Author - Bill Cahn

1
Listening – A Musician’s Necessary Skill
2
Working Together: Orchestra Musicians, Boards and Management
3
Social and Economic Issues in 2011 and Their Impact on Music and the Arts
4
The Adopt-A-Player Program Enables Toronto Symphony Orchestra Musicians to Make In-Depth Community Connections

Listening – A Musician’s Necessary Skill

Jul 30 2015
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Bill Cahn
Bill Cahn

Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion group since its formation in 1971, performing in concerts, films, recordings, and broadcasts all over the world. He was also the Principal Percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995, and he has appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras and at music festivals worldwide.

Bill has produced eight CDs, written books and articles about music and percussion, and he has written and conducted Pops and educational programs for symphony orchestras. His book Creative Music Making, on the subject of freeform improvisation, was published in March 2005 by Taylor & Francis/ Routledge Books. His chamber and orchestral compositions featuring percussion are widely performed.

Bill’s workshops include the subjects of improvisation, percussion performance, careers in music, and the business of music. He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall Of Fame in November, 1999.

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Bill Cahn was a long-time member of the Rochester Philharmonic, and a founding member of NEXUS, a Toronto-based percussion ensemble. Bill has written for Polyphonic in the past, about the use of improvisation in performances and educational programs, and about the impact of social and economic issues on music and the arts. He is the author of ”Creative Music Making,” and teaches a course of the same name at music schools and conservatories. Bill shares with us some of his insights from his most recent course, particularly around the issue of listening and the lack of any formal training for most music majors on HOW to listen.

Bill proposes three levels of listening, describes each in detail, and suggests that the “ideal scenario” is to have all three listening levels at work during an ensemble’s performance.

Ann Drinan
July, 2015

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Working Together: Orchestra Musicians, Boards and Management

Jun 17 2013
Browse archives for June 17, 2013
Bill Cahn
Bill Cahn

Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion group since its formation in 1971, performing in concerts, films, recordings, and broadcasts all over the world. He was also the Principal Percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995, and he has appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras and at music festivals worldwide.

Bill has produced eight CDs, written books and articles about music and percussion, and he has written and conducted Pops and educational programs for symphony orchestras. His book Creative Music Making, on the subject of freeform improvisation, was published in March 2005 by Taylor & Francis/ Routledge Books. His chamber and orchestral compositions featuring percussion are widely performed.

Bill’s workshops include the subjects of improvisation, percussion performance, careers in music, and the business of music. He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall Of Fame in November, 1999.

All posts from Bill Cahn
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July 11, 2013 Below is a link to an address by Alan Fletcher given at the Aspen Music Festival and…

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Labor relations, Musicians Today, Negotiation, Orchestra Life, Orchestra Management

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The Wall Street Journal for Friday, June 7, 2013 carries an article in the “D” Section, “After Orchestras Strike: A Tale of Two Cities” by Terry Teachout. The article compares the ways in which two orchestras – The Minnesota Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony – are dealing with their financial problems.   In Minnesota there is[…]

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Social and Economic Issues in 2011 and Their Impact on Music and the Arts

Sep 19 2011
Browse archives for September 19, 2011
Bill Cahn
Bill Cahn

Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion group since its formation in 1971, performing in concerts, films, recordings, and broadcasts all over the world. He was also the Principal Percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995, and he has appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras and at music festivals worldwide.

Bill has produced eight CDs, written books and articles about music and percussion, and he has written and conducted Pops and educational programs for symphony orchestras. His book Creative Music Making, on the subject of freeform improvisation, was published in March 2005 by Taylor & Francis/ Routledge Books. His chamber and orchestral compositions featuring percussion are widely performed.

Bill’s workshops include the subjects of improvisation, percussion performance, careers in music, and the business of music. He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall Of Fame in November, 1999.

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[This essay was originally written in 2004. It’s observations are essentially unchanged in 2011.] In the 20th century world of specialization, artists found their position in society as the purveyors of new possibilities through open and free thought – from Picasso and Stravinsky to Jackson Pollock and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Having broken away from the intellectual[…]

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The Adopt-A-Player Program Enables Toronto Symphony Orchestra Musicians to Make In-Depth Community Connections

Mar 22 2006
Browse archives for March 22, 2006
Bill Cahn
Bill Cahn

Bill Cahn has been a member of the NEXUS percussion group since its formation in 1971, performing in concerts, films, recordings, and broadcasts all over the world. He was also the Principal Percussionist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1968 to 1995, and he has appeared as soloist with symphony orchestras and at music festivals worldwide.

Bill has produced eight CDs, written books and articles about music and percussion, and he has written and conducted Pops and educational programs for symphony orchestras. His book Creative Music Making, on the subject of freeform improvisation, was published in March 2005 by Taylor & Francis/ Routledge Books. His chamber and orchestral compositions featuring percussion are widely performed.

Bill’s workshops include the subjects of improvisation, percussion performance, careers in music, and the business of music. He was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society’s Hall Of Fame in November, 1999.

All posts from Bill Cahn
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Bill Cahn has had an illustrative career as a percussionist, performing with the NEXUS percussion group and the Rochester Philharmonic for many years. Recently he’s written a book, Creative Music Making, on the subject of freeform improvisation, and he shares some of his thoughts in this fascinating article.

The Toronto Symphony’s Adopt-A-Player program has a 4th or 5th grade class “adopt” several TSO musicians, with the goal of creating a new piece of music in five weeks. Bill explains how the program works and features material from a Handbook written by TSO clarinetist/composer Raymond Luedeke. Musicians, symphony staff, and volunteers all work with the students to create a musical/theatrical piece.

Bill then describes how he used improvisational techniques with Toronto Symphony musicians, staff, and volunteers during an Adopt-A-Player orientation session, to prepare them for working with the kids. For some of the players, it was the first time they’d ever created a freeform piece!

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