Category — miscellaneous

Just noticed on the counter that this blog passed the 60,000 viewers landmark a while ago.  Thanks for reading and coming back again and again.  I never really intended for this blog to become some sort of public vehicle for anything.  It’s really just my way of getting random jumbled thoughts out of my head and into some (semi) coherent form.  Since I can’t afford to take a sabbatical, this is my way of giving myself some therapy and context to my professional life.  Thanks for your support!

I decided to take an inventory of what was lurking in my viola case (aside from the instrument and bow, of course) - here’s what I came up with: [Read more →]

[click image to enlarge]

This afternoon I came home from rehearsal (don’t ask) to see both of our cats at the back window, making that strange chattering sound that we call “bird voice”. What you see above is what was strutting around our grassy area behind our apartment. I’d never seen a bird like this before, so I took a picture and emailed it to my friend, composer Daniel Ott (www.danielottmusic.com), who is a major birder.

Come to find out, this is a Varied Thrush, a relative of the common robin. Ordinarily they live in the highlands and mountains, as they’re cold weather birds. The strong and constant east winds must have blown this little guy out of the Cascades into the Willamette Valley. I hope he finds his way home - there are a lot of hungry outdoor cats around here, too!

The blog was down for a while - not sure how long exactly - due to some database error that I fixed without knowing what I was doing. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I guess this is something that I’m overdue in posting - I usually am so focused on what is either going on right now, or what might be going to happen that I immediately forget whatever has been going on in the past. So there are probably some major holes in my memory of what happened this past year - I really do need to buy a notebook so I can jot down thoughts for future entries… [Read more →]

See you next year, and best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year!

Some recent items for your consideration:

• Detroit Confident in Slatkin - from the Detroit Free Press
• Life and Death - is length of life everything for a composer?, from the New York Times
• Broader Audience for Classical Radio - classical radio done right - from the Chicago Tribune
• Changes at Utah Symphony and Opera? - from the Deseret Morning News
• ‘Onerous’ quote backfiring? - management gaffes in Jacksonville lockout - from the Florida Times Union
• Jacksonville lockout has lasting effects - from the Florida Times Union

I’m happy to announce that this blog has made the list of top-50 blogs (by Google’s count) on classical music (#40 to be exact).  Thanks for reading - and linking!

See the complete list here.

Snippets from this week’s music blog rounds:

• Local composer Bob Priest sounds off on the Seattle Symphony debacle of the moment.
• Seattle is no longer hip.
• A new way to enjoy Handel’s Messiah.
• Jacksonville Symphony musicians concede millions, but still locked out.
• More coverage of Perlman as music director.