Archive - 2012

1
Norman thinks it’s “The Rulebook”
2
Peter Dobrin says it all
3
Ground Zero for the Payless model
4
Dumb s**t conductors say
5
10,000 lakes, one fish, and no settlements
6
What Musicians Can Teach Doctors
7
A bad settlement in Atlanta
8
Why Music is Important: The Economic Answer
9
When’s it OK to ask musicians to work for free?
10
That was quick

Norman thinks it’s “The Rulebook”

In a post rife with reader comments, Norman Lebrecht thinks the top European conductors are shunning American orchestras because of the current wave of strikes, or because they don’t like rules, or… something: Stumbling into the new season, Minnesota has become the third orchestra to lock out its musicians, after Atlanta and Indianapolis. In San[…]

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Peter Dobrin says it all

This article by Peter Dobrin of the Philadelphia Inquirer is the best reporting on the current crisis yet to appear. Go read the whole thing: …What someone is willing to pay for orchestral musicians in this country has changed radically in recent weeks. Yes, a brief strike last month by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra resulted[…]

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Ground Zero for the Payless model

Every negotiation cycle seems to have one negotiation that symbolizes the trends underlying what happens in that cycle. I had thought that last season’s epic battle in Detroit would serve that role for this round. But I think I was wrong; it’s looking as if Minnesota will define the era. And the Minnesota negotiation is[…]

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Dumb s**t conductors say

Leonard Slatkin has been guilty of cluelessness in public again (a previous example can be found here). He’s actually quite reminiscent of a certain candidate for President currently out on the hustings; he goes along saying quite sensible stuff and then runs completely off the rails and reveals his true beliefs: …Relations between the musicians[…]

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10,000 lakes, one fish, and no settlements

And not a lot of truth from employers in the Land of the North Star either, it seems: Musicians for the Minnesota Orchestra say management is threatening to lock them out at midnight Sunday unless there is a contract agreement by then. Orchestra musicians say they will vote on a management contract proposal on Saturday.

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What Musicians Can Teach Doctors

I attended a meeting of the Hartford Medical Society last week to hear a presentation by Dr. Lisa Wong, a pediatrician who plays violin with the Longwood Symphony in Boston – the doctor’s orchestra. She’s written a book, Scales to Scalpels, about the orchestra and the role of music in medicine. As I was chatting[…]

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A bad settlement in Atlanta

The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony voted to ratify a tentative settlement that was pretty much what ASO management (or perhaps the Woodruff Center) wanted all along: Symphony Orchestra accepted a new collective bargaining agreement Wednesday, barely averting a postponement of the fall season. The deal will cost players $5.2 million in compensation over two[…]

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Why Music is Important: The Economic Answer

The London School of Economics is no slouch when it comes to understanding the real world in all its fiscal glory (or calamity). Several of its researchers have been working with three of the top music schools in London – the Royal Academy, the Royal College, and the Guildhall in producing an economic impact report on the three schools.

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When’s it OK to ask musicians to work for free?

For sure it’s not when the person asking has raised $1.2 million for her new album but doesn’t want to pay back-up musicians on the road. Fortunately for all concerned, she (very grudgingly) changed her mind after considerable public outcry. Many AFM locals had a prohibition in their bylaws about members working for free, at[…]

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That was quick

Maybe not the shortest orchestral strike on record, but likely close to it: They entered the negotiating room in the Chicago Symphony Association’s lawyer’s office at 2 p.m. Monday, and by about 6:45 p.m. a tentative agreement had been reached in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first musicians strike in 21 years. The orchestra announced shortly[…]

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