Orchestral Acoustics 101: Avery Fisher Hall

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What went wrong, and how to fix it Christopher Blair –  full time acoustician, part-time conductor,  3rd time blogger. “For me the evening can’t end soon enough. I head back to my hotel with a splitting headache triggered by the blare of the orchestra and that spot in the Mahler where a percussionist strikes a rail with a sledgehammer….There’s enough blame to go around, of course, but by now I’ve become …

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Orchestral Acoustics 101: Vineyard vs. Shoebox

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Are visual intimacy and sonic-envelopment mutually exclusive? Christopher Blair –  full time acoustician, part-time conductor, 2nd time blogger. Following up on our previous discussion of acoustic conditions for orchestral players, comes a discussion of the two most popular ways of arraying the audience for concerts, along with the acoustical and visual advantages and disadvantages typically encountered in each.  The question for today’s exploration is how many of these positive and negative …

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Orchestral Acoustics 101: Hearing Troubles?

Christopher Blair –  full time acoustician, part-time conductor, 1st time blogger. First of all, I need to thank Drew for this temporary opportunity to use his blog while he’s away on vacation this week. If I had to come up with something to share every day as he does, I fear that I would not get much else done.

The additional good news, Dear Reader, is that I am not carrying this stand-in responsibility alone. For those that find discussions of how we hear music somewhat arcane: wait a day…and you will learn something completely different from someone completely different. So…for the acoustically curious…we begin…

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It’s All About The Details

Yesterday’s post alluded to the latest round of articles in Molly Sheridan’s Blogger’s Bok Club series. It’s a fascinating review of The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business by Tara Hunt and each article considers the self-described premise of how the performing arts are embracing technology and social networking for better and worse. Granted, I haven’t read Ms. Hunt’s book, but the ongoing conversation has been fascinating and I wanted to chime in with some thoughts before I leave on vacation…

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