George’s Blog

How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm

October 23, 2019 George's Blog

(After They’ve Seen Paree?)…as the 1919 WWI song written by lyricist Joe Young and composers Sam M. Lewis and Walter Donaldson so ably asks. The problem, however, for classical music artists and ensembles is actually reversed. How do we get the troops (the 90%+ of the population who never travel there) to visit Paris (classical […]

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Captain Nemo Meets Igor Stravinsky

September 30, 2019 George's Blog

First – mea culpa!  I wish to apologize for my two-month hiatus from posting.  Preparations during July and August for the production we just recorded for American Public Television – right up to shoot day on September 22nd – cannibalized all normal sense of time’s passing.  Our staff and I feel like we just re-emerged […]

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Game of Tones Parties

June 18, 2019 George's Blog

14.7 million US citizens watched the first episode of the last season of Game of Thrones…according to Reuters news. That’s about 5.25% of our total population.  According to a blog post from May 4, 2018 on Quora, Lawrence de Martin estimated that 1% of the country’s population attends at least one or more classical concerts a […]

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Happy 40th Anniversary NJYS!

May 21, 2019 George's Blog

The New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) celebrated its 40th anniversary this weekend in Newark at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Prudential Hall. The truth is…NJYS has been celebrating all year long – as well they should. Under their new Artistic Director and Conductor Helen H. Cha-Pyo, the organization is thriving!  During that first 1979-1980 season […]

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The Emotional Space…That Music Can Provide

April 16, 2019 George's Blog

“…We have never needed more urgently the emotional space that music – and classical music in particular – can provide.”  So wrote Clemency Burton-Hill in a January 2018 piece for the BBC’s Culture.  In her article entitled: Can listening to classical music improve your life?  Ms. Burton-Hill makes the case for why we need to […]

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Intentional Acts of Kindness – 2nd Encore

February 19, 2019 George's Blog

Reflections on Jean Burgdorff’s Legacy. Memorial gatherings are always special occasions.  When someone dear to us dies we often find ourselves unable to express everything we need to at the time of his or her passing.  And so memorial gatherings occurring at some interval after our loss, allow us the time we need to reflect […]

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Turned Off or Turned On?

January 22, 2019 George's Blog

In his article for Music Australia entitled: What’s Turning Young People Off Classical Music Concerts?  Graham Strahle poses the question “…what are the barriers that seem to be preventing, or disinclining, young people from going to classical music concerts?”  He goes on, “Numerous reasons have been put forward including how concerts in their traditional format […]

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Inside Music

December 20, 2018 George's Blog

Are you a radio listener?  And, if you are, where are you when you are doing this?  For many people the answer is: “Yes” to the first question and “in my car” to the second.  Driving and radio listening have been married ever since their ‘wedding year’ of 1930, the year of the first commercial […]

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Being Thankful – Encore 2018

November 17, 2018 George's Blog

I know: ”You’re making a habit of this!”  No, I will not.  But in reading this ‘Thanksgiving Blog’ from 2012 I found some thoughts that I believe still have merit six years down the road.  So, I once again beg your indulgence.  A few updates have been made. Mental health professionals and spiritual mentors agree […]

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Intentional Acts of Kindness – Encore

October 24, 2018 George's Blog

Old blog posts, once written, become a ‘thought mining resource’ for me.  I might be looking for some reference I made to a particular subject or person…perhaps an author whose voice struck me as important to echo or amplify. Today, I was rereading old posts and came across this one. It has been one year […]

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