{"id":6238,"date":"2011-04-22T13:56:54","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T17:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=6238"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:42:47","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:42:47","slug":"how-most-of-us-feel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/22\/how-most-of-us-feel\/","title":{"rendered":"how most of us feel"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

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Minnesota Orchestra violist and blogger Sam Bergman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Violist Sam Bergman has always been one of my favorite bloggers. We both started blogging at around the same time, and he’s always managed to make me think about things in new ways.<\/p>\n

Today, Sam has written a post<\/a> that sums up the way many of us – both musicians and managers – feel about the current state of “thinking” on the state of the orchestral music industry.<\/p>\n

I’m going to reprint most of his post here, but please visit Sam’s blog Inside the Classics<\/a> when you get a chance – there are many interesting, informative, and well-written posts to be found there.<\/p>\n

But honestly, I\u2019m tired. I\u2019m tired of the shoddy theories, the endless recriminations, the rehashing of old battles that have long since ceased to be relevant. I\u2019m tired of the almost total lack of critical thinking, and I\u2019m tired of everyone pretending that defending your little corner of turf to the death counts as fighting for the future of our industry.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired of waking up every morning to read yet another broadside from the cottage industry of pundits who\u2019ve been saying for decades that orchestras are doomed and who use every new recession as an excuse to start shrieking from the mountaintop that \u201cit\u2019s different this time.\u201d I\u2019m tired of making the case that when such pundits are demonstrably wrong about this, year after year, recession after recession, it might be time to stop affording them a place at the grown-ups\u2019 table.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired of wondering why the term \u201cnew business model\u201d so often seems to actually mean \u201cthe exact same business model, only with everyone making a lot less money.\u201d I\u2019m tired of musicians who think that the people who give generously of their time and money to create and sustain jobs for us are somehow an enemy to be feared, rather than precious friends to be cultivated and cared for.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired of arts managers who believe they can cut their way to solvency, and who willfully ignore the mountain of evidence that cutting usually just leads to more cutting. I\u2019m tired of trying to explain to colleagues who should know better that a model under which I can go to YouTube, type in \u201cMinnesota Orchestra,\u201d and see a couple of musician interviews, a few bootleg clips taken illicitly from the audience during \u201cVideo Games Live,\u201d and a testimonial about an internet provider but no complete performance of any piece recorded in the last decade is a bad model.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired of hearing that no one cares about classical music when I can still look out at Orchestra Hall three to four nights a week and see more people in the seats than have ever, ever packed a show at First Avenue. I\u2019m tired of seeing orchestras referred to as dinosaurs, sometimes by the very musicians whose own freelance careers are made possible by the musical life that springs up in cities with major orchestras, and withers without them.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m tired of feeling under attack because I actually make a living playing the viola, a living that, by the way, I spent 18 years training for before I ever made a dime. I\u2019m tired of explaining to incredulous but well-meaning concertgoers that yes, as a matter of fact, this is my job. I\u2019m tired of it being assumed that because I love my work, it doesn\u2019t qualify as real work.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Violist Sam Bergman has always been one of my favorite bloggers. We both started blogging at around the same time, and he’s always managed to make me think about things in new ways. Today, Sam has written a post that sums up the way many of us – both musicians and managers – feel […]<\/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":[186,2],"tags":[2662,408,406],"class_list":["post-6238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-labor-issues","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-fatigue","tag-inside-the-classics","tag-sam-bergman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1CC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":698,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/24\/musician-run-series-in-minnesota\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":0},"title":"musician-hosted series in minnesota","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Violist (aren't we an enterprising bunch?!) Sam Bergman of the Minnesota Orchestra has been writing and hosting the educational series called Inside the Classics. Here's a link to the accompanying blog, which includes video interviews and podcasts. Very nicely done, I must say! This year's series of three concerts covers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"violist sam bergman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.minnesotaorchestra.org\/images\/artist\/bergmanheadbw.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1985,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/26\/inside-the-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":1},"title":"inside the orchestra","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Violist Sam Bergman has a great illustration of how different it is to hear an orchestra from the audience's point of view than from a seat in the orchestra.\u00c2\u00a0 Sam's a violist with the Minnesota Orchestra, which is on a European tour right now.\u00c2\u00a0 Their first stop was the Barbican\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "acoustics"","block_context":{"text":"acoustics","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/acoustics-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3864,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/21\/viola-fanfare-but-hardly-common\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":2},"title":"viola fanfare (but hardly common)","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Violist Sam Bergman, of the Minnesota Orchestra (and fellow BBB - Bratsche Blogging Brother) made this arrangement of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man for a Minnesota Orchestra function. \u00a0I kind of like it - it might be something we should do here in Oregon...","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2943,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/04\/unhappy-perhaps\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":3},"title":"unhappy? perhaps…","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo: dra_schwartz\/iStockphoto.com Violist Sam Bergman (of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Inside the Classics concerts\/blog) writes this week about the seemingly endless parade of studies that determine that orchestral musicians are a deeply unhappy lot: Every few years, someone does a study of orchestra musicians, and comes up with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conductor getting angry","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/iStock_000002018724XSmall-400x265.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4353,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/07\/page-turn-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":4},"title":"page turn fail","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We have Principal timpani auditions coming up at the Oregon Symphony, and thanks to Sam Bergman over at the Minnesota Orchestra's Inside the Classics, here is a YouTube gem:","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":5603,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/30\/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly\/","url_meta":{"origin":6238,"position":5},"title":"the good, the bad, and the ugly","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's almost December, and the holiday season is on us like the Polar Express driven by a meth-crazed tweaker after a two week bender.\u00a0 Yesterday, violist Sam Bergman wrote a very apt post about why the holiday season is difficult for orchestra members, I highly recommend it. Here in Oregon,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/polar-express-5-400x176.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238","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=6238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}