Author - Robert Levine

1
Daddy, what's an 8(d) notice?
2
How not to behave at work
3
Michael Kaiser: wisdom or bromides?
4
AFM Election Results
5
Live-blogging the AFM Convention
6
Something sure is broken in Honolulu
7
The potential of online media
8
Step away from the cell phone…
9
On Indispensability
10
Kenneth McKellar

Daddy, what's an 8(d) notice?

The short answer is that it’s something that’s about to bite the Detroit Symphony management very hard. The long answer follows after the jump.

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How not to behave at work

This should serve as a warning to all of us, even though principal players are possibly more prone to this disorder simply due to the interaction of human nature and hierarchies. Please note that it’s definitely NSFW (not safe for work, although most of us don’t have the problem of having computers at work, of[…]

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Michael Kaiser: wisdom or bromides?

An article in the June 28th edition of the New York Times discussed Michael Kaiser, the advice he gives, and some negative reactions from the field: At a time of many questions in the world of culture, Mr. Kaiser is regarded by many as the man with most of the answers, a miracle worker credited[…]

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AFM Election Results

Election results from the AFM Convention can be found here.

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Live-blogging the AFM Convention

Orchestra musicians are fortunate that what happens to their union is important enough that they should care about it; most American workers are not so lucky in having a collective voice of any kind. So for those of you who do care about what’s happening in – and to – the AFM, I’m live-blogging the[…]

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Something sure is broken in Honolulu

I don’t know that this has ever happened in an orchestra bankruptcy before: U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris yesterday denied the Honolulu Symphony Society’s request to extend the period in which it alone could submit a plan for its reorganization. The decision allows the symphony’s musicians and other parties to submit competing plans for the[…]

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The potential of online media

For anyone who still believed that there was significant money to be made in selling recordings online, this chart will come as an unpleasant reality check. A dissenting point of view can be found here. Fortunately, more and more people in our business are realizing that the real value of electronic media to our institutions[…]

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Step away from the cell phone…

A discussion has erupted on another online forum regarding the use of cell phones at auditions. My orchestra has had some very limited discussion about a related issue; the use of electronic devices by committee members, albeit in the context of doing anything at auditions other than listening. But that discussion (which manifested itself in[…]

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On Indispensability

“The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men,” Charles de Gaulle once famously remarked. A rather public discussion of whether music directors can be indispensable is happening over the physical health of James Levine and its impact on the institutional health of the Metropolitan Opera and the Boston Symphony. At some point the[…]

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Kenneth McKellar

Most orchestra musicians, in addition to loving the repertoire they play (or most of it, at least), like other music as well – although just what they like varies greatly from person to person. My secret vice is Scottish folk music. So I was saddened to hear that the great Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar died[…]

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