I’m sure the majority of readers know about Terry Riley’s “In C”:
Here’s part of the first recording made:
And here’s a more recent recording, talking about the work and showing the musicians rehearsing (including Sid Chen, who blogged about the experience):
And now there’s a clever site called in Bb. Check it out and play around with it! :-)
So far, I’ve found no “In A-440″.
(April 7, 2009) Facing a $3 million debt and an endowment down a quarter, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announced Monday a second round of salary cuts. Its 95 unionized musicians will see their paychecks drop by 5 percent through 2010, with a 3.8 percent cut in 2011.
(April 8, 2009) Some administrators and musicians of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera are taking pay cuts of 10 percent or more to make up for an anticipated budget shortfall.
RTWT
(April 25, 2009) When the San Antonio Symphony first-chair violinist, representing all the musicians, takes the Majestic Theater stage next Friday and Saturday, the entire orchestra deserves a standing ovation, even before playing a bar of music.
The orchestra players have made an unselfish sacrifice to keep performing arts going in San Antonio. The recession has pulled the rug out from under the symphony’s best-laid financial plans. The musicians didn’t resist when the symphony board declared a financial emergency and opened contract negotiations, even though the musicians are only in the second year of a four-year contract.
They are taking a 14 percent pay cut for the last five weeks of the current season and a 15 percent cut below what their 2009-10 salaries were supposed to be.
RTWT
(May 17, 2009) Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians have agreed to a 2.5 percent salary reduction and will donate additional services as part of institution-wide budget cuts designed to save the orchestra an estimated $4 million through the 2010-11 season. The salary cuts are part of a general cost-cutting plan designed to ensure financial stability amid the nation’s economic meltdown.
The list goes on, of course. This article covers a number of groups.
But the good news? They all still have jobs. As do I. I prefer to look at the bright side. Just because I can.
Feel free to add your orchestra to the list by leaving a comment.
Nikolai Kedrov: Ochte Nash
It’s everybody’s job in these recession-rocked times to get by with less, so we are constantly told. For U.S. symphony orchestras, that should mean a good deal more than making a few nips and tucks, which generally has been their response to the economic crisis thus far.
You can read the entire article here.
I don’t know what to think about conductor’s salaries. I simply can’t even imagine that amount of money. Not being in a major symphony orchestra, I can’t even relate to their salaries. I’ve taken a pay cut recently. The bigger cut was when San Jose Symphony folded, and when Opera San José moved into the new, larger hall. Our performances were cut nearly in half. (To be honest, though, I found doing 15 performances of an opera to be awfully grueling and I’m happy to have a mere 8 performances of each one.)
I just figure it goes without saying that everyone is going to have to accept some pay cuts these days. Better to have a pay cut and a job, as far as I’m concerned.
My ear isn’t improving. For now. So I’m dealing, and that is how it is. And that’s fine, because that’s how life can be sometimes, and I have decided that my attitude makes a big difference in how I handle things. Repair takes time. So I will be positive and thankful that I have one good ear. Better than none, yes?
I’ve made a few reeds that I think are going to work. It’s not entirely easy to tell how they are with a silly left ear, but they are feeling promising. Monday will tell; it’s the first rehearsal for the Piazzolla Suite for Oboe & Strings that I’m doing with Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra. (I’d put a link to the group here, but it seems to have gone way. Hmmm.) Here is a link to the Facebook page, at least.
And now to my Giants game. So far they have done a pretty crummy job with the Mets, and I’m hoping today will be the day they turn it around.
I continue to hold on to hope … for that and my left ear.
I was sitting near the front, and to me, it looked like the first violinists were nearly falling asleep sometimes. Ok maybe I’m stupid, but it seems like, if you’re playing a heartbreaking Brahms melody, your body language shouldn’t say “Just another day at the office….”
My apologies if I’m out of place here! Just a thought!
No, this isn’t about an orchestra I play in. It’s not even about one in California. It’s a comment from another professional orchestra’s blog, and it’s a good reminder; the audience is watching us. They want to believe we care. Sometimes we don’t look like we do. While I don’t believe we should have to smile while playing (yes, I was asked to do that once), and we are having to concentrate very hard so we might look awfully serious sometimes, if we look like we are snoozing something is wrong. Sometimes — dare I say this — we even have to become actors; there is music I really dislike (say, for instance, the Franck d minor), but when I’m performing it is my job to “sell” the work, no matter what I think about it.
Why do the musicians look so snooty – or was it just the oboe-ist?
The orchestration was stirring and thought-provoking… everything classical music should be.
London – A cattle farmer in Britain has engaged the services of an Italian opera singer to serenade his cows in the hope that they will produce more milk of a higher quality.
Perhaps some Opera San José singers who don’t have anything lined up can get in on this.
I read it here.
The Illinois Times has an article about what appears to be a very dysfunctional and unhappy Illinois Symphony Orchestra. It makes for ugly and uncomfortable reading. What a sad sounding situation.
I’m so happy I love my jobs. I’m so happy that, even when things are sometimes stressful and we disagree, I strongly believe that everyone in the organizations to which I belong have the best of intentions.
… especially when you see a couple (married 62 years!) having fun at the piano.
In case you are missing Carmen:
(Beaker has trouble with the triplet sometimes, poor guy.)
Cane has been soaking and is ready to be shaped and/or wound.
But first … shouldn’t I dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms, straighten the family room desk area, clean my oboe desk, clean the kitchen, wash the hardwood floors, put on shoes and socks, brush my teeth, brush my hair, check for snail mail, check and respond to email, put clean sheets on the guest room bed, dust again (accumulates so quickly, you know?), vacuum, solve world hunger …
Yeah. So much to do. Poor soaked cane.
Okay, okay, I’ll go do what I’m supposed to do. Sigh.
First I need to sharpen my knives, though.
Recent headlines:
School orchestra nears crescendo
Haitink residency hits crescendo with Shostakovich
Digital music sales reach crescendo
Yeah, these bug me. But I can be easily bugged. You?
I just read that eight musicians are retiring from the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. That’s a lot of musicians for one year, but it can happen. (I can’t imagine when I’ll ever be able to retire … and I’m not ready yet!) There appear to be two oboe positions that may be opening up. I’ll post the audition info if they do announce this.
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