Saturday, June 30, 2007
Lame Part 6: Pansies hiding behind advanced music degrees
While attending various colleges and universities as well as teaching at them, I have seen these urchins of society protecting themselves by building barriers so thick that they stride right into retirement. They rarely perform and they are very opinionated about those who do. Often, when a talented student threatens their safety by questioning talents or exceeding them, the student suffers by being shot down with insults, bad grades, and lost performance opportunities.
The state Board of Regents is largely to blame. They want highly qualified teachers. Education is most often not an indicator of quality. They want clean nosed folks who won't rock the boat. Hell, Mozart rocked the boat. Beethoven rocked the boat. So did Verdi, Wagner, and anyone else who actually makes a difference in our lives. You don't get anywhere by being a good "t" crosser or "i" dotter.
This mentality breads apathy. It breads bad future leaders and it kills a true creative thinker. Why do you think the most creative people break out of pre-defined genres anyway? My point is simple and has been echoed for many generations. In order for anything but genres like hip hop to survive, we need dynamic teachers to teach not just the basics, but the dynamics.
Also, since many of these pansies that I speak of hold esteamed posts at colleges and universities, they also are elected to run community music ensembles and again spread their form of apathy to the masses. No wonder classical music is dead. We need another Bernstein or Solti, or might I dare, Mozart.
The universities in metro Atlanta can't muster even a semplance of a true music conservatory as long as they have losers leading. Look at GSU. It is dead from the top down. They can't keep an orchestra director, their dean inherited the position and is so weak, he couldn't pull a greasy hair out of a sick whore's ass. Their opera guy is worst of all. Ask him how much money he brings home from his summer workshop. I dare you to ask.
KSU can never get anything right. Their dean has his whole family tied in with good jobs. Hmm? I wonder what his motivation is? There really is no orchestra or opera program.
Clayton State has a great performance hall. Nothing else.
Emory has a token program.
What is wrong with these people? Doesn't anyone care beyond the ink on their paychecks?
Prove it!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Lame - part 5 pay per use choruses
That seems to be exactly what The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus (AGMC) and Michael O'Neal have done. The AGMC exploits the desires of some of Atlanta's gay men to get in a group and sing. Of course, it is also a means of hooking up with new partners and a great networking tool for them. They must pay excessive quarterly dues that almost completely supports the group and keeps them singing. They also do bake sales and the such. I haven't done that since high school band and vowed to actually make money at the profession of music instead of trying to convince people to pay for me to do what I like.
The worst of these must be the Michael O'Neal Singers. First of all, he who has an ego so large that his name must be prominently displayed in the name of a chorus should be loathed and ran out of town. But, lest we forget that these people feed off the nativity of the community and more so of their members. Maybe they should change the name to the Michael O'Neal Ego and Monetary Support Group. As a recent review from Peeyou at the AJC says, and I para-phrase, "O'Neal is great!"
If I am not mistaken, this is how his group works: All 135 members must pay several hundred dollars to become "auditioned" members. In addition, they must buy something like 10 tickets per show to additionally support the ego. If only the founders of Amway could have thought of something so great...
Friday, May 18, 2007
Lame - part 4
Metro Atlanta's community orchestras are lame. That's not because they lack the talent or funding of the ASO, but because they lack imagination. They still develop shows and seasons in the same style and fashion of orchestras 50 years ago.
NEWS FLASH: The times really have changed.
The speed at which we, as humans, process information is much faster now than at that time thanks to computers, video games, and television. Having the patience to sit through multiple hours of a Bach passion work is more than even I can do.
I have heard time and again that if many famous composers were alive now that they would thrive more in the realm of jazz. This is probably true of many of them because it is ever changing and re-inventing itself. A similar characteristic of history's greatest composers. However, there is always the exception. Look at Aaron Copland. He lived throughout the jazz era and never touched it. But, his pupil and life-long friend, Leonard Bernstein embraced it and grew it.
Back to my initial point: Community orchestras typically do tried and true stuff and a pops series. Arthur Fiedler is dead. The tried and true works. It sells some tickets to old folks and young kids, but it sure as hell does not compete with anything else and you pretty much lose the 35-55 market. Of course, these people have the most disposable money and go out more often.
Also, I feel that the community orchestras are doing a disservice to the greater community by being tried and true and not provoking thought within the community.
When I look at the we-sites for the Dekalb Symphony and the Cobb Symphony, they bore to tears and so does their programming. Actually, the Gwinnett Community Symphony Orchestra seems to be the only group thinking outside the box. Good for them!
Speaking a little further out, I heard the Macon Symphony once. ONCE. Apart from their average at best programming, the conductor, whose ego is larger than the rest of the orchestra, played very strange interpretations. Everything concerned with that group seems to promote his ego. A very sad case. Of course, the Savannah Symphony, our state's oldest orchestra, folded because they couldn't do it for $3,000,000 per year. An even sadder case.
What is the problem with these groups? I think it is the fact that we have non-innovative people running them. Until the public demands more, they will always get less.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Lame - part 3
My sentiments are reverberated by a real writer. How interesting...
Cutting-edge challenge
In the wake of drying up money for the arts, the local scene seeks to revive its pioneer spirit
By Felicia Feaster
Published 05.16.2007
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=244876
First the good news.
There are more galleries, more museums and more theaters in
In population, metro
But is bigger always better when it comes to the arts?
And so comes the bad news: With that growth,
Louise Shaw is a key figure in the local art scene's institutional memory, having served as executive director of the
"These were very radical, heady times," says Shaw, who came to Atlanta in 1973 and was around when some of the city's cultural stalwarts were born: the important artist-run Nexus (1973), the Nexus Press (1977), the city's Bureau of Cultural Affairs (1974), the beginnings of local arts criticism, IMAGE Film & Video (1976), the Center for Puppetry Arts (1978) and 7 Stages Theatre (1979).
Laura Lieberman came to
"The City's Bureau of Cultural Affairs was creating a strong arts community using federal dollars to employ artists to work on community projects like Nexus, the Atlanta Art Workers Coalition and the Atlanta Women's Art Collective," she says. "It was an exciting and progressive time, politically and culturally."
Julia A. Fenton remembers an "idyllic time" for the visual arts when she moved to
"It was like a small town, really," says Robert Cheatham, Eyedrum Gallery's executive director, who became involved in the arts scene in the '70s.
If that decade was all about the city's artist mavericks and an important culture-affirming art mayor establishing the cultural firmament we now take for granted, the '80s and '90s saw a bolstering of the city's commitment to contemporary art both locally and nationally.
In the ‘80s under the helm of progressive Director Gudmund Vigtel, the
The construction in 1983 of Richard Meier’s High Museum of Art building undoubtedly played a part in jumping membership up from 6,000 in 1972 to more than 45,000 today. And the construction in 1985 of the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory by another notable architect, Michael Graves, along with the debut in 1989 of the Atlanta International Museum of Art and Design (now the Museum of Design Atlanta), also solidified the prominence of museum culture in the city.
There have been some positive signs of improvement in the city’s art scene more recently, including the unveiling in 2005 of the High’s Renzo Piano expansion, the debut in 2002 of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia devoted to Georgia artists, the rise of the Castleberry Hill arts district, and the birth of important alternative galleries such as Eyedrum and Young Blood.
But for all the progress the
In some ways,
And the recent disclosure that the city's daily, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will no longer have individual reporters devoted to the classical-music and visual-arts beats gives an indication that
Maybe what made
"I think
And to see that, "all you have to do is go to other cities that don't have what we have here."
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Lame - part 2
The saga continues….
Mr. Ruhe always seems to go with the flow with the ASO. He basically likes it all and never really gives any constructive feedback on the performances. I get so bored with the same template reviews that I often skim them.
He likes anything at Spivey Hall. Yeah, it is a great hall, but it is really in the middle of nowhere. Therefore, who cares?
He seemed to think Michael O’Neal and his paying singers are great. The Dekalb Symphony is great, even though it’s leader is dead. Atlanta Baroque is great, but needs leadership. Atlanta Chamber Players is great. He won’t go to the AGMC possibly in fear of being hit on? The
The only real drama exists with his wrangling of the opera groups in town. The reviews of Americolor Opera Alliance are always poor even though they might possibly be the most innovative opera group in town. Granted, they are a vanity organization that only performs the works written by the founder, but at least they are doing some cool stuff. They seem to have balls and that is commendable.
Mr. Ruhe pretty much single-handedly took down William Fred Scott from his golden throne that he built at the Atlanta Opera. Granted, many of Fred’s productions were lame….very lame, but he did build more than anyone else. For all of his shortcomings, he made more headway than anyone before or since.
Lame
I hate to start this blog with the title, "Lame," but there is no other way to describe the current Atlanta Classical Music scene. It is not my goal to belittle or detract from greatness. However, it is my goal to expose the frauds and lame institutions that proudly boast their prowess and grandeur. This is the current bar that all organizations in metro
Let’s start at the top. The Atlanta Symphony is the largest performing arts organization in
The ASO has very well paid personnel. The conductor, who is decent at his job, makes about a half million dollars a year. That is much much more than any other arts group in the southeast. He isn’t worth that kind of money. How hard can it be to conduct most of the classical and baroque repertoire? Sure, there are many pieces that are very difficult to conduct, but the vast majority of pieces they tackle can be addressed by your local high school band director. The romantic period and more modern works are very hard. If the ASO plans to cater and be dumbed down to appeal to the most generic of audiences, then why pay so much for the product? It can be done for far less money with increased creativity and a higher artistic level.
Every now and then, they will tackle some new pieces and some mildly controversial pieces, but it is rare. That “middle of the road” mentality is safe but boring as hell. Shame on them for acting like they are fresh, new, and innovative. They are as stale and outdated as Lawrence Welk. I know very few classical music professionals who frequent ASO performances. The few times I have been in the last year, I see a sea of blue hairs peppered with a smattering of young kids who have never been to the symphony before. On the lame-o-meter, they score an 8.
More to come about other groups later….