Prokofiev and Grieg -- ver 2.0

Tony Naler's blog in the Guardian prompted me to purchase the CD of Gabriel Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 1 by the Elysian Quartet. Since yesterday, I've listened to the whole CD three times! The first 4 tracks are the movements of the string quartet. The remaining 5 tracks are remixes of the first 4. I like it.
Maybe we should record an MYO performance and have a remix contest.

Colin Holter at NewMusicBox offers a solution to something I had been thinking about for the last few days. A parent emailed me championing the concept of a free youth orchestra that I blogged about earlier. Another parent wondered what was the point of teaching string classes in the schools for a couple of years when the parents would not be able to afford the private lessons required to continue.
Nick and I have talked several times about having funds available for orchestra and private lesson scholarships. Maybe we should go after the kind of sponsorships and endorsements that are ubiquitous in sports. Nick says he'll wear a sandwich board full of ads on the podium if it means one student can have private lessons. I agree. Now we just need to figure out how to make it happen.

MYO has barely been incorporated for a month. It feels like years. We're doing really well, but there is so much more to every aspect of this than either Nick or I imagined. We just keep stumbling forward, working hard, doing our best, and hoping we're doing most things right. This morning I told Nick that I'm worried I'll miss something crucial for the first rehearsals or performances. He reassured me that, yes, we probably will screw something up big time, but then we probably won't repeat the same mistake the next time. How to Change the World addresses this with "...a top-ten list of the ways a startup can feel deeply screwed up without really being that screwed up at all."
I particularly relate to these items on the list:

2. Big projects attract good people. We've certainly gotten help from many wonderful people from the very beginning. THANK YOU for your support and hard work!

3. Start-ups are freak catchers. Nick and I are #1 and #2 on that very short list. (Some days I'm #1, some days he is.)

6. Fearless leaders are often terrified. Yup.

9. Truth is our only currency. This one got us started down this path and gets us in trouble daily.

And, finally some fun:
Check out this version of Greig's "Hall of the Mountain King".
So that's how classical music gets an audience! Maybe we'll get some volunteers from our awesome cello section.