I agree with Les and Dennis.
One of the most frustrating things, being in a symphony orchestra that
is run from the top down, with fairly little interest in input from the
members, is seeing things that _work_ and then are forgotten, because
our management staff and conducting staff are so fairly transient.
[An aside - The Louisville Orchestra, after too many years of problems,
actually has the best management I have seen in my 36 years in the
group, and is showing signs of innovation and real life. The BOD made
a big deal of burning it's debt a few days ago, paid us a bonus at the
end of this season to pay back some of our past concessions, and
announced some new plans toward the future, instead of laments about
past problems, for a change. ]
Back to my topic - one brief example - we had a shining light of an
assistant conductor, 20 years ago. Her name was Giselle Ben-Dor, (more
recently Music Director, Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra) and among
the many great things she did was programming Ives "Fourth of July" on a
high school concert. The work got a huge response - the kids went
absolutely ape for it at every performance.
With all that she did that year, she was so successful that our MD at
the time got jealous, gave her very little to do the next year, so in
frustration she got another gig. And of course, we never played Ives
for high school kids again, because nobody in charge was paying attention.
Raymond Horton
Bass Trombonist,
Louisville Orchestra
Mariposa Symphony Orchestra wrote:
Dennis Bathory-Kitsz said:
Kids aren't fixed. Maybe later, when inundated with tonality, their aural view
will narrow. But it doesn't start out that way.
And Les replies:
Of the many, many nails hit-upon-the-head over the years by Dennis, there's
never been one so squarely whacked. Absolutely, vividly true. For the
past three years, I've created a pair of programs ('Welcome to Classical
Music!' and 'The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra's Young Master Composers
Celebration') for the local impoverished school district wherein I visit every
single campus in this huge county and then attempt to blow their minds with
music. And Dennis is absolutely true: the younger the student, the less
entrenched in conventional music - and the amazing thing is: my volunteerism
isn't completely altruistic. These uncorrupted young minds, in their pure
reactions only barely yet tainted with THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE WAY have taught ME
things by their totally honest responses to some great, far-out pieces of
music. And wonderfully, in their unembarrassed veracity, they teach ME.
And then I challenge them to write their very own music.....and here's where it's a
little less unconventional: I adjudicate the winners following a set of established
criteria I've developed, and then I orchestrate the "winners'" musical works,
and the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra performs the kids' pieces at our (annual)
'Independence Day Spectacular' Concert.
And so, another of the very important ways in which I try to (perhaps) undo a
little of the conventionalism which was (and continues to be) inculcated into
me against my will is to borrow perception from the innocence of youth.
Best,
Les
Les Marsden
Founding Music Director and Conductor,
The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra
Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!!
http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html
http://www.geocities.com/~jbenz/lesbio.html
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