In today's Boston Globe (Sunday, April 12), a librarian named Karen Zundel is quoted, talking about why she loves the arts:"The arts are what sustain us and bring individuals and communities together and help us to connect with our innermost beings," Zundel says. "A new car won't do that. When you buy a new car or a new outfit, you get that little thrill that lasts very temporarily, and then it's gone. But I think art really sustains me. It lasts."Nicely put, and of course it's exactly the kind of thing professional arts advocates like to … [Read more...]

Christopher O'Riley, at Miller Theatre, in New York, on March 27. He played Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues, along with some of the Radiohead transcriptions he's played many times before. Full house. Young audience. Radiohead fans, I'd guess, but they applauded really hard for Shostakovich. So why was this so important? Seems to me it gives us one model for putting classical music in the same world as popular culture, in this case by putting the two literally next to each other. And don't think the combination didn't work! Chris didn't … [Read more...]

If you take the troubleto read this blog on the Web, you get one thing the RSS feed can't give you. (And believe me, I understand the convenience of RSS feeds.) What you'll get are the comments from so many people, which are often more compelling than my posts. Extensive discussions go on, with people debating and amplifying each other, as well as me. The comments, as I've often said, are one of the best things about this blog. … [Read more...]

I had a lovely comment at the end of March from Adrienne McKinney, a piano teacher in Lexington, KY. She'd read my "Two Things I've Written" post, and my recent piece in the Wall Street Journal on alt-classical music. I'm touched that she took me seriously, and replied like this:In reading your piece here and the WSJ article, the general idea seems to be that if we want to save classical music we need to 'let it go,' in a sense, or at least loosen up a bit. We need to be willing to embrace something different that has a chance of attracting … [Read more...]

I've been pondering the reasons why the composers I call alt-classical seem to strike a nerve with the new young audience I keep talking about. It's not just because these composers sometimes write music with a pop-like beat. First, the pop-like beat might not be steady, and might just pop up here and there. But second, and much more important, the music might not have a pop-like beat at all. And yet it feels like it fits into the culture where pop-like beats dominate. How does that work?I got some insight into that, I thought, when I … [Read more...]

While I work on longer posts...On Monday night in New York there'll be a performance of two pieces of mine. This is at Symphony Space (95th and Broadway) at 7:30, with a pre-concert discussion at 6:30. I'll be speaking. It's all part of Victoria Bond's Cutting Edge festival.My pieces: Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano, and Short Talks, a work in progress for a pianist who also plays a drum. The performers will be Charles Neidich, clarinet, and Jenny Lin, piano and drum. Both pieces are short and, at least to me, packed full of detail. The … [Read more...]

Time to grapple with this. Continuing from my last post on arts advocacy...3. What we should doWell, first, what we shouldn't do. We shouldn't talk as if the arts are better than popular culture, or as if they're the sole or main source of meaning in our society. First, those things aren't true.  (See two previous posts, here and here.) Second, attacking popular culture -- aka what other people like --  wouldn't exactly be a productive way to bring people to our side. "Hi! Support the arts! They're far better than all that … [Read more...]

It's Arts Advocacy Day. I've complained before -- here, here, here, and (in the Wall Street Journal) here -- that common advocacy arguments for the arts have problems. So to celebrate the day, here's my two cents on how it might be done. What I won't talk about is how people in the arts can't disdain popular culture. I've covered that enough in separate posts, here and here. 1. Trust the public I got some disagreeing comments to my earlier posts on this, and the two that made me sad said that we can't advocate the arts directly -- we … [Read more...]

First, a list of innovations in classical concert-giving, which I compiled for my Juilliard course on the future of classical music. It's just a start, and leaves out far more things than it includes. Comments are more than welcome. The list needs to be vastly enlarged, and improved, maybe not for my course, but for all the rest of us. And second, a Wall Street Journal piece on the new alt-classical audience in New York. There's nothing new in it for regular readers of this blog, and the blog commenter (John), who said I'm wrong to say that … [Read more...]

Life has gotten full lately, with all kinds of things, including contacts with many, many people, a lot attention to my Juilliard course, and some writing. My apologies for neglecting the blog. I've been saying that time management has to be a number one priority, but another way to put it would be -- triage rules. I'm always learning more about how to get the balance right. But here's one thing I want to announce. And the simplest way would be to quote the e-mail I sent out to my private mailing list. (Which, since I haven't vetted it lately, … [Read more...]

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some testimony, to the power of concerts that blend classical music and indie rock, and draw an excited new audience. Here's more, sent to me in an email from a friend who works in the mainstream part of the classical music business. He and I had been at Le Poisson Rouge together, seeing a show from the Nonclassical record label (and club night) that's based in London. A show also cosponsored by New Amsterdam Records, a New York label, which, like Nonclassical, features music by classical composers who're as much … [Read more...]

Two books I'd highly recommend: Steven Johnson, Everything Bad Is Good For You. Ironic title, of course. The book's about how complex popular culture now is.Mark Harris, Pictures at a Revolution. One of the best books I've read in years, a real page-turner, but deeply serious in its study of how French art films helped spark a huge change in Hollywood moviemaking. Along, of course, with the emergence of a new culture in the '60s. (Nice classical music reference in the title, by the way. But we in classical music can't, I fear, claim any moment … [Read more...]

Sorry I haven't blogged for a bit. Or maybe not sorry -- found I got overloaded, forced myself every day to do more than I really could. So after my vacation, I pulled back, and especially didn't force myself to blog. As I said on Twitter today, I'm finding that time management and prioritizing have to be my top priority. But the blog is a big priority within that -- and besides, I miss it (and I miss all of your comments), so here goes. Two days ago (January 16), I spoke at a class at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a course in … [Read more...]

Defying the recession, I'm off to the Yucatan for a few days. Back next Wednesday. If you comment on anything here, the comments will be posted automatically, but I won't look at them till I'm home again.This trip is only possible thanks to a stupefying (but very welcome!) last-minute deal on Travelocity. Highly recommended! Look for "Last Minute Deals." Have a good few days, everyone. I'll be eager to see what comments you've all made, when I get back. … [Read more...]

Anyone who knows this blog knows I want classical music to change. But sometimes I'm asked why. Some people, who love classical music the way it is, don't see why any change is needed. And for them, of course, it isn't. Others get bothered, or even angry, at the thought of change. Often they think this means selling out to the wider culture (the supposedly horrible wider culure), and they're sure we'll lose everything profound and important that classical music offers.Often I answer by saying that classical music has to change, that it'll die … [Read more...]