{"id":3524,"date":"2009-12-02T11:58:55","date_gmt":"2009-12-02T19:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=3524"},"modified":"2009-12-02T13:25:53","modified_gmt":"2009-12-02T21:25:53","slug":"red-pill-blue-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/02\/red-pill-blue-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"red pill, blue pill"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been reflecting upon the point\/counterpoint<\/a> post that I put up last week, with posts by both Ilkka Talvi and William Eddins on the state of orchestras (and orchestral players) in this day and age.\u00a0 It’s a pretty vivid illustration of the two major positions held by musicians in the arts today. It reminds me of the red pill, blue pill scene from The Matrix<\/em>, where Keanu Reeves’ character is given the opportunity to either live in the world of illusion or see the world as it truly is.\u00a0 On one hand, you have the view that orchestral musicians are spoiled and their ensembles are bloated and increasingly unwieldy and irrelevant.\u00a0 On the other, you have a view that says that musicians have earned everything that they’ve gotten through hard work over several generations, and that they need to both be cognizant of that fact and reflect it in their public attitudes.<\/p>\n

It’s not necessarily that one view is “good” and the other is “bad”, but that each view reflects the filter of past experiences of each group.\u00a0 The adage “once bitten, twice shy” is an adage for a reason – people who experience betrayal and hardship over the years will often retreat to a protected fortress of cynicism and bitterness.\u00a0 Most of us start our careers with an optimistic, forward-looking ethos, but that can be eroded over the years.\u00a0 I think that, like a relationship, keeping a clear-eyed, positive point of view requires tending to achieve – which can be hard work.\u00a0 One must constantly strive to find positive elements in one’s workplace and overall industry.\u00a0 This can be tough – the maze of union rules and regulations can make progress a slow and painful slog, but there are always ways to work the system and try new things – all it takes is an orchestra committee with vision and a good working relationship with both management and the musicians that they represent.\u00a0 Progress is possible without outright destruction of what has been before, and conservation is possible within the context of innovation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been reflecting upon the point\/counterpoint post that I put up last week, with posts by both Ilkka Talvi and William Eddins on the state of orchestras (and orchestral players) in this day and age.\u00a0 It’s a pretty vivid illustration of the two major positions held by musicians in the arts today. It reminds me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1783,186,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-administration-the-orchestra-world-music","category-labor-issues","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-UQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/01\/18\/musicians-on-the-bus\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":0},"title":"musicians ON the bus","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo credit: Cameron R. Neilson - theseenphoto.com. This is a bus in Jackson, Wyoming. The musicians on the bus should be familiar to Portland area concertgoers: they are the string players from FearNoMusic and the Oregon Symphony. From left to right they are: Erin Furbee, In\u00c3\u00a9s Voglar, Adam Esbenson, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","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":8122,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/05\/is-there-a-glass-ceiling-for-orchestral-musicians\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":1},"title":"Is there a glass ceiling for orchestral musicians?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a couple days ago, local classical music critic Brett Campbell wrote an omnibus review of classical music events from the latter months of 2012. Among the concerts reviewed was the opening concert of 45th Parallel's 2012-2013 concert season, entitled \"Octetlandia\". It paired two little-heard works for the string octet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7882,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/25\/orchestral-labor-situation-escalates\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":2},"title":"orchestral labor situation escalates","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Talks Stall Atlanta Agrees to Cuts: With One Condition Chicago Symphony Reaches Settlement Rumor has it that management in Minnesota has elected to lock out the musicians. I have not seen any confirmation of that, so I'll leave it in the \"things heard\" category until I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":253,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/26\/violists-are-a-multi-talented-bunch\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":3},"title":"violists are a multi-talented bunch","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Just caught this photo from the Baltimore Symphony musicians' website - enjoy! My orchestral repertoire class was taught by the great Rick Field, principal viola of the BSO. courtesy of the BSO musicians page","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/03\/violas_0051.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16491,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2019\/11\/23\/random-musings-on-orchestral-career-longevity-by-a-partially-recovered-violist\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":4},"title":"Random musings on orchestral career longevity by a partially-recovered violist","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[Note: written yesterday] I\u2019ve got a long break between rehearsals today. The Oregon Symphony is doing a semi-staged version of Shakespeare\u2019s Tempest accompanied by Sibelius incidental music for same. So, long break for various tech things to happen before our afternoon dress rehearsal. If you\u2019re a fan of all things\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","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":75,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/09\/10\/orchestral-inheritance\/","url_meta":{"origin":3524,"position":5},"title":"orchestral inheritance","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I read the most recent issue of Senza Sordino (the journal of ICSOM or the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians) at work yesterday, just before our second of two Garrison Keillor concerts (great fun, and absolutely worth the money if he's coming to an orchestra near you soon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3524","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=3524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}