Happy New Year 2K8

Best wishes to all my readers for a happy new year and a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2008. Thanks for reading the Collaborative Piano Blog in its most successful year yet, and there's plenty more to come in the new year.

Here's Liberace doing the Boogie Woogie--don't forget to yell "Hey!" when it's your turn.

The Core Repertoire: More Works for Violin and Piano

Here is the next installment in the ongoing Core Repertoire series, with more commonly played works for violin and piano that should be an important part of any collaborative pianist's repertoire.

Chaconne in G minor By Tommaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745), edited by Leopold Charlier, Zino Francescatti. Although this edition is hardly historically accurate, the piano part is quite playable in this staple of young violinists. See more info...

Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 - Piano / Violin By Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), arranged by Henry Schradieck. Another work that nearly every violin student plays. Make sure you hold the tempo in the Rondo theme. You'll need to figure out a way to play the repeated sixteenths in the tuttis--do you play what's written in the reduction or do you change it? See more info...

Carmen Fantasy, Opus 25 (after Bizet's Opera) By Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), edited by Zino Francescatti. Featuring themes from Bizet's Carmen, you'll need to keep your eyes on the violin part to follow the soloist in this virtuosic piece. See more info...

Zigeunerweisen - 'Gypsy Aire', Op. 20 - Violin/Piano By Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), arranged by Philipp Mittell. Sarasate's piano parts are generally quite simple and often sight-readable. The challenge lies in knowing the violin part enough to follow the twists and turns of the soloist's tempi--Zigeunerweisen is a prime example. See more info...

Romanza Andaluza, Op. 22 No. 1 (FRANCESCATTI) By Pablo de Sarasate. Another well-known work of Sarasate. See more info...

The Fritz Kreisler Collection Arranged by Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962). The Praeludium and Allegro might be the most often played work of Kreisler, but there are plenty of other works that show up frequently in the repertoire in this volume, such as Liebesfreud and the Variations on a Theme of Corelli. See more info...

Selections From Porgy And Bess Transcribed by Jascha Heifetz, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, music by George Gershwin (1898-1937). Many people don't know that Heifetz was actually a very accomplished pianist, and these works are no picnic to learn. However, Heifetz is able to bring a level of excitement in the ensemble that makes these pieces a pleasure to play and rewards the practice and rehearsal time needed to prepare them. See more info...

A Bright Outlook for Classical Music.....It Is Bright, Isn't It?

On the footsteps of several articles about reasons for classical music's newfound success and hipness, more are writing about the rosy situation, including Anthony Tommasini's A Patience to Listen, Alive and Well in the NY Times and John von Rhein's article about WFMT's Steve Robinson in the Chicago Tribune.

Is this the beginning of a golden age or another case of irrational exuberance?

One of the main things to take into account is that it's still really, really difficult to earn a solid living as a performing artist. Musicians still suffer from a lack of respect and recognition of the work they put into their playing through practice and preparation, as some rather insensitive comments (since retracted) by Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra board chairman Jim van Vleck would seem to imply:

I really do respect our musicians, but there's something about a 37-week year and 20 hours a week that doesn't seem too onerous.

Unfortunately, the JSO's collective bargaining has not yet reached an agreement and the orchestra has been locked out for several weeks now.

My biggest fear for 2008 is that the JSO management's style of bargaining (if you can call it that) will be replicated by other institutions in the zeal of administrators and boards to apply standard retail business models to a profession that is anything but a standard retail industry.

Consider the following questions:

1. Why should orchestral musicians make $40,000 a year for what is essentially a part-time job?
2. Why should teachers at post-secondary institutions (essentially front-line retail workers) have any say in who gets hired for teaching positions?
3. If retail workers make a maximum of around $15 per hour, why shouldn't orchestral musicians make something comparable, with management and executives making the higher salaries since they run the organization?
4. If retail workers are for the most part interchangeable, shouldn't music teachers be interchangeable as well, as long as they are adequately trained and supervised by managers?
5. If a musician plays on radio or television, what right have they to expect compensation for repeat broadcasts or internet play if they've already been paid for their time in the studio?
6. Why should music teachers be actually employed by the institutions that employ them, if schools can utilize a much more efficient business model by taking them on as "self-employed contractors" and forgoing the need to hire an expensive human resources department?

I fully expect that these questions will raise the ire of any responsible musician that reads them. However, if you're going to perform or teach in the next ten years, you damn well better have good arguments prepared to counter these questions, which are being debated as we speak. Consider #4, which is already the case for many branded early childhood education franchises. And regarding #6--only a small percentage of private music schools and programs in Canada actually hire their faculty as employees (I'm honored to be teaching at one of them).

The classical music world has already lost a lot of its brightest stars to other professions in their quest to make a decent living. If there isn't the financial incentive for young graduates to enter the profession, fewer and fewer people will be willing to go the distance to generate a career, and classical music will indeed die a slow and agonizing death.

Luciano Berio Multimedia Presentation on the NY Philharmonic Site

The New York Philharmonic's website now features a lengthy series of multimedia features about Luciano Berio as part of its 2008 programming that features his music. (Note: to get to the multimedia stuff, click on the light blue "Launch Feature" hypertext just below the first two paragraphs.) The NY Phil's approach to explaining Berio's life and works, utilizing a documentary as well as numerous audio and video clips, is a great way to garner interest in the work of a contemporary composer, as well as make it accessible without any dumbing down. I particularly like the clips of performers, whose anecdotes bring to life what working with Berio must have been like.

Speedlinking - 29 December 2007

The recent passing of piano legend Oscar Peterson marked the end of an era. Miss Mussel has collected links to tributes and obituaries from various media outlets.

Playing for months on end in a pit orchestra can send even the most stable of musicians over the edge. Jason Heath has collected a list of 10 wacky things he has seen orchestral pit playing.

If collective bargaining is like a poker game, the way that the Jacksonville Symphony management has been handling its side of the game would be akin to playing with all their cards face-up on the table, as some leaked emails from JSO board members would seem to show.

Tired of the same old musical instruments? Take a look at these outrageous contraptions from Maywa Denki's Tsukuba series:

No Wonder Classical Music is Popular These Days

If you've ever been concerned about sound quality on recent recordings of popular music, especially on mp3 files, you should definitely check out Robert Levine's The Death of High Fidelity in Rolling Stone, which spells out the technical reasons for audio compression--the practice of ironing out dynamic levels at the expense of sonic image and detail.

Might the reason for classical music's newfound popularity be as simple as a reaction against the bland audio quality of many popular releases in favor of listening to a genre of music that contains both loud and soft sections?

Consider one of my favorite recordings, Shostakovich's 8th Symphony as played by the Leningrad Symphony under Mravinsky. I find listening to this recording difficult unless I'm in a place and situation where I can appreciate dynamic contrasts that range from the tenderest transcendental sounds to the most terrifying, corpse-grinding Stalinesque volume imaginable from an orchestra.

Take a look at The Loudness War, a YouTube clip that focuses on the opening and drum entrance from Paul McCartney's Figure of Eight to demonstrate how compression can often ruin a recording that once relied on extremes of dynamic for its effect:



Then again, perhaps I'm wrong about all of this. Perhaps the reason why classical music is proving so popular these days is that it doesn't suck the way a lot of popular music does. I spent 20 years buying LPs and CDs of popular music, only to find that for the most part only two or three songs on an album were listenable and the rest were filler. Maybe that's why the downloading phenomenon is draining the profits of the recording industry. Back in the LP and CD ages, mediocre content could still move huge amounts of product as long as there were a handful of hits. Nowadays consumers bypass the dreck on albums and download only the handful of good songs, resulting in lower revenues.

Buy or download any decent recording of classical works such as Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and you'll be able to hear an album-length, high-quality work that you might not understand the first time, but will come back to in order to get more out of it. Over time, your understanding of the music will actually enhance your listening experience. Very few popular albums have ever risen to this level--Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and U2's The Joshua Tree are some that did.

Better yet, realize that recordings can give you but a taste of what the true musical experience is all about: the live performance, which is alive and well these days, as Jon Terauds writes in the Toronto Star. Whether you're listening to mp3's on an ipod or vintage LP's on a tricked-out audiophile system, the real deal is happens in the concert hall or arena, no matter what kind of musical style you favor. Spending the time and money to attend concerts can enable the experiences of live music that can be life-changing, and although the live music experience won't have the permanence of the recording, the ephemeral moments of the concert hall are often what we remember the longest, and with the most fondness.

Opera on the Rocks Jan. 6 and 7 in Toronto

Toronto's new Ambient Opera Society collective will be presenting Opera on the Rocks on January 6 and 7 at 8pm in the Pauper's Pub on Bloor Street as part of the Canadian Music Centre's New Music in New Places program. Yes, this will be one of those rare classical music events where you can actually get hammered on the brewskies have a drink while you watch the show.

On the cast are several members of the Tapestry New Work Studio, including soprano Carla Huhtanen, mezzo-soprano Jessica Lloyd, tenor Keith Klassen, baritone Alex Dobson, and director Liza Balkan.

The libretto team of Opera on the Rocks consists of playwrights Leanna Brodie, Dave Carley, Lisa Codrington, and Krista Dalby, with music written by David Ogborn, also appearing as the show's orchestra (on electric guitar).

Tickets are $20/10 and will probably sell out via the Facebook crowd, so buying early is recommended.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas as recited by Laura Landauer as......Céline

The other day I was looking for a seasonally appropriate video to post, and what happened to arrive in my inbox but a YouTube holiday video card with a recent clip of Bathroom Divas Season 2 finalist Laura Landauer aka Gypsy Miller as Céline in a récitation of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.



Merry Christmas from the Collaborative Piano Blog and I'll be back in a few days.

#26

Just got back from Cobourg and my last recital of 2007, saw that Scott Spiegelberg had posted the latest top classical music blogs list based on Technorati ranking, and was glad to see that the Collaborative Piano Blog had moved up from 51st position in June to 26th in the current standings. I'm off to bed now but it will be interesting to see the comment thread on Musical Perceptions as it develops over the next few days...

Recital with Julia Dawson Saturday Night in Cobourg

Tomorrow night I will be performing with soprano Julia Dawson at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Cobourg, Ontario. On the program: Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Bellini, Bolcom, and Granados, with a few Christmas favorites at the end of the program.

Event listing on Facebook (ID required)

YouTube of Willie Hall Playing Violin in The King of Jazz

This astonishing video features the American trombonist/violinist Wilbur "Willie" Hall in a vaudeville performance from the 1930 film The King of Jazz. Watch for the insane bow tricks not often attempted nowadays. I would love to know who the off-camera crackerjack pianist is--his ragtime arrangement of The Stars and Stripes Forever piccolo solo in the bicycle-pump section is pretty spectacular.

Poll Results: What Kind of Calendar do You Use?

Last week I started a week-long poll that asked the question "What kind of calendar system do you use to keep track of rehearsals, concerts, auditions, coachings, and lessons? The poll has closed, and the results are in.

61.9% Traditional paper calendar
11.9% Outlook or other desktop program
11.9% I have a flawless memory so I've never felt the need to actually write anything down
9.5% Mobile devices that sync with desktop programs, ie. Palm, Blackberry, or iPhone
4.8% Online web-based calendar, ie. Google, Yahoo, 30Boxes, Music Teacher's Helper

For me the big surprise is not that over 60% of respondents still use paper calendars (I abandoned them for digital ones in 1993), but that 11.9% claim to use no calendar at all. Risky risky risky...

YouTube of Gyorgi Ligeti's Artikulation w/Score

This recording of Gyorgi Ligeti's Artikulation features a score created by Rainer Wehinger that graphically realizes the sounds in the work for tape. YouTube user d21d34c55 then synchronized score and recording, resulting in a much more coherent reading of the work for most listeners.

Only Living Composers Need Apply

The Living Music Project is inviting composers to submit works for piano solo, woodwind solo and piano, string ensemble, and saxophone quartet. From the LMP website:

Living Music intends to develop a repertoire with music that builds trust between players and composers which will entice players to return to time and time again. The discipline for the composer of having to write music ‘to order’, albeit by a very simple constraint of having to write for a specific group of instruments and with a maximum length, is of immense value to a composer, however gifted - especially for composers at the start of their professional careers.

The selected works will be distributed via digital download on FreeHand Music, with compensation in the form of royalties. Kudos to FreeHand Music for creating a quick and easy way to create legal downloads of new works, whose distribution is often hampered by publishing firms that only deal in paper music. Once tablet PC's become mainstream a few years down the road and demand skyrockets for downloads, the publishers and retailers who have created a business model and distribution system that respects copyright integrity will be the ones who succeed.

(Thanks, Chris G!)

Tom Pinkerton Update

David McIntyre sends the following info about the success of the recent Tom Pinkerton workshop in Vancouver a few days ago, via a comment:

Thank you for posting this information on "Tom Pinkerton, The Ballad of Butterfly's Son", Chris. The reading/performance was a huge success, with over 150 people attending and cheering in a standing O at the conclusion. The cast was magnificent! Imagine putting on a two and a half hour opera/music theatre project in five days and bringing together wonderful artists from both the opera and theatre communities. They took our work to places we had only previously dreamed of. And the glue that held this all together? The amazing pianist Kinza Tyrrell! A truly extraordinary musician who convinced the entire cast that she indeed has three hands! It was a history-making day in Vancouver on Friday, December 14. Enough to make me believe that the project has legs. We'll be certain to keep you posted.

Thanks David, and keep us up to date on the progress of this exciting project.

10+1 Ways to Advertise Your Services as a Collaborative Pianist

Last April, I wrote an article on How to Get Work as a Freelance Collaborative Pianist. Since then, I've talked to a number of people and have come up with more ideas on the territory initially covered by #10-13 on how to advertise. In the last six months, there has been a lot of talk about the value of social networking as a vehicle for self-promotion, and I notice a bit of a generation gap between older and younger professionals on this issue. Many people who have been in the business a long time tend to be concerned about privacy issues with the social networks and look askance at those (including myself) who spend a lot of time online. On the other hand, many younger folks immersed in the social network scene can tend to actually distrust those who choose not to have any sort of an online presence beyond email. (To give you an idea of this developing prejudice, ask yourself if you would pay money to go to a concert if it had no website or online listing.)

So here is an expanded list of ways to advertise yourself as a collaborative pianist.

1. Create flyers that can be put in places frequented by those in the musical community. Schools of music, rehearsal halls, churches, and community centers are just some of the places that have bulletin boards. Create a distinctive flyer with text, graphics, and even use Photoshop for that visual bang. Degrees, places worked, instrumental, vocal, or repertoire specialties, and studio facilities can all be mentioned. A cell number, email address, and website address are mandatory so potential clients can contact you once they dig your pianistic pedigree. Another good idea I occasionally see is stapling a custom card-holding apparatus to the poster so people can quickly grab a business card. Bring your own supply of thumbtacks when doing the postering circuit.

2. Get business cards and distribute them. Whether going the cheap and simple route or creating the graphically rich design experience, you must have cards, especially when that word-famous soloist comes up to you and says "Dude, how can I reach you?" Once you have them, getting them out of the box and into the hands of potential clients is the next step. Some places to leave them are in the studios of teachers where you play, in music school and opera company lounges, or with people you already work with.

3. Create a high quality traditional resumé. You'll need to spend a lot of time creating one, and is of the greatest value when applying for positions at opera companies and universities. Warning: I've heard a lot these days about musicians (as many as 50% of them by some accounts) padding their resumés with marginally true items or even out-and-out false information. Remember, if you get burned putting false info on your resumé, it could put your entire professional career in jeopardy.

4. Create and place a high-quality online resumé. Places to include this might be job sites such as Monster, a personal website, a LinkedIn profile, and especially a Facebook profile. Putting the information out there in multiple places can help to create your brand, especially important these days when dealing with potential clients that may do a Google search for your info as soon as they hear of you.

5. Get your bio up to date. Not just a boring old listing of your education and gigs, but an engaging piece of prose that really shows what you're about. Read Ivan Katz's A Gentle Plea in the Huffington Post to see what makes or does not make the grade regarding classical music prose these days. It should be ready to go at all time, easily attachable via email if on your desktop or searchable via Google if on a website.

6. Put selected recordings online. Some spots to do this might be your personal site, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, as well as audio and video podcasts. This item links in with #4 as a very important part of brand management. And make sure you have the requisite permissions to put other people's performances on the web before you click the upload button.

7. Have others create a Facebook group about you. Your friends and colleagues can do a great job of marketing you, as this pianist in Toronto recently discovered. Otherwise, you can create your own group that advertises what you do, as I see a number of pianists starting to do.

8. Put an advertisement in Craigslist. Mind you, Craigslist isn't really my cup of tea for advertising, but it's free and searchable via Google if you put all the right keywords into the listing.

9. Put an advertisement in the community newspaper. Generally inexpensive and read by a large number of people. This isn't the greatest way to hook up with high-quality soloists, but a possible goldmine for those that play local festivals and competitions. Can also be useful for finding students.

10. Advertise in recital and festival programs. A bit more expensive than community newspapers, but reaches a much more highly targeted audience. Prime spots will be near the front cover and on the back cover--it will cost you more, but can virtually guarantee a solid rate of return if your graphics and copy are of a high quality.

And finally,

11. Take advantage of the trust economy to build your reputation and scope of work. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, read Peter Keen's Welcome to the Trust Economy to get an idea of how the concept of trust is evolving. We may come to a point where individuals who are extremely competent and reliable in the real world but not online may fall by the wayside compared to those who are equally competent and reliable both on- and off-line. This way of thinking is in line with the views of many who grew up with the web and treat it as not only a place to view and share documents, but as an entire layer of reality that runs parallel to everyday life.

English Arts Funding Cuts and Bruises

The English Arts Council has just announced funding changes for next year. Rather than build stability and long-term commitments, the council is rewarding some arts organizations and cutting or eliminating funding for others. According to Mark Brown's article in today's Guardian:

Possible winners:

Royal Opera House
Royal Shakespeare Company
Thames Festival
Unlimited Theatre
Serious Events
Birmingham Jazz

Possible losers:

National Student Drama Festival
Exeter Northcott Theatre
Darby Playhouse
City of London Sinfonia
London Mozart Players
Drill Theatre

And all this with an overall rise in the Arts Council's budget. One of the questions I would have about the Arts Council's process (which the Guardian article doesn't address) is whether or not they have been working closely enough with their member organizations on audience, financial, and infrastructure targets before they decide to wield the axe.

(Via Jessica Duchen)

Star Wars Fantasy w/Anderson and Roe Part I

Duo pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Roe have previously developed a wide audience for their YouTube performances Piazzolla's Libertango, Barber's Pas de deux, and the Blue Danube. Their latest foray into the world of duo pianism: a Star Wars Fantasy. Here's the first part, with a mashup of the Cantina Band from the Mos Eisley spaceport ("that wretched hive of scum and villainy" in Episode IV) with other well-known themes from the Star Wars series.



"Do or do not. There is no try."

--Yoda

The Weblog Celebrates its 10th Birthday Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the 10th birthday of the term weblog as coined by Jorn Barger on December 17, 1997. Jorn recently wrote an article in Wired about 10 tips for new bloggers that goes to the heart of what blogging once was--a dated posting of links on a website.

Wendy's CD w/Vancouver Island Symphony Now Available

Wendy and I got a great surprise today--the CD of the Vivaldi Stabat Mater she recorded with Marlin Wolfe and the Vancouver Island Symphony earlier this year arrived in the mail. Also on the all-Vivaldi recording is violinist Tetsuumi Nagata playing The Four Seasons, as well as the VIS strings playing the Concerto in G major. The performances are all at a very high level on this finely engineered recording and the Vancouver Island Symphony can take pride in another first-rate addition to their discography.

You can order the CD here.

Tom Pinkerton Reading Tomorrow in Vancouver

Ever wondered what happened to the poor little offspring of Pinkerton and Cio-Cio who gets whisked off at the end of the Puccini's Madama Butterfly?

A new musical drama by writer Hiro Kanagawa and composer David McIntyre picks up the story 20 years later in Tom Pinkerton: The Ballad of Butterfly's Son. If you're in the Vancouver area, you can check out a workshop performance tomorrow afternoon at 3pm in the Canadian Memorial Church at Burrard and 16th Avenue. About the story:

At the end of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, the 3-year-old child of Cio-Cio and B.F. Pinkerton is whisked away to America to be raised by Pinkerton and his American wife, Kate. Set 20 years after these events, Tom Pinkerton finds the child struggling to become a man and searching for the mother he never knew. We travel with the youth, now called Tom, as he revisits the Nagasaki of his birth to find love and self-realization. But is he fated to repeat the sins of his father? And what has become of Mr. Sharpless, Suzuki, and the others?

Both a return and a departure, Tom Pinkerton is an exciting new collaboration between playwright Hiro Kanagawa and composer David MacIntyre that combines the heightened emotions and theatricality of its operatic forebear with the tragic realities of Japan’s wondrous and sinister march through the early years of the 20th century.

For more information about tomorrow's reading, check out the Rumble Productions website. Admission is free.

Listening to Music (And Not Doing Anything Else)

A new project underway (sponsored by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Classic FM) called "Hear Here!" aims to gather data on how and where we listen to music with the aim of promoting active listening. This is a great idea, can potentially cross many musical boundaries, and I can imagine would have many supporters among musicians of many stripes eager to have their music actually listened to instead of treated as a digital commodity for profitable consumption.

Ivan Hewett's article in the Telegraph
You can take part in the first part of the project by doing the Hear Here! survey.

Readers' Poll: How Do You Keep Track of your Schedule?

Scheduling.

One of the toughest skills to master, and in the collaborative piano field if you make a mistake you'll never work again in this business it can be mighty embarassing. Master it and you can become infinitely more efficient and professional. This week's poll asks looks at how we schedule stuff in our busy professional lives.

Voting is now open and you can cast your vote until December 19th at 10pm.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Classical Music Blogs (All of Them)

I've just added a widget to the sidebar from the Classical Music Blogs Pagecast that contains bookmarks to the entire classical music blogosphere. So far I've got 182 216 blogs bookmarked, but I know there are many more out there, so if you happen to know of any that aren't listed yet, leave a comment or email me and I will add them. No splogs please!

3 Ways for Arts Organizations to Get More out of Facebook

Justin Smith at Inside Facebook recently wrote an article entitled The Facebook Marketing Bible: 24 Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook that should be required reading for any individual or company interested in taking the plunge and engaging with the rapidly growing social network.

There are a large number of musical organizations that have recently started networking on Facebook, with varying degrees of success. I have a few suggestions for both individuals and organizations in order to make the most of this encounter:

1. Don't be a spammer. I've seen several musical organizations join Facebook, become members of a large number of groups, only to spam all of them with photos, event listings, and web links. Putting your most impersonal foot forward is a sure-fire way to ensure that no one will take your events seriously.

2. Don't set up shop and then leave. Many organizations join, friend a large number of people in their regional network, set up a group, then leave, never to return. I understand that it is important to be able to say "we're engaging with technology" these days, but doing Facebook is no different than starting a corporate website--it demands a lot of effort up front, and plenty of maintenance time down the road as well.

3. Use the personal touch. The most successful way for organizations to get more out of Facebook is for a large number of their employees/artists to actively use a variety of Facebook media to first of all, interact with people, then to advertise their events. Groups, notes, posted items, photos, videos, event listings, and personal messages all add up to the possibility of making new friends and growing your audience. For example, I received an event listing to see a show written by a writer I recently worked with. A few days later, I received a message personally inviting me to see the show. While I didn't have time to go, the personalization of the event listing + personal invitation was extremely classy of this person, and I will do everything I can to see shows that they write or produce in the future.


There is a big upside to Facebook. In September, Tapestry New Opera Works' Opera Briefs 7, an evening of brand-new short operas, was well on its way to selling out nearly a week from opening night. A few days before opening, advance sales were cut off so that a dozen or so tickets could be held for walkups, who would otherwise have been turned away. While it is difficult to nail down precisely how this came about, I believe that it was a combination of traditional marketing (via press listings and email) and the event's singers, pianists, writers, and composers sharing the event listing (by clicking on the +Share button on the event page) and spreading the word among friends in their networks. I'm sure Tapestry isn't the only arts group experiencing this newfound ticket-buying frenzy, but it came about because members connected to the organization took the time to connect with others and utilize their social capital to fill seats.

Classical Music Pagecast Now a Default Choice on Pageflakes

The Classical Music Blogs Pagecast I created a few weeks ago (in addition to getting some press coverage) has recently made it to the list of default pagecasts on the start page service Pageflakes. Just click on the snowflake on the upper-right-hand corner, then click on "Pagecasts" to see it featured in the Miscellaneous section. Thanks to the staff at Pageflakes for promoting a great corner of the blogosphere and supporting the arts.

Free eBooks on Organizational Creativity and....Facebook

Here are links to two great free ebooks I found this evening.

Time Management for Creative People

by Mark McGuinness

Trying to be creative but stay organized as well? This book can help. Its purpose:

Organisation, structure, discipline and habit – these often seen as threats to creativity. Not to mention corporate-sounding phrases such as ‘time management’ or ‘workflow’. We like to think of creativity as a space for untrammelled imagination, free from all constraints. Yet while freedom, rule-breaking and inspiration are undoubtedly essential to the creative process, the popular image of creativity overlooks another aspect: examine the life of any great artist and you will find evidence of hard work, discipline and a hard-won knowledge of the rules and conventions of their medium.

The Web: Hidden Games

by C. Weng

This ebook looks at the game-like attraction of Digg, YouTube, and Facebook and how to "win" at them, specifically, how to succeed at the interactions that these sites enable. The section on Facebook is probably the most important to those in the performing arts. For those of you who doubt the power of Facebook, ask anyone who works in the arts in Toronto and has noticed greater attendance at events (Tapestry's Opera Briefs 7 sold out largely because of a event listing that went viral) and greater engagement with audiences this season. The Facebook section starts on page 84 and covers both the basics of setting up an account and the ins-and-outs of succeeding in your social network:

Game-wise, Facebook is more comparable to The Sims rather than let’s say, Mario. The object of the game is more to monitor or to guide characters in daily life rather than to win at something. There’s no simple goal in sight but it is all about the process of playing. Since the site is all about the experience of keeping in touch, it has maximized customization and features to make doing so more enjoyable.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to check out Digg.

The 2008 Classical Grammy Nominees

Via the Orange County Register, the complete list of classical nominees for the 2008 Grammy Awards.

50+ Links for Opera Singers and Opera Lovers

Here are some interesting operatic links from around the internet!


General Information


All About Opera - A huge site with information on operas, composers, as well as links to news stories.

Bob's Opera Madness - They're singers...they're actors....they're in 3-D!

Hispaopera - A guide to the opera world in Spanish.

Historic Opera - Images and postcards of various singers and composers.

Opera America - The national service organization for opera, with resources for artists, companies, and audiences.

Operabase - A massive database of information on performances, artists, and companies.

Opera Fact Book Beta - Huge German site with links to all things operatic.

OperaGlass - Lots of detailed information on libretti, sources, performance history, synopses, and discographies.

Opera Guide - The virtual opera house, with information on operas and libretti. Free and subscription services.

OperaStuff - A large amount of links to opera singers, links, houses, and resources. OperaStuff is probably the most comprehensive listing of opera links on the internet.

Operissimo Concertissimo - A large database of concert and opera information.

Opus 1 classical - Links to information about upcoming operas and concerts across the globe.

usOperaweb - News about the American opera scene, covering houses, singers, and composers in the United States.

So This is Opera - A very useful site to indoctrinate introduce kids to the world of opera.

Wikipedia entry on Opera - In progress, the wiki history of opera is being written and added to as we speak. For a look at the history and agenda of the various authors, take a look at the discussion page as well.


Voices

Afrocentric Voices in Classical Music - Highlights the contribution of African American singers to the classical music world.

All you would like to know about the Castrati...but not quite! - The title says it all.

Beauty in Music - Highlights female performers and has sections on sopranos and mezzo sopranos.

Coloratura Sopranos - An MSN group dedicated to the voice type that spends most of the time in the stratosphere.

Historical Tenors - Lots of information on tenori past and present. Take a look at the Tenors' Index for many interesting sub-species.

Legacy of the Diva - An introduction to the historical legacy of the diva and other forms of worship.

Sandy's Opera Gallery - Galleries and galleries of opera pics.

Vinyl Divas - Record cover pics from the golden age of vinyl.


Translations

The Aria Database - Translations and MIDI files for over 1000 operatic arias.

The Lied and art Song Texts Page - Since the early years of the web, this has been the premiere source for finding reliable translations of song texts.


Facebook Groups (membership required)

Canadian Opera Singers Unite...eh! - From superstars to students, you'll find many of them here.

Fach you, I'm an Opera singer - "Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive." -Moliere

Opera in Toronto - Near-comprehensive listings of the burgeoning opera scene in Toronto.

Vocal Performance Majors Anonymous: A College/Conservatory Connection - With 3800 members representing over 470 schools of music, this is Facebook's largest and most active classical singing groups.


Networking and Groups

Classical Singer - A vast number of both free and subscription services are available on one of the internet's largest communities of classical singers.

The New Forum for Classical Singers - Another of the largest classical singer forums.

Opera-L - You can subscribe at this site to the Opera-L mailing list.


Broadcasts and Media

Cantolopera - Can't afford a full orchestra? Get the next best thing--a recorded one for your performance.

The Metropolitan Opera International Radio Broadcast Information Center - Information on upcoming Met broadcasts.

MetManiac - A site commemorating over 70 years of Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

Operacast - If it's opera and on the radio, you'll almost certainly find it here.

Opera mp3 - Aggregates various websites and groups that specialize in mp3 downloads, as well as some of the best operatic clips on YouTube.


Blogs

the concert - Ann-Carolyn Bird's frank and compelling blog about her experiences as she becomes one of the top emerging singers in the United States.

Il Grand'Inquisitor - Even if you can't read Dutch, you can still enjoy the great pictures in this great blog by Margo Briessinck.

La Cieca - An operatic blog written with eloquence and attitude.

MetBlog - The official blog of the Metropolitan Opera.

NYC Opera Fanatic - What the name says, via Philly.

Opera Chic - Opera + moah @ La Scala and elsewhere in teh opera world.

Sieglinde's Diaries - Leon Dominguez writes about opera from New York City.

Tomness - The weblog of baritone and fellow Eastman grad Thomas Meglioranza.

wellsung - Writing and reviews about opera.

Wolf Trap Opera - Kim Witman's blog about life as the artistic director of an emerging opera company that has its season mostly in the summer. Her 2008 Aria Frequency List is recommended reading for every operatic singer that wants to take a look at the frequency and breadth of which arias are being offered by young singers today.

Yankeediva - Joyce DiDonato's search for "beauty and possibility on the world's stages".


Miscellaneous

Bill's Opera Supernumerary Site - They don't get to sing, but are nevertheless an integral part of the action.

Inspired Diversions - Traveling to Europe? This site can help you find that famous or out of the way opera house.

YAP Tracker - An online audition manager that helps you keep track of auditions, programs, competitions, and workshops. Subscription service.


And finally...

America's Opera Boom - An article in The American about the current bull market in opera.

Karlheinz Stockhausen Dead at 79

Groundbreaking German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen has passed away at 79.

Obituary in the Guardian
A remembrance by Alex Ross

Urban Flute Project CD Launch December 13

In case you haven't been following the progress of Urban Flute Project, it's a blog that chronicles the urban explorations of Jamie Thompson, who finds resonant places across the globe, photographs them, and records himself playing the flute (with guests, sometimes).

This project that began as a blog has now grown into a CD, which has its launch party on December 13 in Toronto's Rosedale United Church from 5-8pm. Admission is $25 and includes CD. The evening includes photography and a concert. For more information call 416-993-5883 or visit www.urbanflute.com.

Some Design and Navigation Changes

If you're wondering where the lists of articles and the blogroll just went, just take a look towards the bottom of the page. I've created a three-column footer, thanks to a great hack by Amanda at Blogger Buster. Thanks for sticking around while I've been doing the blog housekeeping and organization. No mishaps this time around, fortunately.

The Core Repertoire: Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Here is a list of the most frequently played sonatas for violin and piano. Both violinists and pianists need to know that the piano part is not an accompaniment in any sense of the word in this repertoire, but equal partners. Often the piano part in a sonata is much more difficult than the violin part (ie. the Strauss).

Sonatas for Piano and Violin, volume I (The Kurfursten Sonatas Op. I - Revised Edition) By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), edited by W. D. Seiffert. Take a look at the title page and you'll see that these are "Sonaten für Klavier und Violine"--yes, the piano is listed first, since the violin sonata as we know it grew out of the mid 18th-century genre of the keyboard sonata with violin obbligato. (HL.51480077) See also Volume II, Volume III

Sonatas for Piano and Violin - Volume I By Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), edited by Sieghard Brandenburg. These sonatas are at the heart of the repertoire for violin and piano and show up all the time on recital programs and audition lists. (HL.51480007) See also Volume II

Robert Schumann: Sonata for Piano and Violin A minor op. 105 By Robert Schumann. Edited by W. Haug-Freienstein. One of Schumann's most successful sonatas, and one in which he weds the German sonata tradition with the emerging style of the character piece. Plenty of technical demands, but tremendously satisfying once they are mastered. (51480428) See more info...

Sonatas for Piano and Violin By Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), edited by H. O. Hiekel. These three sonatas and the shorter Sonatensatz are all necessary material for any pianist that wants to specialize in the string repertoire. (HL.51480194) See more info...

Anton Dvorak: Sonatina for Piano and Violin G major op. 100 For Violin and Piano. By Antonin Dvorak. Edited by S. Gerlach, Z. Pilkova. This charming Sonatina by Dvorak is often a young violinist's first venture into the sonata repertoire and is also a good introduction to chamber playing for pianists. (51480413) See more info...

Sonata for Piano and Violin A major By Cesar Auguste Franck (1822-1890), edited by Monica Steegmann. Are you a finger-repeater or a finger-changer when it comes to quick repeated notes? You'll have to decide as you learn the treacherous second movement in one of the most eloquent and frequently played violin sonatas. (HL.51480293) See more info...

Violin Sonata No. 3 By Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). Opus 45. C Minor. Another sonata that is played frequently in recital. (PE.P02414) See more info...

Violin Sonata No.1 By Gabriel Faure. Edited by Howat. This wonderful French sonata is a cornerstone of the major recital repertoire and repays the hard work needed to learn it. (P07487) See more info...

Sonata for Violin and Piano By Claude Debussy (1862-1918), edited by E. G. Heinemann. This enigmztic late work by Debussy requires a beautiful tone, a mature sense of rhythm, and plenty of rehearsal. (HL.51480410) See more info...

Sonate (Sonata) for Violin and Piano By Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). Another great French sonata with some astonishing sounds and textures. Have fun with the Tempo di blues in the second movement. (HL.50561674) See more info...

Violin Sonata, Op. 18, E flat Major By Richard Strauss. This sonata is often chosen by students who want a larger work on their program that is not too difficult. Watch out for the piano part--this is one of the most difficult and spectacular works for piano in the repertoire and requires months of work to master. (UE001047) See more info...

Violin Sonata Sonata per violino e piano. By Leos Janacek. This sonata is not one of the more frequently played in the repertoire, but it is useful to know anyway and is one of my all-time favorites. (UE017542) See more info...

Sonata in D Major, Opus 94bis (for Violin and Piano) By Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), edited by David Oistrakh. Originally a flute sonata, we have David Oistrakh to thank for convincing Prokofiev to arrange this wonderful sonata for violin and piano. (IM.1588) See more info...

Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 134 By Dmitri Shostakovich. This difficult sonata is neither easy nor accessible, but packs a huge punch in recital, especially in the uncompromising second movement. (50484229) See more info...

Which Aria Will You Be Starting With?

In addition to the previously posted aria frequency list from the Wolf Trap audition tour, Kim Witman has also compiled a list of arias heard while on tour, which makes for some interesting reading, especially regarding the correspondence between what singers offer on auditions and what they actually end up singing.

Interesting CP Article in Making Music

Amy Dunn Williams has written an interesting article about collaborative piano in the November Making Music entitled Like No Business I Know, with some observations about the experiences and opportunities in choral, dance, and musical theater accompanying. An excerpt:

Being a piano accompanist requires a very specialized skill set, and talent alone does not make a musician the right fit for the accompanist's chair. The best accompanists are excellent sight-readers, patient leaders, and team players. And if you have a knack for transposition, well, that's a big plus, too.

Uh huh. I particularly like the line about being a "patient leader".

A Quick Note

Some of you might have noticed last night that I briefly switched to a three-column template, then reverted back to my former two-column template. I was trying out a new design and quickly abandoned it when I realized that the template I loaded was buggy. Anyway, one of the unforeseen results of switching back to the two-column template was that I lost my list of blogs on the sidebar, which I only partially reconstructed. If you're a blogger and you notice that your highly valued sidebar link has disappeared, please email me and I'll restore the link.

Poll Results

One week ago, I started a poll with the question "Pianists: What Are Your Main Areas of Activity? (Select all that apply)". The poll closed and midnight and the results are in:

Solo Playing - 63%
Vocal Collaboration - 57%
Instrumental Collaboration - 45%
Chamber Music - 23%
Choral Accompanying - 41%
Orchestral Playing - 13%
Ballet Accompanying - 6%
Teaching - 52%
Administration - 8%

Thanks to everyone that participated in the poll. There will be more to come in the next few weeks and months!

Jean Stilwell and Patti Loach Perform Taylor the Latte Boy on YouTube

I've had the pleasure of seeing Jean Stilwell and Patti Loach perform the showstopping Taylor the Latte Boy (from their Carmen Unzipped show) several times at Tapestry events. Here are Jean and Patti w/Rex Harrington (sporting a cool new tattoo) at The Academy of Spherical Arts in this October 2007 performance of the Goldrich and Heisler classic.

Goldrich and Heisler - Songbook, Volume 1 Lyrics by Marcy Heisler, music by Zina Goldrich. Songbook for voice, piano and guitar (chords only). 320 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (HL.313288) See more info...

Hilarious Gerald Moore Interview from 1951

Gerald Moore talks about balance, critics, and transposing in this audio-only clip from a 1951 broadcast. Wait for the great pianistic punchline in the last minute.



(Thanks, Patti!)