music

[This is the first in a series of posts in which I will talk about the current, troubled, state of professional musicmaking and offer some glimpses of possible solutions for the future.] The other night I attended one of the … Continue reading →

This is a story I have been planning to tell for a long time. A tale of romance, passion, and great expectation and how this all crashed upon the rocks of government bureaucracy. But let’s start at the beginning. In … Continue reading →

In a recent article in the New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin points to the seemingly large number of orchestral positions that are currently open at some of the nation’s top orchestras.  Of course we could debate all day about whether or not 12 openings in the NY Phil is remarkable, if they will be […]

I had a library nightmare over the holidays, and I don’t mean that figuratively.  You know those performance anxiety nightmares players can have over a particular piece that’s difficult or a recurring worst-case scenario?  Well, instead of dreaming my hand wouldn’t stay on the violin fingerboard or I couldn’t identify the proper chords on the […]

As a non-playing orchestra librarian (well, mostly anyway), I don’t get to hear the orchestra on stage as much I did when playing more often and in the midst of the music.  Yes, we always have the monitor on so we “hear” the rehearsals and concerts, but that’s clearly not the same as either participating […]

When I wrote the following on “From the Orchestra Library” I didn’t realize Robert had posted the video of a young accordion virtuoso playing the last movement of  Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto back in September.  So, here’s a little view into orchestra librarians’ minds when they see such a thing:

Someone sent me this several weeks ago, and I just stumbled upon it again while straightening up my very cluttered desktop. I used to do a variation of this with beginning clarinet students to demonstrate how good breath support made for good finger technique. They would blow into the clarinet and I would finger it. […]

I generally enjoy playing (and even listening to) Rachmaninoff – but I usually don’t respect myself the next morning for having done so. This week, though, might be different. We’re doing the Rachmaninoff third concerto (“Rock 3”, in tribal parlance) and the second symphony. I’m finding it makes a huge difference in how interesting Rachmaninoff […]