I’m assuming Mr. Gann is serious when he gives his instructions, but what a fun read! At least for me.
… and he doesn’t like The Nutcracker so you gotta love him, too. :-)
PIPEDOWN has been formed to counter one of the under-recognised scourges of contemporary life: PIPED MUSIC.
Also called muzak, muzac, acoustic wallpaper, elevator music or canned music, piped music is made possible by systems which allow a constant supply throughout a building or other public place.
It is the misuse of this in public areas (and only this) which Pipedown has been formed to fight, encouraging and giving a voice to millions of people who hate piped music but at present often feel totally powerless to do anything about it.
The problem arises from piped music being widely considered an unmixed blessing. Silence -in shop, restaurant, railway station, swimming bath or other public place – seems to be anathema.
I read it here and I’m all for it. (This is a UK group; I’m not sure if they do anything here in the US.)
I am so tired of piped music. And these days, of course, we hear about classical music being used to rid areas of pesky teens. Sigh.
Silence is a nice thing. And it’s not like I don’t love music — you all know that I do!
“Piped water, piped oil, piped gas – but never piped music!” Stephen Fry
the difference between an oboe and lawnmower? you can tune a lawnmower.
One of OHP’s many virtues is a simple scheme to provide 1,200 tickets free to anyone under 18. The breakdown of the statistics is interesting, if not altogether reassuring. In 2006, 28 per cent of the allocation went to under-12s, 28 per cent to 13- to 15-year-olds and 22 per cent to 16- to 18-year-olds (the remainder being taken up by accompanying parents, who also get in without charge). Last year, the figures stood at 40 per cent to the under-12s, 17 per cent to the 13 to 15 group and 10 per cent to the 16 to 18s. What this suggests to me is that more young children are being dragged along by their well-intentioned parents and fewer want to come of their own accord. My conclusion is that opera has less and less to say to teenagers: it remains an art form that people come to appreciate later in life, and it may be better just to accept this and stop trying to sell it to the young like a salutary dose of cod liver oil.
I read it here.
Hmmm. So fewer teenagers go. That sounds right to me; they are busier than younger kids, and they are deciding what they will do with their time. Does that mean that the ones that are going are having it forced on them? I kind of doubt it. (The article’s title is “Stop forcing opera on reluctant teenagers”.) Does it mean the younger ones don’t want to go, but are being forced to? Possibly. It doesn’t mean the younger ones won’t like it after they go, though.
Thoughts?
Milan’s Gothic cathedral will hold its first rooftop classical music concerts this year, officials said on Monday.
The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, the organization responsible since 1387 for overseeing the Duomo, said the five concerts will feature a 60-piece orchestra and choir performing about 50 meters (165 feet) above the ground.
I read it here.
So how many stories would that be, I wonder? And I hope the orchestra isn’t near the edge or I’d have to turn down the gig. And I really don’t like turning down gigs! (I can’t handle heights very well; one time I was on the top floor of a hotel — I think it had 14 floors — and all night long I thought the building was swaying to and fro. Swaying so much the top floor was near the ground. Really.)
Not all classical music albums are suited towards massage.
Local 6 just sent out a note about stolen instruments and more. No, not oboes. Not anything I play. But it’s still worth putting this out there. Everything was stolen from the trunk of the owner’s car.
IBANEZ ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITAR- EW20. A gorgeous, spalted maple
cutaway. S/N 1202SQO70331.A CASE WITH 16 HARMONICAS- Including 6 Chromatics (the big ones with button/slider) mostly Hohner.
ARIA SOLID BODY ELECTRIC GUITAR – A beautiful deep-red finish with
gold hardware; hard-shell case.NIKON D5000 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA- with AF-S Nikkor VR lens. S/N
16481229.ROLAND AC90 ACOUSTIC CHORUS GUITAR AMP- Black, in padded case. S/N ZW23316 .
SHURE WIRELESS MIC SYSTEM- with transmitter, receiver and microphone
SHURE WIRELESS INSTRUMENT SYSTEM- with transmitter, receiver,
instrument cable (1/4inch)BOSS DIGITAL CHROMATIC TUNER
KORG DIGITAL CHROMATIC TUNER
THREE SHURE SM58 MICROPHONES
1 SHURE SM57 MICROPHONE
VOX CRY-BABY WAH-WAH PEDAL
TWO ZOOM MULTI-EFFECTS PEDAL
REWARDS OFFERED -relative to item(s) recovered
I’m not listing his number on my website, but of course you can contact me if you hear anything about these. NONE of the items are covered by the owner’s insurance because they are used for professional purposes.
Which reminds me …
If you play professionally you need to have your instruments insured properly. Homeowner’s insurance will not cover them. If you have them insured by someone who does cover professionals be sure you understand how you are covered. (Some companies won’t cover them if they are stolen from a music locker, college office or room, or dorm. Some won’t cover them if they are stolen from you car but were not in the trunk.) If you don’t play professionally, you still need to make sure your homeowner’s insurance covers your instruments … and they probably won’t if you haven’t contacted them about owning them.
And yes, I insure my reed making equipment as well. You should too!
My instructor’s dog chewed up my oboe reed.
I suppose the oboe of love should be used for the tango, eh?
Richard Scheinin has an article about the various summer classical music events in the area. As he writes, “This summer’s classical music and opera landscape is a little daunting. There’s too much to choose from, a nice dilemma, but we’ll need to get our bearings. So let’s draw a map and pushpin a few of the possibilities.”
And I have nary one job this summer.
Rats!
… I now understand why oboe doesn’t march…
Mothers have always been a great fan of classical music because it is believed that babies who listen to classical music will have improved learning capacities.
Rosenberg emphasized that the idea originated with a cellist in the Orchestra’s Media Committee. It was not a management initiative. They made an early decision to go for the very highest levels of audio-visual quality and presentation, consistent with the Berlin Orchestra’s outstanding and carefully nurtured musical standards. This took long legal and technical planning and a large up-front financial investment made possible by a five-year grant from Deutsche Bank. Orchestra members had been flexible about the contractual and payment aspects, but the project would need 7,000 paying subscribers per concert before it would break even. Since going live in January, it has signed up only about 1,600. Break-even is at least three years away.
I read it here. Now I’m going to go check out the Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall.
I just wish our local groups would join the YouTube craze, and start blogs. I’ll continue to dream ….
Down in the Valley to Pray
Okay. I played. It went fine. I think. Of course the further away I get from it the more I think, “Did I really play horribly and was everyone just being nice because they felt sorry for me?”
Yep. That’s how twisted my brain is.
But anyway, I played, bad left ear and all. And yes, the ear is just as bad as it was yesterday and the day before and the day before. But I’m learning to deal with it. Which is a good thing … because what if it never gets better? So there you go.
Dan said I played well. As he says, though, it doesn’t help when he says it because I tell him that it’s just because we’re married and he has to say nice things. Still, I told him to go ahead and say nice things in any case. I am in the mood to hear them right now and not be too skeptical. Maybe.
Now I’m home and I just had my celebratory bowl of Joe’s Os (pretty much like Cheerios). The crunch of those hurts my left ear, believe it or not. But I ate them anyway. I had to celebrate, after all!
Next week I move on to Symphony Silicon Valley playing for the Santa Clara Chorale along with a little job playing for the Cantabile Youth Singers. Lots of vocal music. And I do love vocal music, so I’m happy to do these.
