composers to craft a continuous, truly multisensory evening. Sympho's fan base has an active role in programming Tweetheart, having already sent in suggestions for love songs via Facebook and Twitter contests. The winning entries will be announced and performed (arranged for orchestra, of course!) at the concert.This was wonderfully laconic. Sympho … [Read more...]
An audience your own age
From March 25 to March 27 I'll be at the Yale School Music (where i got an MM in composition in 1974), for a variety of activities, culminating in a talk on the 27th at one of their Think Tanks, a series of discussions they've set up for students involved in community outreach, and which they're advertising with a slogan that says "reimagining the future of classical music."When they asked me to speak, i asked if I could deviate a little from standard ideas of community outreach, and talk about how I think music students should be reaching an … [Read more...]