Archive - February 2011

1
Let The Other Guy Talk First
2
"Let's drop the big one now"
3
A substitute orchestra in Detroit?
4
A suspension bridge to nowhere good
5
Backs to the wall
6
No settlement in Detroit
7
Make the Client Feel Good
8
Progress in Detroit?
9
Not quite as much fun as the real thing, though
10
Still talking in Detroit

Let The Other Guy Talk First

Writing projects (read: compositions and arrangements) are always up for negotiation. What I always try to do is let the person hiring me talk first. After we have discussed what is involved, I quickly calculate how much time it will take to complete it. I get a price in my head that I think is […]

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"Let's drop the big one now"

Unbelievable: The DSO administration is prepared to move forward with a newly assembled group of players that would include only those members of the current orchestra who agree to unilaterally presented terms, DSO Vice President Paul Hogle said Sunday. Without setting a date, Hogle said the time has come for a new symphony model to[…]

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A substitute orchestra in Detroit?

In a front-page article in the Detroit News, Michael H. Hodges is pessimistic about the future of the DSO: …outsiders warn that suspending the season involves a leap into the unknown, one that not only threatens the orchestra’s current hold on audiences and donors, but could put the 2011-2012 season and the orchestra’s entire future[…]

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A suspension bridge to nowhere good

The future of the Detroit Symphony may well ride on the DSO board’s definition of the word “suspend“: The crisis surrounding the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strike hit a new peak Saturday, increasing the possibility that the financially crippled orchestra may not play a single note of music this season. The musicians rejected management’s final contract[…]

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Backs to the wall

It’s axiomatic in collective bargaining that negotiating committees have a moral obligation to lead, and that the key leadership act is recommending approval or rejection of a proposed settlement. It appears that the DSO negotiating committee took that lesson to heart: The negotiating committee of the striking Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians recommended Thursday that its[…]

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No settlement in Detroit

There’s a management offer on the table, and a management-dictated deadline to accept it or the else, but there’s no agreement between the negotiating teams: Detroit Symphony Orchestra management made what it calls a final offer to musicians tonight, requesting an up-or-down vote on the contract proposal by 5 p.m. Thursday. The move — which[…]

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Make the Client Feel Good

This short phrase, “Make the client feel good,” is one of the most important things to remember in business. Often when doing recording sessions for television and radio commercials (read: jingles) the “com- poser” may be a person of little of no musical knowledge. He may not even read music or be able to put […]

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Progress in Detroit?

Apparently. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and its striking musicians continued to make slow-but-steady progress in indirect talks this morning and afternoon, according to DSO executive vice president Paul Hogle. “If we were not making progress,” Hogle said “we wouldn’t continue even with indirect talks. And we are absolutely willing to meet face to face when[…]

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Not quite as much fun as the real thing, though

A critic’s take on tantric orchestra musicianship.

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Still talking in Detroit

… which is good news. Where there is life talk, there is hope: The two sides in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strike were in last-minute talks Friday evening trying to avert cancellation of the rest of the 2010-2011 season. The DSO board had earlier stipulated an agreement had to be in hand by 5 p.m.[…]

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