Classical music won't die until we're done discussing its demise

From Roger Rudenstein in NewMusicBox:

I doubt, however, that rejection of modernism is what drove Baby Boomers away from classical music. They weren't there in the first place. Part of their act of rebellion was to put a minus sign on anything their parents found important and classical music was seen as part of the conformity and stuffiness of the middle class life they rejected. To make matters worse, music education in the schools was gutted as the post-war prosperity waned and brought massive school budget cutbacks. So, it can't really be said that most Baby Boomers and, especially, the generations following, considered classical music and then rejected it. It was simply not an option.

Many, many good points. Naturally, I think music education for children is key.

A more optimistic piece in the Toronto Star:

In Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company sells out its shows weeks before the curtain goes up.

This entire season of concerts by the Women's Musical Club of Toronto – which has the most uncool name of any music presenter in the city – sold out last summer.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra's revenues have risen steadily since its near-death experience at the turn of the millennium.

Roy Thomson Hall is awash in young faces, thanks to its tsoundcheck program, which offers 15- to 29-year-olds tickets for $12.

If young people weren't interested in classical music, even $5 would not get them through the door.

My epiphany of 2007 came at an all-Gershwin pops concert this fall. It played to a half-capacity house made up largely of seniors.

It became clear that the TSO's younger fans want pure classical, not crossover offerings.

The ASO student tickets are $7. I don't see many young faces at the purely classical offerings. What is the difference? The author here says it's quality. What do you think?

Winnowing

Great quote from Kyle Gann:

A former student expressed frustration with the hoops that grad schools were putting her through for admission, but added, "Well, I guess this is how they winnow out the weak." No no, I told her, the purpose of grad school is to winnow out the disobedient, those who have minds of their own and refuse to squelch them.

Punctuation Drives Blog Traffic: Today, 'super adventure club' equals a period

It's somewhat depressing that one pours one's passion into a blog only to get huge spikes in traffic when one mentions a celebrity in passing. I was thrilled when my traffic went up, only to find everyone was coming for my post on Bob Marley, Will Smith, and 'I am Legend'. Hewy over at No Sleep in Helena Alabama says his traffic jumped when he mentioned that Bo Bice's house was for sale.

So I propose that us low-traffic bloggers use the top Google search terms as punctuation marks. This is how that would look for one of my passionate posts if today's top two terms replaced the period and the comma:

And the donor 'super adventure club' I think every donor wants their money to go directly to the program 'super adventure club' Some money has to go into operations and fund raising 'arizona millionaire raffle' but the slimmer the organization 'arizona millionaire raffle' the less that has to be 'super adventure club' I know one organization that spent 1/3 of the amount received from grants on the salary of the grant writer 'super adventure club' That person earned every penny 'arizona millionaire raffle' but 'arizona millionaire raffle' to me 'arizona millionaire raffle' that indicates something about the process is not working 'super adventure club' Maybe the applications weren't done as well as others 'arizona millionaire raffle' maybe the grants applied for weren't a good fit 'arizona millionaire raffle' but time 'arizona millionaire raffle' effort 'arizona millionaire raffle' and money was wasted on both sides 'super adventure club' If it's that much of a game 'arizona millionaire raffle' I don't want to play 'super adventure club'

Just kidding. It doesn't do any good to draw traffic that doesn't share your passion. Most won't read past their search term.

Juan Valdez can retire now

From Wired:

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

This could change everything. What part does coffee play in the economy? And think of the accidents due to sleep deprivation. But they're bound to find some unbearable side effect.

Christmas Cat

This is Johannes (as in Brahms). Molly calls him Jo-jo. We call him 'kitty'. He's a 3 1/2 legged cat, having been hit by a car. Molly adopted him from her job at the Inverness Animal Clinic where Dr. Strickland has a kind heart.
Jo-jo will go back to Louisville with Molly, but in the meantime is making our lives very interesting.

Although the dogs try very hard to ignore the cat, their prey instinct kicks in as it chases string across the kitchen. Using a flashlight, we convinced Darwin that the cat causes lightening, so now he won't be in the same room with it. He's a big dog and we have a very small house. When the cat snuck in the bedroom with the dogs last night, Darwin got in the shower.

Today we have the peace of a Mexican stand-off. Darwin is snoring from exhaustion due to stress. Tesla thinks squirrels are much easier to herd so has retired to the yard. Libby is torn between wanting to play and wanting to kill. And an undetermined canine made a statement by 'marking' the cat's litter box. Jo-jo's golden eyes take it all in.

We will be cat-free on Sunday. Everyone will be both glad and sad.

Skeptical of Charities? I Know You Should Be!

An article by Kevin Begos in MSNBC's series 'Contribute' talks about serious problems in non-profits:

Just about anything goes — an unregulated, unpoliced free-for-all in which anything might be happening to donor dollars, with anything short of blatant allegations of legal wrongdoing unlikely to be exposed...

I tried. Most frustrating experience of my life.

“These are times that try nonprofit souls,” says New York University Professor Paul Light. “It used to be that the nonprofit sector had the benefit of the doubt from donors. But not anymore. Donor confidence is shaky. Americans have come to believe that there is some sort of leaky bucket that no matter who they give to, some of the money will be lost through waste, inefficiency, and high executive salaries.”

Been there.

Kramer, citing a survey he did for the Gates Foundation, says more donors today are becoming increasingly skeptical of the traditional nonprofit system and would rather start their own nonprofits than trust their money to an existing one.

Done that.

...nonprofit dollars can be consumed in a variety of never-intended ways, from funding excessive executive salaries to increased expenses tied to retaining existing donors and keeping new ones from walking out the door.

Never at Scrollworks.

Salaries? Let's make sure our teachers and staff are fairly compensated. Period.

The industry of chasing money? We don't want to go there. You can help with that by donating if you can when we ask--and by spreading the word.

Scrollworks has been formed by regular people who see a tremendous need for music education and a tremendous potential to benefit our community. We are not non-profit professionals and don't want to be. Our books, plans, meetings and classes are open to everyone at any time. We welcome your input. You know a better way to do it? Come show us how!

Christmas Eve Reflections

My son and I ate lunch at Cracker Barrel today. As we waited to be seated and to pay, we were repeatedly swept aside by frantic shoppers buying Hello Kitty clothes and half-price Christmas decorations. Even as one mom shielded her purchases from her children's view, they held up candy and plastic toys in hopes that a little whine and pout might add to their Christmas joys.

This year, for the first time in any of our lives, my children and I aren't doing Christmas. This gives us a chance to stand back and observe. The view is shocking. Stress. Greed. Money spent to buy...what? We are not exchanging gifts, but we've given each other something priceless. This holiday season, without the rush to wrap and write cards, we've gotten to talk. And talk. We have learned so much about each other: hidden hurts, unknown pain, but most of all, the love we feel for each other.

Take a breath, everyone. You don't have to spend a cent to give your heart--and it's a gift that won't go back on December 26.

Lambs of Stone Teach Reading and Math

Bailey White came up with a surefire way to teach reading to 1st graders: the story of the Titanic. She says that 1st graders are so blood-thirsty that they will teach themselves to read in their eagerness to find out more about the tragedy.
Yesterday I took two young friends for a walk through the cemetery in Joe Tucker Park. At first they were hesitant, but once I pointed out the stories to be gleaned from each stone, they wanted to visit every one.
Paige, in 2nd grade, stretched herself to read the names and poems. Cassie proved to be an amazing math whiz, calculating the age of each person and relating many dates to events in her life and on everyone's calendar.

I wouldn't say they were blood-thirsty, rather, the girls were fascinated by the detective work. We discussed what a veteran is, how epidemics work and the passage of time. The girls looked carefully for lambs carved into the marble, moved by the death of tiny babies born before their own great-grandparents. We learned a lot from an hour among people whose voices are long silent but still have tales to tell.

Kayla's Blog

Kayla Sealy, music major at UAB and member of MYO, has written a three-part series on her career goals. I hope we can make Scrollworks into the kind of school where she'd like to work:

I’d like to teach elementary through high school kids. If I was still interested in doing so (and had time), what if I could also teach basic music theory and/or music history classes to these students? What if I could work with kids in playing in chamber ensembles? What if I could teach some kids who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to take music lessons because they couldn’t afford it?

Often, I will read articles about how the audiences for orchestras (and all classical music) lack having younger people in attendance (in addition to my own observations when I attend concerts). To me, it seems like the best way to get more people interested in attending those sorts of things is to have them learn about classical music by doing it themselves. In teaching, I wouldn’t (and don’t) have a goal for all of my students to go and be music majors and have some sort of music career, but for them just to enjoy music. They can continue playing their instrument for the rest of their lives if they want to, they would have more of an appreciation for and interest in classical music by having done some themselves, they can go and have other careers, they can come to concerts just because they enjoy it (not because it would somehow make them look better in the eyes of others that they went to a cultural event of some sort).

The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens

This poem is quoted by Maxine Greene in Releasing the Imagination. Here's the beginning:

The Man With the Blue Guitar
Wallace Stevens

One
The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”

The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”



The rest of the poem and an extended discussion is here.

Brittle Children

Violent Acres, again:

Being a child used to be magical. Now? Not so much. Most children nowadays seem to completely lack the ability to entertain themselves. They either need a video game to zone out in front of or a parent to plan activities for them lest they drown in a sea of banality.

I worry that we hover so much over our children that they don't get a chance to fail. We may end up with a generation suffering from the emotional equivalent of brittle bone disease.

Utopian Thinking

I've picked up a new book that has me hooked at page 5--and that's just the introduction. It's Releasing the Imagination by Maxine Greene:

"We acknowledge the harshness of situations only when we have in mind another state of affairs in which things would be better. Similarly, it may only be when we think of humane and liberating classrooms in which every learner is recognized and sustained in her or his struggle to learn how to learn that we can perceive the insufficiency of bureaucratized, uncaring schools. And it may be only then that we are moved to chose to repair or renew.
What I am describing here is a mode of utopian thinking: thinking that refuses mere compliance, that looks down roads not yet taken to the shapes of a more fulfilling social order, to more vibrant ways of being in the world..."