Discussion Panel: Page 35

So, firing the parting shots, as it were, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Drew and each panelist for including me in this conversation. Though I work closely with composers and musicians, I am not a professional in the trenches as you all are, and this has been an enlightening week […]

I again appreciate the time and thoughts of those who sent in responses on this very important topic. To sum up, for me, my personal commitment to education of the youth has been re-enforced this week. That is a powerful and valuable tool. And those of us in the professional orchestra world feel strength in […]

I wish I had some profound and pungent insights to summarize this discussion. Unfortunately, all I have is some random responses to the other panelists. Here goes. Chris Woehr wrote : “Robert Levine and I could probably get together and write a book on How To Write For Strings In Order To Save Rehearsal Time.” […]

Where do we go from here? An interesting trend that I’ve noticed lately is the smaller-budgeted orchestras taking more of a chance on radical programming. What I mean by this is creating programs that are all new music; many blanch at the idea. But contrary to what one would think, the times I’ve seen these […]

I am grateful to Drew for this invitation to exchange our thoughts and concerns about what has proven to be a delicate and challenging dynamic in the field – the interaction between orchestra musicians and composers. I am grateful to my fellow panelists for not shying away from the gnarliness of some of the issues […]

I have a simple rule for my own pieces: No composer in the first rehearsal. The musicians are just trying to get a sense of the piece, learn the nuts and bolts of it. A fretting, hovering, over-stimulated composer is just in the way. If I’ve done my proofreading properly, correcting score or parts mistakes […]

I was at the heated, but wonderful conversation the other night that prompted Lisa to ask, “Is it actually extra-musical or is it part of the composer’s required skill set to be workably articulate or even a charismatic advocate for his/her own work? Doesn’t this expectation handicap certain personality types?” If I could also cross-reference […]

The Meet the Composer residencies that started around the 1980’s have been a major force for change in the panorama of American. A whole new sense of consciousness was created among the orchestras that started to see the composers as living entities and collaborators, and not as dead people who wrote great music. This visionary […]

So, what do musicians need to explore and advocate for the new music they are interested in? Source material–probably recordings. Well, that should be easy. All you’d have to do is call up the orchestra that last played the piece and ask them to send a copy and…oh, right. That recording, if there is one, […]

I appreciate the great thought and time that people are taking to respond to these important issues. In reading today’s responses, I have realized two things: one, education is important, and two, each city is so different that we have to cater to those individual mentalities. For example, I live and work in Salt Lake […]