Articles: Page 11

American orchestral musicians are familiar with ICSOM and ROPA. ICSOM, the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians represents the fifty, or so, largest American orchestras, and ROPA, the Regional Orchestra Players Association, as its name suggests represents U.S. regional orchestras. The Canadian counterpart to these two organizations is OCSM, the Conference of the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians – l’Organization des Musiciens d’Orchestres Symphoniques du Canada. Laura Brownell’s article gives the reader insight into the workings of this organization.

I hadn’t been to a Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) conference in a long time. OK, since 2002 when I wasn’t re-elected President. So when Polyphonic suggested that we three Senior Editors cover our respective Players Conferences, I was a bit hesitant about going. OK, a lot hesitant. But I did finally decide to go and am very glad indeed that I did. I saw lots of old friends, made some new ones, and very much enjoyed both the conference presentations and the activities in Dayton. I also spent some time over at the Dayton Philharmonic office doing interviews for a Polyphonic spotlight on the DPO. (Check our Orchestra Spotlight section soon for more info about the DPO.)
Players conferences represent their member musicians to the national union (AFM) to facilitate communication and urge the union to provide necessary services to its members. They also hold a yearly conference for member musicians/organizations.
The International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians (ICSOM) was founded in 1962; see Laura Ross’ excellent article What Is ICSOM? for an overview and a brief history. ROPA was founded in 1984 to provide similar representation to smaller orchestras. There were 13 founding members at the 1984 conference in Columbus OH. Two other groups of musicians have also followed ICSOM’s lead and formed their own players conferences: the Recording Musicians Association (RMA) and the Theater Musicians Association (TMA). ICSOM’s Canadian members left ICSOM when the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians (OCSM/OMOSC) was formed in 1975.
This article is rather long, but it was a jam-packed three days. I’ve presented the information in chronological order so you can follow the agenda of the three days.
Tuesday morning began with welcoming speeches followed by a keynote address by Randy Cohen of America for the Arts.
Tuesday afternoon included ROPA officer reports and remarks by Tom Lee. Then the delegates attended breakout sessions.
Wednesday morning featured reports from SSD staff, remarks from representatives of the other three players conferences (ICSOM, OCSM and RMA), a presentation on analyzing orchestra finances by William Thompson from the Univ. of Louisville, and reports from troubled orchestras.
Wednesday afternoon and evening the delegates had a private tour of the beautiful Schuster Performing Arts Center, and then were treated to the ROPA 25th Anniversary dinner and celebration.
Thursday presented ROPA Counsel Patricia Polach talking about contract re-openers, Vinni LoPresti and Will Luebking from the AFM-EP Pension Fund, and David Nesmeth leading an Alexander Technique exercise.
Here’s my “Reporter’s Notebook” from the conference.

Peter Pastreich, seasoned orchestra manager and consultant, gave a presentation for musicians on the structure of orchestra administration at the League of America Orchestras’ conference in Chicago in June, 2009. I was able to capture most of his presentation, and Peter has edited my notes to create a fascinating look at the way orchestras work, full of Peter’s inimitable turns of phrases and wry sense of humor.

Ron Krentzman is my own orchestra librarian in the Harford Symphony (as well as our Assistant Principal Clarinetist for many years), and I am just in awe of Ron’s knowledge of publications, editions, composers, etc. Before becoming our librarian, Ran was a music copyist (by hand) and worked for many famous composers, including Lenny Bernstein. He gives us his take on merging (or not) the two jobs.
And then Karen Schnackenberg of the Dallas Symphony adds her sense of how this works in a major orchestra. An important read for any orchestra librarian who’s been asked to “add a few measures.”

Once again, Karen Schnackenberg suggested that Polyphonic post the agenda from the MOLA conference, to give symphony musicians an idea of the types of issues our librarians are dealing with. The National Symphony Orchestra hosted the conference and their head librarian, Marcia Farabee, introduces us to the activities presented at the conference. Once again, it’s humbling for this orchestra musician to realize how much I don’t know about what it takes to get the music on my stand.

I first met David Wallace in 2006 at a seminar about Teaching Artists that I found inspirational – his enthusiasm, dedication, and enormous wealth of knowledge in the field deeply impressed me. Since then he has written a book, Reaching Out, A Musician’s Guide to Interactive Performance, about all he has learned over the years in his role as a faculty member at the Juilliard School and a Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic. (Check out his bio – he’s also an accomplished violist, composer, and theater arranger.)
David is very involved with the NY Philharmonic’s radical Very Young Composers Program; I caught up with him recently at a Young Peoples’ Concert pre-concert KidZone activity where he was playing on his viola the melodies that very young people indeed were writing on a white board outside the hall. It was truly inspirational; the kids were beside themselves with glee in wanting to be the next to write a melody for David to play.
David and his publisher have graciously permitted Polyphonic to excerpt the Prelude and first chapter of his book about interactive performances, which is a truly significant resource for any musician who is performing for an audience, young or old, outside of the regular symphonic concert stage experience.

Janet Horvath has revised her book, Playing (less) Hurt: An Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians, and the new edition is now available. Janet has updated the book and added 100 pages to include new information for educators and training, information for jazzers and rock musicians, new ergonomic products, an extensive hearing chapter, new photos and much more. Polyphonic is pleased to excerpt a section on static loading and the fatigue that muscles endure (and the damage that can be done) with prolonged periods of static positions.
I wish every conductor out there would read the first few paragraphs of this excerpt and adjust their rehearsal schedules accordingly! Janet provides invaluable tips for alleviating some of the pains associated with playing prolonged soft and slow passages, as well other posture issues.
Janet’s book received the Gold Medal in the 2009 Independent Book Publisher National Awards in the health category. Congratulations, Janet! For more information, click here.
Janet has graciously offered a 15% discount to registered Polyphonic readers. Ordering details are at the end of this article.

This important new book by noted master teaching artist Eric Booth will become an essential reference, “a bible,” to any musician who teaches as part of their career. Booth makes the first of a number of bold statements in the opening pages, claiming that The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible, Becoming a Virtuoso Educator ”…aspires to […]

Angela Myles Beeching has revised her well-known book Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music; the new edition is due out in November, 2009. Ms. Beeching is director of the New England Conservatory’s Career Services Center, and has been advising musicians for years on how to create a career in music. In essence, she teaches everything you need to know about being a musician except how to play your instrument.
Ms. Beeching was a panelist on Polyphonic’s Virtual Discussion Panel Entrepreneurs in Music, and we are pleased to offer this excerpt from the new edition of her book.

The idea behind the YouTube Symphony Orchestra was to bring young musicians together from disparate countries and through an audition process by which videos were uploaded and votes cast via the Internet, 90+ musicians were chosen from 30 different countries. The concert was at Carnegie Hall, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, and with lots of classical music celebrities thrown in for good measure — some via video and some live on stage. Its success can be debated, (see Polyphonic friend, Greg Sandow’s review at Arts Journal), but one thing is for sure. An undertaking of this magnitude had the performers’ hearts pumping. Michal Shein, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, gives Polyphonic.org readers an inside view of the whole process through her own, personal experience as a cellist in the orchestra.