Some Thoughts on the Gender Narrative

I constantly go back and forth on whether or not I like exhibits, concerts, etc. devoted to female artists (see my post on the specialty concert for my usual opinion). Although I am highly critical of things that are gender-specific because I worry about inherent issues of marginalization, I do think good arguments can be made either way for their existence, and this weekend I stumbled upon a museum that made an excellent case for why gender-specific spaces are important.

Women in Science... and Music

I came across this article in the New York Times a few days ago, and while it's interesting for several reasons, I immediately started thinking about how it relates to music. I have a personal interest as the daughter of two scientists (who are also wonderful parents) but I think pretty much everything these women said about a life in science applies to a life in music, and probably many other fields that at one point were (and perhaps still are, in some circumstances) hostile to women.

How Do We Encourage Audiences to Listen?

After considering Sarah’s last post on the curiosity of art demographics, I spent much of this week speculating about why it often seems to be considered cool to "consume" culture in the form of films, plays, gallery exhibits, etc., but not to seek out new music. 

Is this because we are such a visual culture? Music is contextualized for us on an everyday basis as providing an emotional backdrop in movies, TV shows, commercials, etc. People are becoming more and more programmed to understand the visual as the foreground and the auditory as the background, no matter how important and vital that “background” may be in shaping aesthetic, tone, and meaning. Perhaps this commercial reality bleeds over into the artistic realms?

Enticing the Artsy Audience

In our recent discussions about the orchestra, we've been spending a lot of time talking about the audience, and how to get new demographics to the orchestra (and to new music concerts). I have a new question: why does it seem that it's cool to like new art, film, theater and dance, but not necessarily new music?

Real Life Orchestras Playing New Music

I know that many major American orchestras do play new music, but especially with all our recent discussion about the orchestra, I thought this article about the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was particularly interesting. An orchestra with so many problems (striking musicians, huge deficits) might want to play it safe, but instead, they're trying new things, which I definitely applaud.  While 20% isn't that high a percentage for programming new music, it's certainly a start- and for major American orchestras, I think it's a pretty good number.  And they seem to have taken some of Natalie's advice about reaching out to local audiences!

Posted by Sarah

Composing a Better World, Part III: Articles

In our ongoing discussion of new music and politics, I want to add these two articles to the table:

The Atlantic, D.B. Grady:  Can Classical Music Save the World?

The New York Times (The Score), David T. Little:  Until the Next Revolution

David T. Little's distinction between "revolutionary music" and "critical music" is particularly interesting.

Posted by Natalie

Divide & Conquer: Rethinking Orchestral Programming and Structure

Sarah’s post in defense of the orchestra as an established ensemble is very timely, especially considering how many recent articles have been addressing the financial situation of the modern orchestra and possible solutions (for example, see Anne Midgette’s blog post on the inherent difficulty of standardizing an operational design for the orchestra). It’s not surprising that the orchestra is on our cultural mind, especially with the news that the Philadelphia Orchestra recently filed for bankrupty protection.

The orchestra, as an institution, is suffering from several problems and I will not be able to adequately address them all in this post. However, here are some topics to start with: 1) The classical audience is a fractured audience, 2) The community is a changing concept, 3) Conductors, music directors, and top level administrators don’t need exorbitant salaries.