Category - Miscellaneous

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Dinosaurs falling from the sky in theater-land?
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This isn't good….
3
Devastating Impact
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Musicians Can Now Sell Directly on Facebook With This New App
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What's the difference between practicing and child abuse?
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Arts in the suburbs
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Orchestras aren't about "peace"
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A good idea
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Happy New Year
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Hello, World

Dinosaurs falling from the sky in theater-land?

The head of the NEA seems to think so: Count on Rocco Landesman to stir the pot. Speaking at a conference about new play development at Arena Stage in Washington on Thursday, Mr. Landesman, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, addressed the problem of struggling theaters. “You can either increase demand or[…]

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This isn't good….

This morning’s news from Detroit is discouraging: Prospects for productive talks in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra strike seem to be taking a turn for the worse. After an executive committee board meeting Wednesday, management released new figures casting doubt on whether the organization could meet the financial burdens of its current proposal. For their part,[…]

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Devastating Impact

I recently purchased an Internet radio, so am now about to access (without charge) my favorite public radio stations from throughout the US.  One theme that I hear on all of them is that proposed public (government) funding cuts will have a devast…

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Musicians Can Now Sell Directly on Facebook With This New App

If you have a band and are trying to get your name around, Moontoast might be something to consider.  They’ve come up with an app that allows musicians to connect with their fans and sell directly on Facebook.  Check out the article here:
http://ma…

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What's the difference between practicing and child abuse?

It’s not very often that practice techniques make the Wall Street Journal. It’s even less often that they become the stuff of vitriolic debate, but that’s what’s happened in response to this: A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many[…]

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Arts in the suburbs

Anne Midgette had an interesting piece in Friday’s Washington Post on the boom in arts facilities in the DC area: If the 1970s saw an increase in performing arts organizations, the 1990s and 2000s have seen a notable increase in places built to house them. The boom is reflected nowhere better than in the Washington[…]

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Orchestras aren't about "peace"

I’ve been trying to figure out just what exactly bugs me so much about this: Music can change the state of the world, stop conflict and bloodshed, and bring peace to war-torn regions. If that sounds far-fetched then you haven’t met Russia’s famed maestro Valery Gergiev. “The power of music can be (a) very quiet[…]

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A good idea

This is interesting: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra has announced the first recipient of the Mabel Dorn Reeder Honorary Chair: It’s associate concertmaster Heidi Harris. The chair, announced in July 2010, was established with a $2 million endowment from the Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation. It is awarded, based on “excellence in artistry and leadership within[…]

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Happy New Year

2011 has got to be better than 2010, which really sucked. Some good news is already emerging, though. The Nashville Symphony is back in its home after months of repairing flood damage, while the musicians of the Louisville Orchestra won a significant victory in bankruptcy court when the judge refused to set aside their collective[…]

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Hello, World

It’s the first week of 2011 and this is the start of my new blog, Street-Wise Lesson of the Week. Many of the posts that you will read here in the coming weeks, months, and hopefully years, will come from my new book, Lessons From a Street-Wise Professor: What You Won’t Learn at Most Music […]

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