The Maestro’s Blog

Conductor Humor

After my last, long rant on texting at symphonic concerts – I think it’s time to lighten up. Conductors notoriously take themselves too seriously. I guess it goes with the…

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Can We Really Multitask And Listen?

. . .Or my longest blog rant to date, with my apologies. (THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS) definitely caught my attention. The Quest for Generational Diversity by…

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Invisibility

The Invisibility of Music

Think about this. Music is invisible. Yes, it may be there as a background to visual images on television or the movie screen. And yes, music may cause you to…

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Love

The Power of Love

We all know what it is like to feel incredibly close to someone – even if we have never been able to express these feelings to that special someone. This…

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Mendelssohn, Symphony No.4 "Italian" A Midsummer Night's Dream

Beating the Winter Blahs and Blues

People speak of the ‘winter blues, grays, darkness. . .” the list goes on and on. And, depending on our personalities, our reaction to fewer hours of daylight, cold temperatures,…

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npr music

A Bit of a Rehash

NPR’s blog Deceptive Cadence recently featured a post entitled: “Was 2012 The Year That American Orchestras Hit The Wall?” I wrote the following comment on the site which re-states some…

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Your “listening guide” amazes me, in that it is a means of illustrating the role of various instrumental sections in communicating and “telling” a story. My background is science and technology so the 1 -1 ½ hours listening to a symphony with your presentation was an exciting learning experience I was not expecting.You are an exceptional talent and personality to be able to introduce someone like myself to the very complicated language of a symphony.

— Outreach Program Attendee