You’re Not Helping, Part 1
In the rush of preparation for a holiday devoted to being grateful, I've been thinking a lot about the great gift of being a musician and getting to share it with others. In the midst of all that, two recent stories of less than salutary behavior in the...
Disturbing the Peace? Part 2
My previous post was about the recent musical protest at the St. Louis Symphony performance of the Brahms Requiem. I've been thinking about other ways that protest and music intersect a lot since I first heard about that incident - this post will address...
Disturbing the Peace? Part 1
Reading about two recent concerts got me thinking again about the "sanctity" of the concert hall and the role of the audience. In one, the performance was "interrupted" by a musical protest by members of...
Back to the Future?
I recently spent four days at the Arts Midwest Conference in Minneapolis. I got to present Bach and Boombox on a showcase for...
Twice the music?
Recently, a radio station in Calgary announced plans to broadcast what they called "twice the music," which meant edited, significantly shorter versions of pop songs (around 2...
No Loitering – Classical Music as Crowd Control
The other night, I stopped at my local UDF, a chain of convenience stores and gas stations. As I walked out, I heard a Beethoven violin sonata coming from the speakers hanging by the front door. They play classical music to keep...