Answers to "Some Questions"

For my Business of Music course at the University of Ottawa, we were asked to read this article by Greg Sandow, and provide a synopsis and reflection. I've chosen to post my response here. Enjoy. ---Craig.


In his reflection, “Some Questions”, Sandow presents a series of inquiries to help explain why the classical music industry is shrinking, and potentially failing. Seeing as his reflections and questions are based mainly on his own experiences, I would like to reflect upon his questions through my own perspective.

1.) Sandow asks “Why isn’t the audience more active in the classical music world”, and more pertinently, “why don’t they get more involved with the music itself?” When I consider my personal experience of studying music, having done so enthusiastically for almost 10 years before understanding that listening to music is a dialogue, and before discovering the literature the communities that understood that music works beyond sound and relationships, that it is an organism that lives as long as we live, and that we must care for it, communicate to it, tend to it, and make the effort to understand it, and then still have questions of what it is and how it works and why it matters obscured I wonder the following: If after ten years of searching and caring, I finally barely understand this, can we blame the average listener, who started in the same place and had the same formative education as me, for be not being active and involved?

2.) Next, Sandow asks why people inside classical music institutions don’t talk about music more? He wonders why there are not more musician-conductor-staff-board-audience dialogues? I don’t really have an answer to this, but to me, a lack of communication indicates a serious problem. There is something in the ‘hierarchy’ of the classical music industry that promotes this attitude. In amateur music circles, musicians are passionate about music, playing with fervor, and care. Yet, for many in the average professional music world, however, the spark seems gone. However, it seems to me that an antiquated view professionalism is employed daily in the music world. To clarify, professionalism often means “show up on time, keep your mouth shut and play it right, the first time.” It’s the latter two points that interest me the most. What is to become of an art form when there is no room for or the dialogue. Part of passion is the drive to push oneself to the limits, exploring and trying new artistic ideas. I’m certain that art is not about doing it right.

3.) Why do we advertise classical music so badly? Sandow seems to conclude that most press releases and program notes are ego based, talking about the apparent greatness of the performer, composer, work, or all three. It is arguable that many of my colleagues were educated in institutions that valued ‘fact’ and ‘reason’ over emotional content. We were taught to develop rational skills, and to view the world – including the arts – through this lens. Music is wonderful because it allows us to explore other, experiential, human aspects of our life. There are things in the world that exists as a combination of mind and heart. But we’re never ever told this. This is the big secret. And so, what do we have but ‘facts’ and ‘history’ in our advertising.

4.) What do we ourselves get from all these concerts? I would like to argue that many performers, don’t get much out of the experience. For many, it’s a job. A job they love, but ultimately, a job. For me, it’s always been about learning the skills, playing it right and then maybe, just maybe having time to add your personal interpretation, and connect to the experience. Far too often I feel like we are craftsmen, or even technicians? Why do so many talented musicians leave the field? Is it because it’s not rewarding enough? And I’m not talking financially. The good players always have a gig. But it’s not rewarding to be a technician of music. It’s not what we signed up for, but it’s what the industry Sandow speaks of can resign us to.

5.) Why doesn’t classical music get closer to pop? There is a divide between “high” and “low” art. As Sandow pointed out, some pop is truly cheap and commercial, while some is not. To refute all popular music on the basis of the cheap and commercial is to refute all classical music because of Andre Rieu. Consider that serious pop music accepts and promotes dialogue between performer and the listener. Furthermore, I’ve never known my friends in popular music to be afraid of expression or doing making their music ‘wrong.’ Most of my colleagues who write and perform popular music use it as a medium to express something personal the them.

6.) Why don’t we play more new music? We do. It’s just a little bit more ‘underground’. Furthermore, maybe the industry has alienated people. Maybe it has been too intellectual, or too uncompromising. Maybe the balance is off. Maybe people do try to care, but when there’s nothing there but a brick wall that says ‘you don’t know shit, so don’t even bother, man”.

7.) Why aren’t we part of contemporary life? I don’t know. I feel like I can understand, but that in order to express it I would need to be in a dialogue with everyone who is reading this.

Sandow raises one final question: Why are we in crisis? Why haven’t we attracted a new audience? For the answer to these questions and more, see #1 through 7 above.

Hatzis's Constantinople Canceled!

Yeah. What a bummer. No word on why it was canceled. I had put it on the calendar, but I hadn't posted about it yet. Click here to read about Constantinople.

I'm going to be out of the country then anyhow... so I guess now I don't have to be sad about missing it. Still, it's too bad.

The Gryphon Trio, who were going to be producing and performing the multimedia work, will instead be performing an all-Beethoven fundraiser for the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. The members of the Gryphon Trio are the artistic directors for the Chamber Festival, which just lost a lot of government funding. My guess is, they think they can sell more tickets to a concert of non-challenging "old chestnuts" (relatively speaking). They might be right. Maybe they'll take this fundraiser money and use it to mount Constantinople during the festival itself, perhaps to a larger audience. That's my baseless hope, anyway.

I'll drop them a line and see what I can find out.

-Ryan

ps- don't get me wrong; I love Beethoven. If I was going to be around to see the Gryphons and Nesrallah, I'd go. Being a knee-jerk supporter of creative concert music in Ottawa doesn't preclude the enjoyment of music by more established composers!

Some January events - UPDATED

Howdy, new music enthusiasts!

Well, the back half of December was unsettlingly traditional (attention fellow composers: we need to write some avant-garde xmas music!), but January has a few instances of new sounds for you.

Mike Essoudry kicks things off on the 10th with his jazz octet at the NAC's Fourth Stage. Yeah, it's not the sort of thing we usually plug on here, but with the amazing Petr Cancura on saxophone, we can be assured of things going in very exciting new directions. Also, the trumpet player is an old friend of mine, so, you know. It's $21 ($15 for students) and starts at 7pm.

Pianists Catherine Donkin & Amelie Langlois are putting on a recital of piano duets as part of the recital series at St. Luke's church. In addition to works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms, they'll be performing the music of Derek Healy, who was, for a brief period during the 1970s, a Canadian composer. January 11th, St. Luke's Anglican Chuch (760 Somerset West), 7:30pm, admission by donation.

On January 16th, Ottawa's Thirteen Strings bring cellist Amanda Forsyth on board to play music by Joly Braga Santos and Dvarionas, among other Spanish composers. Tickets are $35 ($30 seniors, $10 students); the show starts at 8pm, at St. Andrew's Church (82 Kent st.).

Whose Solo is it Anyway? I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this show... but that fact alone convinced me to include it here. "Audience-directed musical improvisation... free jazz meets chamber music meets improv theatre". It could be a lot of fun. Nine musicians from the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will be performing. 8pm on January 17th at the NAC Fourth Stage, $20.

Also on the 17th, Gatineau's Ensemble Prisme will put on a show called "Les Grands Quintettes", featuring quintet music by Hindemith, Hetu, Nielsen, and Beethoven (now that's the kind of balance I like to see). It's at 8pm, Salle Jean-Desprez (25 rue Laurier, Gatineau), and tickets are $22, $20 (seniors), and $10 (students). I'm really looking forward to this one - not only is there lots of music that's less than 100 years old, but I like the idea of a whole concert devoted to the genre of quintets. The Hindemith and Hetu are standard woodwind quintets, but the others are less usual combinations of instruments.

The Ottawa Chamber Music Society presents the Borodin Quartet, who'll be playing Beethoven, Borodin, and Shebalin on January 18th. It's at 3pm at Dominion-Chalmers United Church (355 Cooper St.). See the OCMS website for ticket info.

Capital Brassworks will be celebrating their tenth anniversary with a concert conducted by Alain Cazes. No official word on the repertoire, but between you and me, they'll be premiering something of mine; it definitely qualifies as 'new music' when the ink isn't quite dry! January 30th, 7:30pm, Centretown United Church (507 Bank street).

That's all for now - I'll do some more hunting and see what I can come up with. Aura Giles, if you're reading this, when does your concert series start?

-Ryan

Don't Panic!

No, this blog is not dead. There weren't many New Music events happening, and I guess I got fully into vacation mode.

There are some cool things coming up. I'm working on the calendar and a new post right now.

-Ryan