musicians: the next generation March 15, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, add a commentFor those of you who love (and who doesn’t?) the Young Artists at the Schnitz concerts each year - there is more good news. Christopher O’Riley’s radio show “From the Top” has now become a PBS television program!
The show will begin airing on Oregon Public Broadcasting (television) starting on Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. - here is the program schedule.
Here is a trailer from youtube:
health and wellness March 15, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, 4commentsLast night the Arnica Quartet performed as part of the new (and hopefully annual) MarchMusic series held at the new OHSU medical office building (now informally known as the “Tram building”). It was an encouraging experiment. The lobby of this new LEED platinum-certified structure has surprisingly wonderful acoustics - we could hear each other very well, hear ourselves very well, and the three story atrium contributes a nice reverberation bloom to the sound. I would have liked to have talked a bit more, and I know that the audience was expecting more of that, but there wasn’t a graceful way to get to the microphone after the intermission, before we began the Debussy.
Overall, I think the concert went well. There were the usual glitches that always happen in a first public performance of a piece together, but there were a lot of nice moments as well. I’m finding that each time I approach a new Beethoven quartet, that there is yet more to marvel at. The care of construction, the sureness of his orchestration, and an innate sense of drama derived from the form - it’s all right there, as good as you could want, and all within the constraints of the typical Classical forms. All this in Op. 18 - before Beethoven reached his 30th birthday.
The Debussy is a continuing revelation. Having done the Ravel and Debussy with the Ethos Quartet, I’m firmly convinced that the Debussy is the superior composition. The Ravel owes much to it, and is a beautiful and masterful piece. But the Debussy is so tight in its construction, and one is so unaware of the construction nonetheless, that it is a miracle. The taut, driven energy of the opening of the first movement is contrasted by the languid fluidity of the third movement, while the second movement makes extensive use of pizzicato (plucking of the strings), and the final movement makes the quartet a cyclical event with the high energy return of the opening theme of the piece. The ending is exhilarating, almost orchestral in its scope and sweep. It’s a difficult piece to play well, but always worth the effort.
It was also nice to meet one of my readers - “Eva” - in the flesh, and to have Elaine Calder (Oregon Symphony consultant) take time out of a busy evening to come hear us.
not just butts in seats March 14, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2commentsThe Utah Symphony is trying a new tactic to eliminate huge swaths of empty seats in their hall: they’re blacking out seats in the back and upper tiers to pack concertgoers closer together to give the impression of a larger audience. Read the complete story from the Salt Lake Tribune here. Here’s the opening:
A recent letter to Utah Symphony season subscribers announcing “new and improved” seating options didn’t mention one fact: Some popular seats are being blacked out.
“I think it’s an extremely stupid decision. They’re antagonizing the very people that they want,” said Lynne Finney or Park City, a symphony regular for 10 years who prefers seats on Abravanel Hall’s fourth-floor third tier.
But those seats and others in the downtown Salt Lake City hall - 1,100 in all, or 40 percent of the hall’s 2,800-seat capacity - are not being offered because orchestra officials say unfilled seats aren’t good for business. The idea, says Utah Symphony & Opera marketing director Sean Toomey, is to concentrate patrons at concerts so empty seats are less visible. A partially filled hall, Toomey says, contributes to a “psychological phenomenon” that the organization is faltering.
“All of the reviewers seem to care, all of the donors seem to care and all of the patrons seem to care,” he said.
“On the day folllowing the ['Elijah'] concert, there was a headline in The Salt Lake Tribune, ‘Sparse crowd for grand Elijah,’ which is fair . . . but you know how people are,” Toomey says. “They want to go to something that is successful. Someone reading that on a Saturday is saying ‘Well, that’s not where I want to be.’ “
This is something that I’ve thought about for Portland from time to time. I haven’t spent much time as an audience member, but I think I’d feel a bit strange if I were up in the back of the balcony (which is very large here in Portland) and had rows and rows of empty seats between me and the next audience member. I can relate to how it feels to see the new hot summer blockbuster in a packed theater: the audience really becomes part of the viewing experience, rather than if you wait until a week or so and go during the day when you’ve go the theater to yourself.
What do you think? Is this a practice that you’d like to see here? How do you feel when you go to a performance with lots of empty seats? The critics don’t seem to make an issue of attendance unless it’s a packed house (yet), but would it dissuade you from coming if you knew the concert didn’t sell well?
Let me know what you think - you can now use the contact tab at the top of the page to send me an email.
oso kids concerts - errata March 13, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 1 comment so farJust to update a major mistake on my part: the OSO is NOT discontinuing kids and young people’s concerts next season. Brochures will be sent out in the coming week - the symphony is targeting the different series with their own brochure, so this led to the impression that the series were being ended. I apologize for any damage or concern my previous posting may have caused.
no pain, no gain March 13, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentA timely story from the Manchester Guardian newspaper about musicians playing while injured and their reluctance to seek treatment:
Research indicates that professional musicians are considerably more susceptible to back pain than the rest of the population, and that 52% of musicians who experience muscular discomfort will find the problem to be associated with intensive practice or the unusual posture of playing an instrument. Yet performance-related injury remains something of a taboo subject. Few musicians are prepared to admit that common aches and pains could become career-threatening; many orchestral players insure their instruments far more comprehensively than they insure themselves.
It’s a timely story because I’ve been suffering from some pain in by right arm brought on by a lot of practicing (I’ve got a recital coming up) and a high repertoire load at work. I’ve taken the second half of the current subscription series concerts off (Tchaikovsky concerto) to try to decrease my fatigue and get a handle of healing properly (luckily, our spring break begins after our Salem concert Tuesday night).
I had a very hard time standing up for myself and requesting to be relieved from the second half of the concerts. I still feel guilty about it. However, it was the smart thing for me to do, and under our system, I’m able to do so without penalty. Some orchestras have done away with having a player who also is a part of the personnel manager system. We’re lucky that we have both Bridget Kelly, who just resigned from our cello section as the orchestra personnel manager, and also Jason Schooler (from the bass section), and his soon-to-be replacement Martha Warrington (from the viola section) as assistant personnel managers. Having a player in a position to help and who understands the demands of the job and the stresses that they place on the body is invaluable. The fact that our general manager/interim-president Mary Crist was a french horn player in a major orchestra and understands what we go through is also very helpful.
There is a stigma attached to performance injuries: you’re not supposed to show weakness. If you’ve gotten hurt, then you must have done something wrong to make it happen.
…many orchestral players, particularly those on freelance contracts, are still reluctant to seek the help they need. Dr Jonathan White, medical adviser to the City of Birmingham Orchestra, says: “There is a huge stigma attached to admitting one might have a problem. Music is a competitive industry, and few players are willing to divulge anything that might affect their employability.”
Sometimes just working hard like you’re “supposed” to do over stresses the muscular and ligament systems. Sources of problems can be extremely hard to diagnose, and some doctors don’t understand our similarity to athletes in terms of injuries and loss of peak performance.
“The problem is that medics and musicians rarely speak the same language,”
Add to that the fact that the workers’ compensation and disability systems place huge barriers to getting help for long-term medical bills, and you can get an understanding of why musicians often just suffer in silence until it’s almost too late.
record shelf update March 11, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, add a commentI’ve added some new recordings (as well as links to purchase via amazon.com and iTunes) on the record shelf page. Enjoy!
all violists can’t be happy March 10, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, add a commentThe story that launched a thousand jokes:
‘Mrs. Grumpy’ Allegedly Hits Pupil With Bow
AP
BOULDER, Colo. (March 8th) - A substitute music teacher has been arrested after allegedly whacking a 10-year-old student on the head with a viola bow after telling the class they were “the worst players I’ve ever heard.”
Newspaper and television reports said the trouble began when Carla Shinners, 63, a teacher for more than 30 years in the district, was interrupted by a call on her own cell phone. She allegedly began swearing Feb. 12 at the Creekside Elementary School, where she had earned the nickname “Mrs. Grumpy Lady.”
Principal Karen Daly said parents and students complained.
The 10-year-old said Shinners also pulled her hair.
Shinners allegedly said the students complained because she was white and they are Hispanic. There was no phone number listed for her in Boulder. It wasn’t clear if she had retained an attorney.
Briggs Gamblin, a spokesman for the school district, confirmed in a telephone interview Thursday night that she had been fired.
Shinners could face a charge of child abuse resulting in injury. She is free on $1,000 bond.
fiddling while Newark burns March 10, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentIn a not-so-shocking turn of events, the New Jersey Symphony has announced that it will be selling the collection of 30 rare instruments, including those by Antonio Stradivari, in order to keep itself out of bankruptcy. The collection was purchased in 2003 from the high-profile collector and convicted tax cheat Herbert Axelrod. More from the New York Times and New Jersey Star-Ledger.
can’t lose for winning March 9, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentI read this entry from David Stabler’s blog with interest. It cites comments by OPB radio host (of the program Beats and Pieces) Steven Cantor about the new season of the Baltimore Symphony in their first year with new music director Marin Alsop. Presumably, Cantor (and by extension, Stabler?) is excited the huge amounts of both new music and composer-conductors conducting their own works and music of their contemporaries. He is also amazed by the all seats for $25 and wonders how they’ve made that possible.
The $25 seats are made possible by a $1 million subsidy - they’d lose their collective shirts otherwise.
As for all the new music - I may have misread all of Stabler’s articles and reviews in the past, but it seemed to me that he wasn’t very excited by the significant amounts of new music (or even 20th century music) programmed by Carlos Kalmar and was making an effort to lobby the decision-makers of the orchestra to go in a different direction. He gave anecdotal evidence that concert-goers were unhappy about the programming and wanted something more traditional. I also remember him denouncing the conservative repertoire choices in the last years of James DePreist’s tenure as well.
Well, which is it? Should we play less or more new music at the Oregon Symphony? Baltimore has had a long history of new music promotion under the direction of David Zinman, and after the ultra-conservative Yuri Temirkanov, a return to more adventurous programming might be desirable with the new tenure of Alsop.
And why would light classics be a bad idea? I think there’s support for it both from within the orchestra and from audiences. People loved the Sunday matinees with Norman Leyden, which directly copied the format of concerts of the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler. They featured lighter classics along with more heavy warhorses as well as soloists drawn from the orchestra. There’s a lot of great lighter repertoire that would be fun for the orchestra to play (and much of it is very demanding, despite the light “feel”, believe me!) and for audiences to listen to and enjoy.
why no wage competition? March 7, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 5commentsI heard this story on American Public Media’s Marketplace a couple days ago, and it got me to thinking. Here are the salient points from the opening of the transcript of the radio story (emphasis is mine):
John Plauche is a fourth-year associate at a top New York City law firm. He got a $20,000 raise last year. When his firm announced salary hikes across the board in January, he received another 20 grand. At 30 years old, he’s on $210,000 a year. He says he knows what’s behind his good fortune.
“Wall Street and Wall Street bonuses.”
He says firms like his do a lot of work for investment banks and hedge funds. Some lawyers end up defecting to work in-house at those companies. And pay at those places has been breaking records recently. That puts pressure on the law firms.
“So to keep talent, basically, the law firms have to keep raising pay to keep up with Wall Street.”
That, he says, has a knock-on effect at elite firms across the country.
Bill Urquhart agrees. He’s a senior partner at Los Angeles law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges. After news of the New York raises rampaged across the Internet, his firm announced it would match the hikes.
“For law firms like ours, you really don’t have a choice but to pay what the market is demanding you pay. Otherwise, you start either a quick or a long-term decline.”
He says he and his rivals are in a fierce battle for the best law-school students in the country. Once they’ve tapped those superior legal brains, they want to keep them.
This got me to thinking about how orchestra managers set out to negotiate wages and other parts of the collective bargaining agreement with musicians. Wouldn’t the typical manager want to both attract and retain the most highly sought-after musicians from other orchestras and the top music schools?
When I joined the Oregon Symphony in 1995, we were right in the middle of the pack of ICSOM (International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians), with the base wage somewhere in the neighborhood of $35,000 per year for a section player. It was a enough to live on, as Portland’s real estate boom hadn’t yet begun.
Now, as we are in yet another year without a contract (our last one expired weeks after agreed to), we find our positioning in the orchestral pay hierarchy slipping - we’re now right on the bottom third, and several orchestras have either passed us by on the way up or are right on our heels.
Many of our auditions are frustrating experiences because other high-paying and more prestigious jobs are holding auditions at the same time or close by, and we lose the best of those who would ordinarily show up.
We’re at a geographic disadvantage, too: it costs a lot to get to Portland, and we’re a long way away from the big East Coast centers of music. When we do hire an excellent young (or not so young) musician, they all almost immediately begin auditioning for other jobs, because they know that they can’t have a good standard of living in Portland on the wages we’re paid. Just as man doesn’t live on bread alone, the improved artistic standards of the orchestra don’t pay the mortgage or buy the groceries.
Right now I feel totally at the mercy of the bottom line: every decision seems to be made based on how much it costs right this moment, not with an eye to how much this will bring in in the future. Short-term thinking only produces short-term solutions.
