Mickey Mouse & Mozart
. . .one of my longer rants. Professional symphony orchestras in the United States face an annual challenge that we refer to in jest, belying the utter seriousness of the…
Orchestra
Secrets of Conducting
We know what you’re thinking! Who is “we?” We conductors know what many audience members are thinking when you attend our performances. From your perspective, it looks like a lion…
How Shall We Study Music?
Last week I was given the privilege of speaking at a conference on the campus of Princeton University presented by the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and the Foundation…
Report From The Field
As a member of the American Federation of Musicians, the national musician’s union, I receive regular email and snail mail communications from the Federation. Today’s email was disheartening but not…
Why Classical Music Is Still Cool!
Jon Levine, in a March 8, 2015 post on Music.Mic entitled: Why Isn’t Classical Music Cool Anymore? gives us three principal factors – Cost, Time and Alienation. I love those…
I was thrilled when I finished listening to your second episode of my favorite piece of music. I always got emotional when I ‘heard’ the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh [Symphony], but this time I was deeply touched as I could do much more than just ‘hearing’, I could finally ‘listen’ to Beethoven!