I wish I had a time machine. Among other uses, I would like to travel back in time to talk to orchestral musicians from the 1920s through 1950s to find out what they thought of concert attire, and not just for themselves but for the audience as well. Did they have wardrobe expectations when they looked out into the crowd or did they complain about their tuxedos and formal dresses (not that there were that many women orchestra musicians in the 20s –thankfully, times have changed)? I wonder because although there is nothing new about musicians complaining about concert attire, the frequency and gravity of those discussions seem to increase from one year to the next…
Are You Ready For The Arts Addict?
I hate to give away upcoming events too early but the flood of emails asking about the new blogs set to launch over the next few months have persuaded me to offer up a few more details…
Wanted: A Messiah In Cincinnati
The 11/4/2007 edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer published an article by Janelle Gelfand which took a hard look at the ongoing process to find a new Dean for the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). The revealing article examines the challenges and outlines the critical value in filling this position with the right person… It is refreshing to see so much gritty detail and attention focused on finding a leader …
Sticks and Drones: A New Adaptistration Blog
There’s excitement in the air as today marks the launch of the first of several new blogs here at Adaptistration. Sticks and Drones is all about the world of classical music from the perspective of two conductors, Bill Eddins and Ron Spigelman. If you are hoping the blog will be chocked full of filler such as discussions about whether or not Stokowski’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition is superior to Ravel’s edition and the advances in graphite baton design, you might be disappointed.
Instead, Sticks and Drones is all about providing a public forum for two very insightful musicians who live and work in classical music’s trenches. With the comment throttle thrown wide open, they’ll examine where classical music is, where it needs to go, and the challenges along the way. In due course, Sticks and Drones is the first addition to a growing three-way mirror of cultural conversation designed to provide a comprehensive view on the field of performing arts (more on that at a later date)…
Adaptistration Internal Service Project
When Adaptistration moved to its new server on October 15, 2007 it had 12,000+ entries containing 1.2 million words, thousands of links, and hundreds of embedded pics, tables, graphs, and charts. Although moving that much data would normally involve endless headaches, everything made it from URL "A" to URL "B" in one piece. Well, almost in one piece. Due to the nature of changing URL’s, there were a few unavoidable potholes …