{"id":75,"date":"2006-09-10T16:13:29","date_gmt":"2006-09-11T00:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=75"},"modified":"2007-02-22T19:59:48","modified_gmt":"2007-02-23T03:59:48","slug":"orchestral-inheritance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/09\/10\/orchestral-inheritance\/","title":{"rendered":"orchestral inheritance"},"content":{"rendered":"

I read the most recent issue of Senza Sordino<\/em> (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 – in this case I think the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony are his two other orchestral gigs this fall), and one article really caught my eye. It referred to the three main groups of musicians who make up the symphony orchestra. Not “strings, winds, percussion” or that sort of arrangement, but rather the age groups.<\/p>\n

They are (and I’m paraphrasing, as the issue did not make it home with me last night): the newcomers, the middlers, and the veterans.<\/p>\n

The author talks about the newbies and the veterans as the technical and historical authorities of the orchestra, but it’s what he said about the largest of the three groups, the middle-agers, that caught my eye.
\nThe middlers (my expression, actually, more accurately is middle-farts<\/em>) are who the author asserts really own<\/em> the orchestra. They are between the ages of 30 – 50 (with some outliers), and they have made a committment to being in the group they’re in, and are those who take up most of the workload of committees and other grunt work that keeps the rest of the orchestra relatively happy. I hadn’t really thought of coming into this position of ownership, at least not in this way. It makes a lot of sense, and now I feel a bit daunted by the responsibility. It is this group, into which all of my closest friends in the orchestra fall, which now takes the task of stewardship of the orchestra, and it’s a bit scary! We as a voting bloc and largest group of people who form the pool of service for the orchestra now face an uncertain future: where will the orchestra go from here? How will we keep these phenomenal young talents that win our auditions each year? How can we motivate an already “asked to death” set of donors and audience members to dig a bit deeper and help us get to the next level? How do we stay relevent to a fast-moving and attention span deficient society?<\/p>\n

I hope that some answers come to our collective minds in the near-term, and that some great music is made in the meantime. Well, welcome to a new season, one that will be one of our best yet, and enjoy yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 – in this case I […]<\/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":[55,62,3656],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-orchestra","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1197,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/01\/orchestral-blogs\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":0},"title":"orchestral blogs","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I write one of the few blogs independently-penned by an orchestra member, and I'm not sure why it's such a lonely job description.\u00c2\u00a0 However, a rapidly expanding area of classical music blogs are blogs that are written as part of a symphony orchestra's public relations and\/or artistic arms.\u00c2\u00a0 Here's a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/ssoblog-400x105.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":277,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/04\/13\/fischer-to-head-the-national-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":1},"title":"Fischer to Head the National Symphony","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It's starting to look like the western land grab movement in the US orchestral world. Hungarian conductor Ivan Fischer has been hired as the Principal Conductor (and de facto interim music director) of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. The position will begin with the 2008-2009 season.Read the Washington\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":"fischer_-_credit_courtesy_of_the_budapest_festival_orchestra.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/fischer_-_credit_courtesy_of_the_budapest_festival_orchestra.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":253,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/26\/violists-are-a-multi-talented-bunch\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":2},"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":965,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/05\/13\/columbus-symphony-circling-the-drain\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":3},"title":"columbus symphony circling the drain?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The news from Columbus seems to be getting more dire by the day, and those with the power to change the situation seem unwilling to do so (or to be charitable, unable to do so). Here's a collection of posts from around the classical blogosphere concerning the situation in Columbus\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":4063,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/15\/former-pyp-conductor-named-md-of-memphis-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":4},"title":"former PYP conductor named MD of Memphis Symphony","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Mei-Ann Chen, currently Assistant conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, has been named the new Music Director of the Memphis Symphony! Congratulations to Mei-Ann! Here's the press release from the Memphis Symphony: Mei-Ann Chen Appointed Fourth Music Director of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Rising star begins tenure with the MSO in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2113,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/11\/more-orchestral-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":75,"position":5},"title":"more orchestral cuts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of belt-tightening going on with orchestras around the US. 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