Discussion Panel: Page 15

I can recall many times when I’ve thought I could tell a conductor to stop doing one or two things in order to get an improved response from my colleagues (and myself), but I never got up the nerve. I thought it would be too presumptuous, or I just didn’t care enough to stick my […]

Question: what do you call 100 conductors at the bottom of the ocean? If you answered “a good start,” you probably play in an orchestra. Robert Levine and I are pleased to moderate what should be a lively discussion about musicians’ perceptions of, and reactions to, conductors. We don’t intend this to be an exchange […]

Today is the last day with our panel of librarians. I’d like to thank each of them for joining us here at Polyphonic, and for being so articulate about the issues they face on the job. During our communications with each other (via email) I realized there is another side to being a librarian which […]

We were on tour in Europe in 1997 when Princess Diana died. We had spent that Saturday night in Germany and learned of her death early Sunday morning before we traveled to Dublin for an evening concert. Obviously, the program would have to change since it included Gershwin’s American in Paris, and our concert was […]

In my 21 years as an orchestra librarian there are a couple of embarrassing moments that stick out in my mind, and one near-disaster. What is it about Pops concerts? For me the worst problems have all happened during Pops shows. During my very first year we had a concert where everything that could go […]

We had a principal wind player who was known for losing parts to things. Over the years entire folders would go missing, and he was very good about paying for rental parts as well as replacement materials for our own sets. About three months after his retirement, another principal wind player was in the dressing […]

One of the great joys of being a musician is to pass along “the lore” — the stories which are told and re-told, stories that could only come from our profession. Librarians are privy to unique moments in the life of their orchestra, so I asked our panelists for their “best and worst” stories — […]

Editor’s note: this isn’t the sort of conductor story that I was referring to, but it’s definitely one to remember and share with colleagues! Jessica: A guest conductor here last season conducted with a Manhasset stand backstage for several minutes before the concert, which had the potential for serious injury. It reminded me of baseball […]

It’s easy to blame the librarian when things go wrong, because our job is the last to be done in the chain between the organization’s administration and the orchestra sitting down to play. That moment is the deadline, and we are right in front of it, no matter what happens in the months leading up […]

Fortunately, I’ve never been yelled at by any conductor. Once, years ago, a problem came up during rehearsal where it became apparent that the rental score didn’t match the orchestra parts. This was back in the days when fax machines were fairly new and luckily I was able to get the proper pages faxed in […]