Blog expansion

But first, the flu. That’s what floored me for the past week, explaining my silence here. I did make my Boulder trip, and had a fabulous time, seeing friends, family, and engaging with the Entrepreneurial Center for Music at the College of Music at the University of Colorado. While barely fighting off the flu at night.

When I got home, I thought I’d better rest. Now I’m back. Mainlining cough drops on Amtrak, but I’m back.

And my first priority here is expanding the blog. In a post all too long ago, I asked for people who might want to blog along with me, or help out in other ways. The response, I’m so happy to say, was overwhelming, mostly coming in by email and on Twitter and Facebook. So now I have many potential bloggers, and many potential blog assistants…

…though I want to can that last term .As I’ve thought more about this, I’ve realized that I don’t want hierarchies here. Instead — as I emailed those who offered help — I want the blog to be credited to a blog team. It’ll still be called “Sandow,” but other people will join me, doing a variety of things (some of them overlapping).

But instead of typing out my ideas all over again, let me share what I emailed to the people who responded. (Or a slightly altered version of it.) Consider these preliminary thoughts, to be added to in coming days and weeks. Anyone who wants to join in, contact me!

Summary: the blog should be a home for many voices, people doing many things in music, from many parts of the world. And it should grow to become an archive of information that’s important for the future of classical music. 

What I wrote:

My thought is that the scope of the blog could grow quite a bit. Not all at once; I know better than that. But slowly, with the help of many people. As I picture the future, the blog is still called “Sandow,” but either in every post, or in an entry on the right of the main blog, will be a heartfelt credit to “The Blog Team,” which will include everyone who joins in, whether to do blog posts — not as guests, but as participants — or do help out in other ways.

And I’m thinking that the kinds of help people give might be very varied. No reason, for instance, that some people couldn’t both write posts and do other things. Some people might post regularly, and others occasionally. And others just once, or once in a great while, when they had something they wanted to say. I’d hope that the blog contributors will be wonderfully varied, people of many ages, from many parts of the world, doing many different things.

The kinds of other help you all could give could be very varied. I might have stressed what I could call clerical help. Certainly it would take a burden off my shoulders — and off the shoulders of everyone else who’ll post here — if someone would take over formatting and posting the content that’s written. Anyone writing would just submit text and a graphic, and someone else would transfer the formatting into the blog.

But that’s only a start. As I see it now, there’s no limit to what people working on the blog with me can do. As the blog expands, people can take all kinds of authority, depending on what’s appropriate, what works, and what you all feel comfortable with.

 That’s because I imagine the blog expanding to become a repository, an archive, of things related to the future of classical music. My “maverick” posts, for instance — someone could collate them, add other information, and create a catalogue (which would keep growing) of changes in classical music, something that doesn’t exist anywhere right now, and is badly needed.

 I’ve thought also of making a bibliography of things to read about the future of. I started one a long time ago. Someone could (because i don’t have time to do everything I think of) format it and post it as a blog sidebar, along with the catalogue of changes. But my start on a bibliography doubtless is only a start. You all can add to it, adding, especially, maybe, blogs and other things online, which I don’t believe I thought to include.

A blog commenter said he’d prepare a list of good classical music videos, That can be added to, once it’s ready, and maintained as yet another blog sidebar. [And in fact it is ready! Expect to see it here shortly.]

I thought also — maybe this is the same thing, maybe something separate — of a Pintarest page of classical music graphics, things that really pop, really work.

 Some of you can also help start a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, which I’ve thought of doing, and which would help all of us.

 And some of you might help form a street team, a group of people (including people who wouldn’t directly be part of the blog community) who’d publicize things we’re doing to their own networks. That’s essential these days for getting word out.

 And then there are the many ways that the blog intersects with everything else I do. Anyone who wanted to help me out in other things would be more than welcome. But I’m happy to start just focusing on the blog.

 These ideas are just a start. We can all think of more. We can plan the future of the blog together.