The things I write about are the things that I am passionate about, interested in, and fighting for in my life.\u00a0\u00a0I do not write about these subjects because I think I am an expert, I write about them because<\/em>I struggle<\/em>.\u00a0 I write about authenticity because I know what it is to be disingenuous.\u00a0 I write about integrity because I know disgrace (and grace). \u00a0I write about courage because I know what it is to be weak.\u00a0 I write about the power of trying, because I want to be okay with failing.\u00a0 I write about generosity because I battle selfishness.\u00a0 I write about joy because I know sorrow.\u00a0 I write about faith because I almost lost mine, and I know what it is to be broken and in need of redemption. I write about gratitude because I am thankful – for all of it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/noble_sig.jpg?resize=100%2C47\" "\\"noble_sig.jpg\\"")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As you may have noticed, the Oregon Symphony, like many other orchestras in the US (and around the world), it going through some tough times. No one knows how it will all turn out. Are we headed for some “new model”? I don’t know, and to be frank, I don’t think anyone in our organization […]<\/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":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bloggers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-24o","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8049,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/28\/autumn-for-the-arts-in-portland\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":0},"title":"autumn for the arts in portland?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Today came the surprise announcement of the resignation of Oregon Ballet Theater (OBT) artistic director Christopher Stowell, effective December 31. Part of a wave of new administrators\/artistic directors at the major Portland arts institutions (among them Carlos Kalmar at the Oregon Symphony, Christopher Mattaliano of the Portland Opera, and Chris\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","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\/2012\/11\/Christopher_Stowell_0809.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12750,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/01\/oregon-symphony-balances-budget-for-fourth-consecutive-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony balances budget for fourth consecutive season!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We won't know the numbers until an official audit is done, but the Oregon Symphony has declared that they have balanced the 2012-2013 budget - the fourth season in the black for the organization. This is tremendous news, as it means that we will keep our $1 million grant from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fundraising"","block_context":{"text":"fundraising","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fundraising\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7953,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/18\/oregon-symphony-cancels-second-carnegie-hall-appearance-due-to-budget-concerns\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":2},"title":"oregon symphony cancels second carnegie hall appearance due to budget concerns","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregon Symphony Association today announced that as part of a series of belt-tightening measures meant to ensure the continued viability of the organization, the planned trip to Carnegie Hall in May 2013 has been cancelled \"with great regret\". In addition, upper level staff members were asked to take a\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":7811,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/29\/is-the-oregon-symphony-the-future-model-for-the-symphony-orchestra\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":3},"title":"is the oregon symphony the future model for the symphony orchestra?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"You have to wonder. We have a deep pool of highly talented and skilled players. We \"punch above our weight\" as our outgoing President, Elaine Calder, likes to say. We're paid about 50% less than we should be. Our player complement is 15% down from the CBA mandatory minimums (amended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2950,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/05\/oregon-symphony-education-programs-not-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":4},"title":"oregon symphony: education programs not dead","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to inquiries that resulted from David Stabler's article about the suspension of the OSO's widely lauded Community Music Partnership program, the symphony's development department released the following statement of clarification: To our Foundation and Government Supporters: Last week, this article ran in the Oregonian (see link to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "education"","block_context":{"text":"education","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14153,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/06\/30\/help-allclassical-and-the-oregon-symphony-close-their-budget-gaps-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":7960,"position":5},"title":"Help allclassical and the oregon symphony close their budget gaps today!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the end of the fiscal year for many arts and arts-related organizations as of midnight tonight, and two of my very favorite ones have some budget shortfalls to make up to end up with nice, tidy balance sheets going into the new fiscal year. AllClassical FM (89.9 on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "fundraising"","block_context":{"text":"fundraising","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/fundraising\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960","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=7960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Charles034cropsm-200x256.jpg?resize=200%2C256\" "\\"Charles")
As you may have noticed, the Oregon Symphony, like many other orchestras in the US (and around the world), it going through some tough times. No one knows how it will all turn out. Are we headed for some “new model”? I don’t know, and to be frank, I don’t think anyone in our organization knows the answer to that question, or even what that quasi-mythical “new model” might look like. It’s hard to be a public voice from within an organization that has controlled messages to make – and I don’t want to get in the way of what any of my colleagues need to express or convey to the community in a non-musical fashion. So if you come to this blog looking for insight into what is happening at the Oregon Symphony in a non-artistic sense, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. My tone might change depending upon my mood, or what’s happening behind the scenes, but don’t rely too much on that. Sometimes (more often than not, in fact) I’m in a bad mood at work, and that comes out in what I write. But I hope that what comes through my writing more than that, however, is that I love playing the viola. I love making music at the highest possible level. I love playing with all of my magnificently talented colleagues. I love working for such a great organization, from the stagehands who work alongside us every single service, the customer service reps that sell each and every ticket, the IT guys in a windowless room that keep our beautiful website going 24\/7, and our administrative staff, who already do way more than they should with way less bodies than they need – just like the orchestra’s musicians do. I’m not perfect – far from it – and I was reading a post by cyclist and runner Kristen Armstrong (ex-wife of Lance) today in which she wrote the following about how and why she wrote publicly – and it states my case very well:<\/p>\n