In my last post, I didn't t mean to imply that old music -- Beethoven, Verdi, you name the composer -- won't be part of the new classical music world I'm dreaming of, when Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, and eighth blackbird are at the heart of the musical mainstream. Anyone who wants to play old music -- aka the masterworks of western musical history (and I mean that very seriously) with conviction will surely do it, and no doubt find an audience. But we probably don't know exactly how that will work, and exactly what place those masterworks … [Read more...]
Really radical
As I've thought more about my last post, and as I've absorbed the very interesting comments, something else occurred to me. This is very radical, I admit, but I think it follows from everything I've said. Suppose classical concerts were -- as a general rule -- more or less like this eighth blackbird event? Then I think there'd be no gap between classical music and the rest of our culture, and no worries about classical music's future. Though of course that opens further questions. How large could the audience for a concert like this be? Could … [Read more...]
A larger audience?
Thursday night I heard a wonderful concert by eighth blackbird, in Zankel Hall. There was a new Steve Reich piece, Double Sextet, and then an extravaganza -- music plus exuberant staging -- from the three Bang on a Can composers, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon. Among much else, this was a real New York event, highlighting music by two generations of composers whose sound just about screams "New York." Steve Reich was New York in the 1970s and early 1980s, and Bang on a Can -- not that they don't have other influences -- come … [Read more...]
Internet 101
Today I got e-mail from a major orchestra, advertising a photo exhibit. The photos sound very interesting. But none were included in the e-mail! Dumb. They had my attention. Why not do something with it? They gave me a link to click, if I wanted to read a full press release about the photo show. No photos in the press release, either. Come on, people -- don't you know how the Internet works? And yes, you'd have to make separate versions of the press release, one for print, the other for downloading. But how hard would that be? Though why not … [Read more...]
Catching up again
Here's something I'm very happy to announce: I'll be giving the commencement address at the Eastman School of Music next month. This warms my heart, because I've had a very happy time teaching at Eastman for the past three years (I teach a quick course in the future of classical music, taught in January, February, and March). And I've bonded each year with my students. But I'm also honored to get such recognition from a major mainstream music school. And not just honored -- I'm thrilled to see my ideas taken so seriously.***If you'd like … [Read more...]
Fixing links
Some of the links in my Flanagan post didn't work. Apologies. They're now fixed. And Flanagan himself has offered some clarifications of things I summarized in his work, which I'll put up here shortly. Remember that I'm in the same position as people I criticized in my post. I'm not a social scientist, and I might well get things wrong when I venture into the kind of territory that's usually patrolled by experts. Which leads to my most important clarification. A social scientist friend told me that I'm wrong to say Baumol's theorizing hasn't … [Read more...]
Defending Flanagan
I was dismayed at the response to Robert J. Flanagan's very long, very serious, though very academic report on orchestra finances. (Unavoidably academic, however, because Flanagan is an academic.) Could be that I'll sound impatient in what follows, for which I either apologize or not. I'm not sure. But here's the background. For many years, the Andrew W. Mellon foundation funded more than a dozen orchestras through a program designed to encourage innovation, called the Orchestra Forum. The strengths and weaknesses of that endeavor aren't … [Read more...]
Cancelled in Canada
From Rob Teehan in Canada comes the following, posted as a comment to another post, but worth attention on its own. Thanks for this, Rob: Hello, Up here in Canada there have been a lot of developments at the CBC, our flagship public broadcaster, that I'm sure you'd be interested in, if you're not already aware of them. First off, the CBC announced recently that it would be scaling back its classical programming on CBC Radio 2 in favour of other genres. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2008/03/04/radio-two.html Second, the CBC recently … [Read more...]
New look small glitches
Maybe you've noticed a new look here -- subtly new. That accompanies a switch (throughout the ArtsJournal blogs) to new blog software. It does look better, I think, and it's a big improvement, from a working blogger's point of view, making things easier when I write and upload posts. But! Some comments to previous posts didn't make it into the new format. I'll be working on those over the next couple of days, and soon they'll all be visible again. Apologies to the commenters, whose thoughts (which I value very highly) disappeared. Everything … [Read more...]
Catching up (2)
Some things I've been thinking about....(And I'll have to add more in another post. Note that I'll be on vacation for a few days, and won't be able to post any comments till next Monday or Tuesday.) First, and most exciting, Terrance McKnight (and also here), the new host and programmer of the "Evening Music" show on WNYC, New York's public radio station. He started on March 3. I've been fascinated, over the many years that I've been commenting on the future of classical music, to see that future emerge. Fascinated, and delighted, too. I … [Read more...]
Comments will be posted!
I apologize to everyone who posted comments on my last few posts, but who hasn't seen their comments appear on the site. As I've often noted here, I have to approve each comment, because of the vast -- truly unspeakable! -- amount of spam that arrives. And since I like to reply to comments, I usually wait to post comments until I have time for the replies. Now, though, things have gotten out of hand, and I have a backlog. I do apologize, and the neglected comments (for which I'm grateful) will be posted shortly. … [Read more...]
Teaching
My thoughts on professional music education - what schools should emphasize Hope for the future - what I told my Eastman class: My courses this spring - at Juilliard and Eastman - are about the future of classical music. You can read the Juilliard syllabus http://www.gregsandow.com/juilliard right here, and in fact I'll happily invite you to do that. (The Eastman course is the same, but much shorter. If you're curious to see how I abridged the Juilliard schedule, go http://www.gregsandow.com/eastman here.) You'll find you can read everything … [Read more...]
Catching up
Well, it's been a whirlwind. Frequent readers - and my thanks to all of you - will have noticed that I haven't been posting much. Ever since January, my life has been a mashup. I've been back and forth between New York and Rochester, teaching at Juilliard and Eastman. I've been spending time in Washington, DC, with my wife Anne Midgette, who's been doing spectacular work as classical music critic with the Washington Post. I've been working with the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, helping to get their audience talking to them. (I'll be there … [Read more...]
A serious problem (interlude)
Here's something lovely and true about popular culture, from A. O. Scott's New York Times review of a new movie, Be Kind Rewind. In this film, a video store loses its stock, and - so they'll have something for their customers to rent - the staff of the store remakes classic movies, in their own homemade way. Which leads Scott to write: Commercial pop culture is, too often, understood as a top-down enterprise, its expensive, disposable products passively consumed by the public. And yet at the same time that stuff is capable of inspiring a … [Read more...]
A serious problem (2)
I said I'd talk about a Dana Gioa speech in this post but instead I'm going to spend some time (in this post and the next) with other things that classical music people - and arts advocates - wrongly say about pop culture. Maybe some of this might seem a little bit arcane, but remember: These are the ways that the high-church crowd keeps popular culture at bay, or tries to. So all their arguments have sharp (though hapless) teeth. Some years ago, a very fine classical music critic with a major newspaper told me that pop musicians "take no … [Read more...]