My good friend and colleague Dr. Christopher Chaffee recently submitted the following essay to me, which details the socio-economic climate for the musical arts in Dayton in 1933. 1933 was the year of the very first concert performed by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Dr. Chaffee's essay appeared in the program for the DPO's 75th anniversary concert, presented last spring at the Dayton Art Institute. Today we find ourselves caught up in the most severe economic turbulence since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Yet even back in those times, new ideas and fresh starts for musical ensembles came out of the chaos. Perhaps this can give us some hope that music institutions will, with vital help from supportive communities, perservere through this current crisis.
The Origins of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
We are here tonight to celebrate and recreate a remarkable achievement. After they finished their first concert in 1933, Paul Katz and his musician friends probably had no idea what would take place over the next seventy-five years. Katz did have a vision of a permanent orchestra for Dayton, and within the next ten years, this dream became a flourishing reality. Look where we are today! This is the joyful culmination but we need to go to the beginning and consider two fundamental questions- why an orchestra, and why here in Dayton?
At the turn of the 20th century, there were less than twenty orchestras in the United States. By 1940 there were more than three hundred. A complex web of social factors contributed to this explosive growth, but here are three that are most relevant to the founding of the DPO:
• Millions of European immigrants arrived in the United States, often settling in cities like Dayton. Unlike their home countries, there were no royal courts or opera houses to sponsor ensembles, so in typical American fashion, orchestras driven by entrepreneurial spirit emerged to meet the strong desire for great symphonic music many of these immigrants shared.
• With the advent of the radio and phonograph, Americans moved away from the idea of active music making in the home to passive consumption of music. This coincides with the rise of greater spending power for the middle and lower classes, especially in the 1920s. More families considered purchasing concert tickets a normal form of entertainment instead of something for special occasions only, leading to a burgeoning interest in live music.
• As cities of all sizes matured from fledgling to established, a sense of civic pride and local identity emerged, often of a competitive nature. Communities considered cultural institutions essential centerpieces of this identity, and civic leaders and local corporations worked together to foster a sense of pride by sponsoring them.
If this fertile social context was not in place, one could argue that Paul Katz’s experiment would have failed. The Great Depression was a barrier, but not as much as we might think today. Even at the height of the Depression, music was an essential part of everyday life. Cash-strapped families often sold all their other possessions but kept their radios during this difficult period. Prior to the 1930s, Dayton heard plenty of symphonic music performed by touring or regional ensembles. It was Paul Katz’s singular vision coupled with the enthusiastic support of the community that created a homegrown orchestra comprised of local musicians.
As the Dayton Philharmonic continues to grow and change with the times, this community support is essential. Paul Katz’s 1 June 1933 concert was a daring idea that set seventy-five years of great music and local pride in motion. Let us make sure that the next seventy-five years are just as amazing.
-Christopher Chaffee, Assistant Professor of Music, Wright State University
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Guest Essay by Christopher Chaffee: The Origins of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Fundraiser for Antioch College
Antioch College is not just another small-town liberal arts college. Ever heard of Coretta Scott King, Stephen Jay Gould, and Rod Serling? They are just some of the noteworthy alumni who pursued an education at Antioch. I am not an alumnus, but since I am involved with education it is never a good feeling for me when a school goes dark. Therefore I certainly support the (hopefully sustainable) efforts to revive the college.
For more information about this event (which is alumni-driven) please see the article at Antiochans Chapters. (PDF of the event flyer.)
Friday, June 13, 2008
Summer Arrives
Whew! I just finished submitting my final grades for the chamber music course I taught this past year at UC-CCM. So...now it looks like I can commit to a little more content for this blog over the coming months, outside of vacation time of course!
For starters, let me mention (and link to) a couple of recent topics/events that are important to me in the music blogosphere:
In the good news category, Jason Heath has published his book on the ups and downs of the freelance gigging classical artist, "Road Warrior Without An Expense Account." Anyone interested in what it means to be a non-"superstar" classical artist today should take a look at it - Jason has real industry experience and insight that delves beneath the surface of the issues. Read about the book in Jason's announcement post. The book is available for download or in print form here.
In the aesthetically intriguing category, check out Greg Sandow's ruminations on art vs. commerce, and how the lines are continually blurring as we progress in the 21st century. This topic is always as confusing as it is liberating, but Greg presents some interesting examples throughout his excellent essay. He begins by mentioning an anecdote about Sting's viability as a real "artist", whose recent Police tour has certainly convinced me yet again that artistry emanates well beyond the seams of our often narrow categories.
Now the bad news: I would be remiss if I did not at least acknowledge the awful situation regarding the Columbus Symphony, which has ceased operations for the time being due to serious financial problems. As a fellow orchestra member in the state of Ohio, my heart goes out to the musicians who are suffering through this predicament. I can't pretend to possess insider information or thorough knowledge on this (things have just been too busy lately), but interested readers can look to informed commentary on the situation by Janelle Gelfand and Drew McManus. (The previous links will bring you to a category page that offers a list of each author's posts/articles on the Columbus Symphony, many of which have further links to other commentators and articles.)
Sunday, February 3, 2008
The Legacy of Patricia Corbett
Cincinnati arts patron Patricia Corbett passed away last week at her home in Hyde Park, Cincinnati. Corbett was one of Cincinnati's most significant and generous philanthropists, having donated tens of millions of dollars to the arts for more than fifty years. She and her husband J. Ralph Corbett made their fortune through their NuTone doorchime company in the 1950s and established the Corbett Foundation in 1955. Donations from the organization have benefitted many facilities and arts venues in the Cincinnati area, including Riverbend Music Center, performance spaces at CCM, the School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and many others. She also supported many educational programs in music and various ensembles throughout the region. There is absolutely no question that today's rich cultural landscape in Cincinnati would have been impossible without the dedicated involvement of this remarkable woman.
Read Janelle Gelfand's article at the Enquirer and also Kerry Duke's article at the Post.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Sun Sets on CCM Summer Programs
Thank Charles Dickens for an opening sentence that rings true for so many situations: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." For me this month has been filled with some really fun and energetic music-making in various places, but there is some bad to balance out the good. It is with a distinct feeling of melancholy and disappointment that I (reluctantly) write the following:
CCM’s yearly offering of a wide variety of enriching music festivals known as CCM Summer Programs has been officially declared cut for good. Summer 2008 will be the last year for these programs that include many internationally and nationally well-known festivals: Opera Lucca, MusicX (the X being whatever year it happens to be, such as Music 2007), the Conducting Workshop, Flute Symposium, and the always popular Grandin Festival. This was a difficult decision made by the current dean, Warren George, in order to make up for CCM’s budget shortfall.
Now it is not my place to pontificate on whether this action is right or wrong, or whether or not UC is doing the right thing by forcing so many colleges in the campus to cut operating budgets by double-digit percentages. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I’ll admit that I am not an impartial observer. But it is certainly not an event to celebrate no matter how one thinks about necessities and practical financial responsibility. While I don’t like to use my blog as a podium of negativity, I want to share some thoughts on the subject. Here’s my point of view as a participant, which might serve to add another layer to the picture:
I came to CCM in 1997 as a doctoral student looking forward to participating in these festivals, especially because students could get high-level (and often paid) performance experience during the penniless off-season months of the summer. It’s probable that the first concert I saw in Cincinnati was at one of these festivals. For many of us graduate students attending CCM, they were more accessible than some of the expensive and long summer festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival. Imagine traveling to Lucca, Italy, on a scholarship that put you in the heart of Tuscany performing operas and songs of Puccini and Mozart. A student enrolled in MusicX could meet composers from all over the country and perform their music, making some money doing new music premieres. You could also earn money playing chamber music in the Grandin Festival, being part of a guinea pig wind band for aspiring conductors in Rodney Winther’s conducting workshop, or accompanying flutists in masterclasses with some of the country’s leading flute performers. There are plenty of other workshops and festivals, too.
I was able to do a lot of these things as a doctoral student. In MusicX from 2000-2002 I got the opportunity to work closely with composers George Crumb, Augusta Read Thomas, and George Rochberg. I gained invaluable experience learning how to play keyboards in large ensembles through the Conducting Workshop (and go figure, most of my performance income now comes from playing in large ensembles).
But I also got the chance to develop another set of skills and gain some practical administration knowledge as an assistant worker with the CCM Summer Programs business office. For the past six years I have been an on-and-off part-timer working with the ever-patient and knowledgeable Joan Van Brocklin in the Summer Programs office. There I learned about spreadsheets, balancing budgets, taking care of travel arrangements for artists, preparing mailing lists and registrations, working with convoluted university account systems (it’s crazy), and all kinds of other administrative duties. All of these things are necessary for any kind of music festival to operate, but many musicians don’t get a chance to look at exactly what the process involves, let alone help out with the work associated with that process. This job gave me an added appreciation for the scaffolding that behind-the-scenes administration is for a festival. Without it, absolutely nothing can take place.
My point is that all of these wide experiences for me (as well as for others) were made possible by CCM Summer Programs, the loss of which may save money but will cost the school, its faculty, and students in non-financial ways. The programs might not be of core importance to the school’s functioning, but it is part of what made CCM a special place of many different types of opportunities for graduate students in music. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll be among the last beneficiaries of Summer Programs’ varied opportunities.
This wasn’t a happy post to write, but I think a necessary one for me to put up. Perhaps some readers would like to comment or even provide some memorable moments of what it was like to be an observer or participant in these festivals.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Franck Explored by Nigerian Sodi Braide
William Zick (AfriClassical) informed me of Nigerian pianist Sodi Braide’s recent recording of Franck solo piano works (released on the Lyrinx label). Mr. Braide won a jury discretionary award at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005. He placed sixth in the Leeds International Competition in 2003. I look forward to listening to this artist’s rendering of these often overlooked Romantic works sometime soon. I am sure that it will be a source of pride for the Nigerian musical community. Mr. Braide’s accomplishments at the two highly significant international piano competitions reveal that he will be an important pianist in years to come. You can read more about Sodi Braide in Mr. Zick’s informative post about the Franck release.
Nigeria is increasingly producing some young pianists of note. Glen Inanga, one half of the Micallef-Inanga piano duo, is of Nigerian descent. The duo has released quite a few records, one of the most interesting being a massive set of variations by Robin Holloway based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations (the work only fits on two CD’s and is titled “Gilded Goldbergs”). Another significant Nigerian pianist is Funsho Ogundipe, who works in jazz and Afrobeat styles through his band Ayetoro.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
A Giant is Gone
The great operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti has passed away at the age of 71. He was, perhaps, the most widely celebrated classical music icon of his time.
Read the NY Times notice here.
Anthony Tommasini takes an honest and critical look back at Pavarotti's wide-ranging career.
Most classical music bloggers will certainly link to many of Pavarotti's juicy operatic scenes from the 1970s through the 1990s as a memorial tribute. Since this is (sometimes) a piano blog, I'll offer a different but appropriate selection: Luciano sings a lovely Italian song in a smaller space with just piano accompaniment (Leone Maggiera, pianist). He's seen here in the more intimate art song format, allowing the focus to be on his exquisite artistic and interpretive abilities unobstructed by concert hall super-stardom.
It is difficult to be unmoved by Pavarotti's presence in this performance of Tosti's Non T’amo Piú. RIP, LP...
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Test Your Musical Perception
Think you can detect slight differences between similar melodic ideas? Try this free test online:
Musical Perception Test (at Delosis.com)
It is a research project for volunteers and you're invited to participate! There are two tests that take about ten minutes each to complete. Test subjects listen to two melodies and then decide whether they are exactly the same or just slightly different.
The catch: you only get to hear each pair once. There are 30 pairs in each test.
Yours truly got 28 of 30 correct on the first test and 30 of 30 on the second one. Can you tell what the difference is between the two tests? Can you do better than me? (Yes, I only took it once...)
If so, feel free to leave a gloating (but friendly) comment here.
(Via this interesting ScienceDaily article on tone deafness.)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
The audience CAN inspire the musician
Read this lovely and touching article about how a unique audience member provided fresh inspiration for musician Holly Mulcahy. (via Drew McManus)
Stories like this provide more reasons why it is important (and beneficial) for classical musicians to interact "one on one" with audience members. Besides, you never know what kind of unpredictable response you might get (Holly's story involves cows!) At my next performance I will track down a familiar-looking audience member and ask them why they are at my concert and what do they get from the experience. Maybe some of you performers out there could try to do the same? Let's offer someone a chance to give something special back to us. As Drew says, it shouldn't be a one-way street.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Dayton Phil in the IM magazine
The August 2007 issue of International Musician (the official journal of the American Federation of Musicians) has a cover story on the Dayton Philharmonic. It is a special story because the focus of the article is on the musicians’ committee and how they have worked closely and effectively with the orchestra leadership, the local union, and on behalf of the musicians in the orchestra.
I have been playing with the Dayton Philharmonic as a substitute musician for about five years now, and I just recently became a regular member of the orchestra. In those five years I have witnessed the huge growth and increased stature of this regional orchestra. This article addresses how committee members have succeeded, over the last seven years, in bridging common gaps between musicians and management. Because initiatives have been pursued with innovation and commitment, everyone involved has come out of their negotiating work more united in purpose for the future of the institution. It is no mean accomplishment.
Principal clarinetist John Kurokawa*, principal bassoonist Jennifer Speck, and violinist Tom Fetherston (all of whom have committee experience) are given ample space to express themselves, as are Don Sutton, the secretary of the local union, and Kareem Powell, the union’s current young president. It is genuinely refreshing and uplifting to read testimony from these people about working together for the benefit not of individuals, but rather for the benefit of an improved orchestra experience for everyone. Since the arts media often focus on the more negative stories about orchestra negotiations, I recommend this article to anyone who would like to witness a process with good results.
Perhaps the most palpable sign that the Dayton Philharmonic is healthy and aimed for higher achievement is its newly constructed performance venue. The orchestra moved from a mediocre hall to the grand and acoustically excellent Schuster Center in 2003, and the difference in the orchestra’s performances is obvious to musicians and audiences alike. (See the online article’s great accompanying picture that captures the immensity of the hall’s vertical space.) Don Sutton and John Kurokawa weigh in with their thoughts on the new space at the end of the article:"Schuster Center has added class. The members are proud of it, and so is the community. The sound inside the hall is great. It's night and day compared to Memorial Hall," says Sutton, a sentiment echoed by Kurokawa. "Schuster Center has done wonders for the morale of the orchestra," Kurokawa says. "It is one of the most wonderful halls I've ever played in."
I can only agree wholeheartedly.
*John is a well-known colleague and friend; we recently participated in a fun chamber music event for donors to the Dayton Philharmonic. Read about that here and here.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Listening to Protein Music
Watch out, meat lovers: Molecular biologists at UCLA are creating musical compositions based on protein sequences! I just had to check out this article when I saw the headline, and it’s really interesting material.
Since proteins are made of up to 20 different amino acids in a linear sequence, the UCLA researchers thought that they could assign a different chord to each amino acid. They chose 13 root-position chords (all “white-key”, spanning 2 octaves) and then 7 first-inversion chords, each of which identifies a specific amino acid. Rhythm is then dictated by the “codon distribution” of the amino acid (don’t ask me what this means; you can read up on it yourself here). Then voilà , you just write out the piece using the chords and rhythm. What’s really interesting is the purpose behind it:"We assigned a chord to each amino acid," said Rie Takahashi, a UCLA research assistant and an award-winning, classically trained piano player. "We want to see if we can hear patterns within the music, as opposed to looking at the letters of an amino acid or protein sequence. We can listen to a protein, as opposed to just looking at it."
The idea is to try to get more people (especially children) interested in the mechanics of molecular biology without boring them with bland visual sequences of letters. Dr. Jeffrey Miller, who leads the project, says:"We believe this can be a tremendous teaching tool to get children, non-scientists and the visually impaired interested in proteins and molecular biology," Miller said. "When I was a kid, I listened to 'Peter and the Wolf,' which was a fabulous way to introduce young people to musical instruments and classical music."
Go here to “listen” to some different types of proteins like cytochrome and hemoglobin. The funny thing is that a lot of this stuff sounds like Bartok or Satie. One of the researchers, who is a classical musician as well, wrote a variation of one of the examples. Could it be a protein nocturne? Or is it an amino acid andante?
Thursday, May 24, 2007
CCM Dean makes quick getaway
It was announced earlier this week that CCM’s dean Doug Lowry has resigned from CCM and will move on to take the helm of dean at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Didn’t he just get here? (He started at CCM in 2000.)
Since I have attended both schools (I earned my BM at Eastman in 1995 and my DMA at CCM in 2004) this is a move that is of some interest to me. I don’t know where Eastman now stands in regards to its financial situation, but it seems to be in better shape than CCM. I know from various sources (as well as through my adjunct experiences there) that UC has implemented budget trimmings in the millions of dollars and how this crisis has affected many of the departments at CCM.
Speculation: Could a reason for leaving be that the dean’s hands are tied with all the cutbacks, and he just simply can’t get done what needs to be done? (From my point of view the dean has generally maintained the status quo and seems most interested in furthering a compositional career.) CCM seems to have been “drifting” recently, lacking any real significant forward momentum into the new century with innovative and refreshing approaches to the training and experiences it provides to students.
On the other hand, Eastman enjoys its wonderful new Institute for Music Leadership (funded by the Mellon Foundation) which promotes “creating, sharing, and implementing cutting-edge ideas and programs that will ensure the vitality and relevance of music in the 21st century.” (source) This is a just a part of the series of new “Eastman Initiatives” which are ensuring Eastman’s role as an international leader in music for years to come. I guess if it were me, I’d rather run the more forward-looking, well-supported institution than the stuck-in-neutral, underfunded one.
If CCM is to ever hold on to its status as a world-class center of relevant musical education and professional training, it needs dedicated leadership and proper funding (especially when it comes to recruiting the best musicians/students). Yes, the problems stem from many different types of circumstances, some of which are out of CCM’s control. But it needs a dean who wants to be here for more than seven years and who has a clear perception for where the school needs to be five, ten, and twenty years from now. Cincinnati’s (and CCM’s) rich musical and historical heritage deserves better than the stagnation of this school. Let’s hope the dean search committee rises to the challenge.
See also Janelle Gelfand's take on Doug Lowry's departure. Classical Music: Reaction to the Dean's announcement
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
"Mozart Effect" Debunked
Remember the popular idea that listening to Mozart’s music could make you smarter? Well, it turns out that it’s total bunk.
The “Mozart Effect” was the name given to a phenomenon studied by psychologist Francis Rauscher and physicist Gordon Shaw that involved subjects listening to Mozart and taking spatial-reasoning tests just after the listening sessions. Results were published in a paper in 1993 which found a correlation between listening sessions and better scores on these tests. The big draw for this seemingly esoteric bit of experimentation was the fact that these positive test results made a difference in terms of IQ points. 
Of course, it’s not that far of a leap (though it IS a leap) to start claiming that you’ll be smarter if you listen to Mozart. This has indeed happened in terms of conventional wisdom: After this study was widely popularized, it became important to play Mozart for unborn babies, make kids listen to classical music before big test days, etc. Now it’s not my intention to make fun of anyone who did these things – I certainly fell for the “leap” as well. (Though it should be added that it doesn’t hurt to expose young’uns to classical music.) I can remember hearing friends or parents of students talking about putting on “Mozart music” for his/her unborn infant, and I would say something like, “Great – there seems to be a good amount of evidence to support that kind of activity.” And then we could wait a few years to see if the A’s would start rolling in when they got to school…
But just recently, the German government decided to get to the bottom of the “Mozart Effect” case by supporting a substantial examination of the ME literature. The team of nine researchers (all of whom possess musical expertise in addition to their other qualifications) could find no real evidence that passive listening to Mozart makes you any smarter over the long-term. In fact, there are apparently many different things you could do before a cognitive test (like hearing stories) that have exactly the same effect in the immediate short term (e.g., 15-20 minutes) as listening to Mozart’s music. To be fair to Rauscher, she herself has noted that misconceptions about her study typically confuse limited (and temporary) improvement in specific mental tasks with a general increase in an individual’s IQ (see Rauscher’s quote in the Wikipedia article on the Mozart Effect). There have also been others who have disputed the claims of the more popular versions of the Mozart Effect (many skeptics have written on the issue before the German report).
The German researchers, however, stipulate that active participation in musical activities (such as playing an instrument and taking lessons) may or may not improve IQ over the long-term and more studies need to be done to determine this for sure. For those of you who have followed some of my posts about the benefits of musical training, you know that I am interested in the findings of this kind of research. Many studies have been done which show strong evidence for the “side-benefits” of musical training, such as promotion of intellectual development (this study actually supports IQ-sharpening!), memory enhancement, and the positive effects on different kinds of success. But despite a few important studies on the issue, the jury is really still out when it comes to improving general IQ through musical training.
The “Mozart Effect” may be in its grave (at least in terms of long-term IQ enhancement), but we’ll have to wait and see if any “Musical Training Effect” can permanently pump up someone’s IQ. Time will tell.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
New Evidence that Musical Training Increases Speech Sensitivity
This article summarizes some interesting findings of researchers at Northwestern University:
Research Finds Musical Training Can 'Tune' the Auditory System
It turns out that musical training not only affects one's ability to decipher "sound encoding" in music but also in language. In the study, musically trained subjects faired far better in recognizing tone-sounds in Mandarin than non-musicians. In certain languages such as Mandarin, "tones" (when pitch rises, falls, or stays the same during the utterance of a word) can render different meanings for the same word. The researchers agree that this new evidence has far-reaching implications for educators and brain researchers.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
New Blog Category: Benefits of Musical Training
These days there is more and more scientific research being devoted to the cognitive and intellectual development of humans. Not surprisingly, recent studies considering musical training and study (such as lessons and music classes) are revealing more and more substantial evidence for the benefits, direct and indirect, of participating in musical activities. A longer report from 2002 on the benefits of music education for various kinds of success at the National Association for Music Education: "Music Education Facts and Figures" As time goes on I am sure that more research will yield additional articles to include in this category. If anyone would like to suggest links to related articles they may have seen elsewhere on the web, please let me know via the comment function below or through email.
I've always wanted to know more about this topic than I currently do, so I think it would be perfect timing to try and compile some information on the subject here at the Cincinnati Pianist Blog.
Of course, there is an obvious "selfish" reason for me to do this here -- it could help to convince parents to begin and/or continue lessons for their child, with me as the teacher! But I also think that it is good for us to just be more aware of what we actually gain in the pursuit of musical study. I know that all parents want the best for their child's development as they grow, and I think that knowledge of the benefits reaped by musical training should help us better understand and appreciate the not-so-insignificant investment in private lessons.
To start, here are some links to brief articles on this subject from the recent past:
ScienceDaily report from 2004 on the "The First Solid Evidence That the Study of Music Promotes Intellectual Development" (this study involved keyboard students)
ScienceDaily report from 2006 on how music enhances "Intelligence, Mental Health, and the Immune System" (hmmm...could you practice more and not get sick? Well, maybe that's a stretch...but more practice wouldn't bother me!)
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
New World Symphony in the NY Times
There is an article about the New World Symphony (an orchestral training academy located in Miami Beach) in the Feb 18 edition of the New York Times. I held a piano fellowship at this institution for 2 years from 2000-02 and learned a great deal about professional performance in orchestral and chamber music situations. For anyone who has an interest in how accomplished, young classical musicians train and prepare for orchestral performance careers, read this article. You also get some interesting tidbits on music from the group's music director, Michael Tilson Thomas, with whom I worked in many capacities as a pianist there.
Read More......
