{"id":145,"date":"2006-12-21T17:16:25","date_gmt":"2006-12-22T01:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=145"},"modified":"2013-02-07T17:55:53","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T01:55:53","slug":"watch-out-for-that-first-step","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/12\/21\/watch-out-for-that-first-step\/","title":{"rendered":"watch out for that first step&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just caught the first salvos of blogosphere responses to the Oregonian interview with Elaine Calder, the consultant hired by the Oregon Symphony.  The responses so far are not good, and how could they be, given the headline presented in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/5765.html\">Playbill Arts story<\/a> on the interview:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consultant Suggests Oregon Symphony May<br \/>\nPlay Too Much Classical Music<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I hope beyond hope that the impressions given (and taken) by the dissemination of the interview from <em>The Oregonian<\/em> are the result of attempting to cram too <em>much<\/em> information into too <em>few<\/em> column inches.  I don&#8217;t want to comment on any of the information in the article at this time, but I do wish that we in the orchestra had heard some of these thoughts from Ms. Calder before we awoke to the <em>Sunday Oregonian<\/em>&#8216;s coverage in the arts section.  Candor is one thing that we sorely need, but clearly it can also cut both ways.<\/p>\n<p>Without further ado, here are the excerpts from the postings that convey the basic takes of the various blogs on this story (click the links for full text at the individual blogs).  I&#8217;ll keep looking for more comments, if there are any positive ones, I&#8217;ll update this post.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/i-didnt-come-here-to-be-consulted.html\">Soho the Dog<\/a> says:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Oh, dear <em>God<\/em>. I&#8217;m all for pops concerts that boost the bottom line, but not pops concerts that are straight-up religious pandering. (How about some klezmer concerts and visits to the temple? An oud soloist and a trip to the mosque? Nah\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit&#8217;s not like <em>those<\/em> people will ever assimilate. Besides, there aren&#8217;t enough of them to make pandering financially worthwhile!) If I were a patron of the Oregon Symphony, I&#8217;d be downsizing my donations by the exact amount they&#8217;re paying this blowhard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oboeinsight.com\/2006\/12\/19#a2525\">OboeInsight<\/a> says:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>So from what I&#8217;ve read so far, we should probably be doing &#8220;Christian soft-rock&#8221;. OH PLEASE SPARE ME! That music &#8230; I&#8217;ve heard a lot of it, trust me &#8230; is frequently low quality, wanna-be-pop-but-not-quite, lame stuff. (I&#8217;m a Christian, so please understand I&#8217;m not mocking the faith. Only the music.) And some is even right up there with the pop stuff. But since when does a symphony orhcestra want to play pop music? AND, when we actually do play that music, we get mocked and laughed at. And we are embarrassed. To be quite frank, when we play that sort of stuff I feel like we&#8217;ve turned the symphony hall into an extremely large elevator. Or dentist office. Muzak? Yep.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kuatfm.org\/jreel\/1\/2006\/12\/Another-Idiot-Consultant.cfm\">KUAT-FM blogger James Reel<\/a> says:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>The Oregon Symphony is in the hands of a fool named Elaine Calder, whom the Portland <em>Oregonian<\/em> describes as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a straight-talking Canadian arts consultant who spent the past five years turning around the continent&#8217;s northernmost professional orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Not only is she stupid; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dangerous, because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s giving bad advice to a troubled orchestra.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/satire.html\">Sounds &amp; Fury<\/a> says:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>But that utter contempt notwithstanding, <em>no<\/em> marketing type could, in actual, real life, possibly be as imbecile and clueless as the marketing type who is the subject of Mr. Reel&#8217;s piece; ergo, my conviction that Mr. Reel is in fact engaging in a clever bit of satire.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/collaborativepiano.blogspot.com\">Collaborative Piano Blog<\/a> says:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>1. Why did Ms. Calder present her ideas to The Oregonian before presenting them to the board? Wasn&#8217;t she hired by the board in the first place?<br \/>\n2. Why does she list a problem of the orchestra as being too &#8220;Portland-centric&#8221; when she is also recommending the orchestra get into the community more?<br \/>\n3. Ms. Calder&#8217;s comment that &#8220;the balance of power has shifted to the consumer.&#8221; Really? Didn&#8217;t the balance of power always lie with the consumer in arts organizations? Maybe she should be saying that the Oregon Symphony needs to find their market.<br \/>\n4. Notably missing from the list of fixes is the desire to find more possible donors. It worked for the COC and it worked for Tapestry (as seen with their hearty surplus this year).<br \/>\n5. Why change the musicians&#8217; contracts? Putting their livelihood on the chopping block might sound good on paper but they&#8217;re the ones that do the playing and <em>really<\/em> bring the audiences in. Rather, why not focus on excellence in performance?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/davidduff.blogspot.com\/2006\/12\/changes-in-portland.html\">David Duff<\/a> says: [<em>thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/classicalmusic.blogs.oregonlive.com\/default.asp?item=397569\">David Stabler<\/a> for finding this one<\/em>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>I think there is some wisdom in what Calder advocates. While it&#8217;s important for the classical tradition to continue, in order for that to happen, the institutions that are responsible for that must survive financially. And who knows&#8211;perhaps those people who come to hear Michael W. Smith might come back some time to hear Hilary Hahn?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just caught the first salvos of blogosphere responses to the Oregonian interview with Elaine Calder, the consultant hired by the Oregon Symphony. The responses so far are not good, and how could they be, given the headline presented in the Playbill Arts story on the interview: Consultant Suggests Oregon Symphony May Play Too Much Classical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,55,3666,53,3662,62,3656],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon","tag-piano","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-2l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/12\/24\/oso-patrons-respond-to-consultant\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":0},"title":"OSO patrons respond to consultant","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregonian received some letters (judging by the fact that they printed three of them, there must have been a lot of letters received) in response to David Stabler's interview of Elaine Calder, the consultant hired by the symphony to evaluate and fix what ails it. Here is a link\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2698,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/06\/15\/2698\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony &#8216;crisis&#8217;","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Classical music critic from the Oregonian, David Stabler, gives a short, not-so-sweet synopsis of the state of the Oregon Symphony at the end of the 2008-2009 season: The symphony in crisis","rel":"","context":"In &quot;fundraising&quot;","block_context":{"text":"fundraising","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fundraising\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":869,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/21\/10-tix-to-classical-elegance-oso\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":2},"title":"$10 tix to classical elegance @ OSO","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"a Special Ticket offer from Oregon Symphony: Below please find a special $10 ticket offer for Classical Elegance with the Oregon Symphony. Please feel free to circulate this offer to family, friends and other contacts who may be interested. There are some great seats on the orchestra level that are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14107,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/05\/26\/the-oregonian-newspaper-now-less-than-useless-to-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":3},"title":"the oregonian newspaper now less than useless to the arts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I could be mistaken, but there has not been a review of an Oregon Symphony classical performance since November 2015. Shame on you, Oregonian! Aside from making itself the perfect size for lining the bottom of a bird cage, this 'flagship' publication is well nigh doing nothing for the classical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;oregon symphony&quot;","block_context":{"text":"oregon symphony","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/oregon-symphony\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5893,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/02\/oregon-symphony-makes-box-office-gains\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":4},"title":"oregon symphony makes box office gains","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Ticket sales, according to the Oregon Symphony, are up 35% this season over last year, and that's with 1\/3 of its concerts remaining to be performed. Said Oregon Symphony President Elaine Calder: \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see these improvements in paid attendance, and it feels great to attend classical concerts filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/concert-tickets-400x320.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":513,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/03\/how-not-to-fix-the-oregon-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":145,"position":5},"title":"how not to fix the Oregon Symphony","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the last two years, the coverage of the the Oregon Symphony in the local press has become more sporadic, and when it does happen, much more pessimistic, and maybe a little bit cynical. First, an outline of what constitutes the press in Portland, Oregon, for those of you who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;appreciation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}