History and Heritage

The Folly Theater is such a charming, wonderful place. It was built in the first part of the last century and in those early decades hosted the best entertainers and shows on the circuit. Later it saw some really raunchy X-rated days in the middle of the century when classy places had left that part of downtown, and the pictures of it then look like it was really sad for what people had let it become. When people in the 60s or 70s wanted to put it out of its misery, I’m so glad somebody had the chuzpah to put down their foot and say, “No, I won’t let you destroy this place of history and quality!” I’m glad that at some point people of culture came to their senses and realized that destroying the old to bring in the new wasn’t all of the equasion for a healthy society. That we stand on the shoulders of the ones before us. That newness is shallow and incomplete without the the foundation of the old. That you can’t develop a better future without knowing and understanding the past.

Jordi Savall’s concert on the music of Don Quixote last weekend was breathtaking! I love that there are scholar-musicians in our time that have the knowledge, interest, and skill to reconstruct the music, instruments, and techniques of their ancestors, bringing back to life (as closely as one can without recordings of the actual music) the experience of musicians and listeners from centuries ago. Last Friday we heard Renaissance Spanish music played by period instruments and interspersed with narrative from the 17th century text of the novel by Cervantes. This was a “bringing back to life” moment of people long-dead, but whose culture and society lives on in the people who played for us.

Next week we’ll experience Croatian musicians presenting the music and scholarship of their ancestors in medieval Croatian music and texts. In February, the spell-binding storytelling of the Old English text, Beowulf, will come to Kansas City. And although this all comes to us through the centuries from lands afar and people very long since dead, those heritages of culture and the sense of who those people were directly affect the mixing pot that is our country today and the direct connectedness that is our world today.

Canon in D in Everything

As a college student, usually if the topic of classical music is brought up, it’s to remark on how boring it is, or how they use it to fall asleep. But people don’t realize how much influence and what part classical music plays in their lives. One of the best videos that I’ve seen on youtube has been the Pachelbel Rant. A comedian finds that Pachelbel’s canon in D is in much of mainstream music today. It’s amazing to see people so turned off by classical music turn to these different forms of music which have the same melodies and chords as classical music. In harder rock music, such as metal, it is very prominent; and is also prominent in punk music, to many people’s surprise.

Another place that people often discount classical music is in movies. Try to imagine watching any movie today without a soundtrack. People notice when there’s no soundtrack to a movie. Something is distinctly missing. I really noticed this when watching the movie, “No Country for Old Men.” The movie had barely any score, and feeling it conveyed was very pronounced. The entire time, something was missing, and it was unsettling. A score can also be one of the strongest things in a movie. There are always certain melodies from movies that instantly will remind you of them. A few of my favorites are Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Amèlie, and Lord of the Rings. It’s funny when you think about these things, you start to give more appreciation to classical music, and all that it’s brought.

Connecting to the Past

I recently had an interesting connection in my career. As I look back on what got me to the place I am now, it took me a while to discover what it was that I wanted to do with my career. I took a rather unconventional journey to get the point where I am now in that my degree is in theater and not marketing. Also, I am often labeled as the “creative one” in my family because I'm the only one that has a job in marketing and the only one that has done work in the performing arts. However, I recently had an interesting discovery about someone very special to me. A few years ago, my grandmother Marguerite entered the phase of her life in which she needed to live in a nursing home. When this transition occurred my aunt, who manages her day-to-day affairs, gave me a couple of very special gifts that helped me feel a deeper connection to my grandmother.
The first of these was a literary magazine in which my grandmother was published in 1935. I found this very inspiring because I enjoy creative writing myself and I too was published for the first time some 60 years later than my Grandmother in 1995.
Secondly, I received two of my grandmother's college yearbooks. She had attended St. Mary's College in Leavenworth, Kansas and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1933. As I look through the yearbooks I discovered many ways in which my grandmother and I are similar. One is that she, in addition to mathematics, excelled in literature--something I've always prided myself on. I also discovered that she had a love of the arts and of language and was a member of the drama club. She had also played golf which is something I pretend to play as well. Upon further inspection I discovered that my grandmother had been the illustrator for her yearbook. There wedged inside of one of the yearbooks was a proof that she had made. (A “proof” is a document that when received back from the printing company requires your signature to ensure its accuracy.) It was very interesting to see that the proofing process hadn't changed much in the 70+ years since the yearbook was published.
As I continue to expand my knowledge base of chamber music and grow more with our organization, something I have enjoyed is connecting to the past through the art of music. In this instance not only was I able to connect to the past but I was also able to discover a possible source of my talents. I look forward to carrying out the legacy of not only great composers but also that of my grandmother.

My Granmother at St. Mary's College in 1930

Spanish From Spain

I am sitting here at my desk listening to the Don Quixote CD by Jordi Savall to get my ears ready for the concert this Friday. This music awakens a deep part of my soul that only comes alive when I hear the unique sounds of castanets, clapping and stomping combined with classical guitar (or this case the viola da gamba.) It is the unmistakable sound of Spain. I know this sound well as I spent nearly a year in Spain studying while in college. I spent my year learning the culture by taking flamenco lessons, learning to play the castanets myself, listening to classical guitar, studying their accents and simply taking in the beautiful Moorish culture of Southern Spain.

The narration on the CD is in Spanish and my heart leapt when I heard the distinctive Spanish accent that can only be heard in Spain. There are of course many varieties of this accent as you travel from region to region. The clearest version is spoken in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The easiest way to know if you are hearing Spanish from Spain or some other country are in the “S’s.” Spain Spanish uses a “Th” sound rather than using a crisp “S” sound when using “S’s”. For example, “Gracias” in Spain would sound something more like “Grathias” and “Barcelona” now sounds like “Barthelona.” In Andalucia, the Southern region where I studied, you would also hear the “S” left off the end of words all together. So now “Gracias” becomes “Grathia” and “Vamos” becomes “Vamoh” with an emphasis on the “H” at the end.

I couldn’t tell you exactly where this unique accent originates. My guess would be that it has something to do with the strong Catalonian influence in the region. Catalonia is still an autonomous community within Spain and people in that area still speak this medieval language called Catalan. Regardless of its origin, the Spanish in Spain is unique and unmistakable. The narration that you will hear at our Don Quixote concert on Friday night is in English so you will not need to worry about paddling your way through the difficult Spanish accent but I guarantee the music will awaken your inner flamenco dancer and send you dreaming about your next vacation to Spain. Do not miss this concert on Friday, it is going to be a highlight of our season!

Musical Respite

Things have been very busy at The Friends lately – the season has begun, and I’m keeping up with grant deadlines, donor cultivation and acknowledgement, benefit planning, board stewardship, and the general filing and correspondence that are always present. It’s easy to get lost in administrative tasks, but this weekend’s piano recital by Richard Goode will be a nice reminder of why we do what we do!

I first heard Goode on The Friends’ series in March of 2007, a couple of months after I had started my position here. I was very moved by his thoughtful, skilled, and beautiful playing. I remember thinking what an awesome responsibility it must be to have the kind of intense talent that he does. Sure, any amateur pianist can play the notes in a Mozart, Bach, or Schubert piece, but only a rare few can shed light on the composer’s meaning, as though the composer was speaking through him. Goode is one of these artists.

The program tomorrow evening is made up of relatively short pieces by Bach and Chopin, two of my favorite composers. When the lights go down and the curtain goes up, I’m looking forward to sitting back in my theater chair and letting Goode’s masterful interpretations wash over me, a welcome musical respite from the daily grind.

Minimum is Sometimes the Maximum

I remember sometime ago watching the Superbowl and seeing a commercial for Pepsi. The commercial featured Albert Einstein floating in space as cans of Pepsi slowly drifted past him. Accompanying this strange movement was the soothing melodic sounds of a soprano counting in sequence from 1-8. I remember finding the sounds incredibly interesting. I used the powerful tool of Google and searched to find the source of this sound.
It was at this moment that I was first introduced to Philip Glass and further the art of minimalist music. I had come across the expressionistic theatrical work known as Einstein on the Beach. Minimalist music has always been fascinating to me because although it is “minimal” it seems to fill the ear of the listener and its slow progression and slight changes in key put me into a meditative state that lets my imagination run wild.

Further, the Piano Etudes (or studies) of Philip Glass present a challenging fast-paced ride through a short progression of notes.

I guess ultimately what really fascinates me about this style of music is simply the simplicity. How so little can produce so much. I like all kinds of music and I very much enjoy the big symphonies and huge choral works but I also find that minimal music is a nice respite that takes my mind on a different journey.

The Lack of Television Coverage on the Arts

Last night I was watching my evening local news and counted down in my head the expected news segments. In my Journalism class in college we learned that all news starts with what are called “bullets” or big shocking stories and then funnels it way down to the “BB’s” or the smaller stories of the evening. So I waited in anticipation for the murder and robbery count (a.k.a. the “bullets”) and then watched all the way through until the sports reports (a.k.a. the “BB’s”.) But, between the murder/robbery count and the sports news I wondered where the arts fits into all of this. I don’t know about you but I become afraid to live in my own home when I watch our local news. The news reports on the most horrific events in our community first and foremost to the point where I believe that the next time I walk out my front door I could get mugged at any moment. Personally, I would like to see more coverage on the good in our community including the local arts scene.

Now, I do believe that sports reporting is a great thing in our community. Who doesn’t want to see the Chief’s do well and find out what Herm plans to do to get ready for the next game? And who doesn’t want to see our local high school sports teams do well and play in championship games? This sort of positive reporting on local community sports is wonderful. But, why doesn’t the news also cover what our high school orchestras are doing and report on the competitions they win? Why don’t we ever hear about local actors who get called to New York to perform in a play on the nightly news? And, more importantly, why doesn’t our local TV stations report on the “major leagues” of the arts in town? I want to know about our local ballet company and how they were invited to perform at the famed Joyce Theater in New York City last spring. I want to know that KC Rep launched a play here in town that is now showing at Lincoln Center in New York. The artistic talent in this community is of equal or greater caliber than that of our professional Chiefs players and I think that it is about time that the arts received equal coverage on local television stations.

I’ve got to say, thanks but no thanks to the murder count in Kansas City for the day. I don’t need to be afraid to live in my own community. I want to see more of the great things happening in Kansas City on television. If you feel as strongly as I do about the lack of arts coverage on our local television stations in Kansas City then please send them an email or write a letter expressing your thoughts. Let’s show how great Kansas City is on television!

Remember the Arts

Times are bad. Uncertainty and loss loom around every corner. And since none of us knows what’s really happening to our money, except the numbers keep becoming more dismal every time we open our retirement statements, most people are hunkering down until the economy evens out again.

Unfortunately, one of the first places to get hit with lowered donations and reduced tickets sales are the arts. That seems understandable—if it’s a choice between putting food on my or my neighbors’ table and going to the ballet, I choose food. But for those of us who are lucky enough to be able to afford our needs while also helping our neighbors some, continuing our support of the arts is also important. Anyone interested in reading this blog probably already understands the importance of art and music in our lives: It helps civilize humanity; it helps us explore our emotions and expand our understandings. And that’s in addition to teaching us logic, problem solving and a host of other very useful attributes. If artists or musicians or organizations are forced to succumb to an unfriendly economy to the point that they can’t produce or present their art, we all are poorer for it.

So while you’re hunkered down protecting your pennies, please make the effort to attend a musical event or go to a play or give a donation to an arts organization. When the economy finally recovers, it would be very sad if we raise our collective heads and breathe sighs of relief just to discover that members of our arts community have taken the ultimate economic hit.

Merge Two Competing Chamber Music Presenter Organizations?

The performing arts market is tremendously fragmented. That fragmentation inevitably leads to inefficiencies. There are more than 520 presenter entities who are organizational members of Chamber Music America. And one thing that’s clear from examining CMA’s directory of chamber music presenters is that communities in the U.S. that have performing arts markets that are robust enough to have one presenter tend in fact to have two or more chamber music presenters. In many cases, that means that there is relatively intense competition for what is almost certainly a finite market—a finite monthly or quarterly consumer spend per household. Probably the same is also true in cities in Europe and the U.K.

For simplicity and to directly respond to the anonymous emailer’s question, I’ve put together a mathematical model that is for two competitors in a market—a duopoly. It would be far more complex to create an accurate, actionable financial merger model for three or more competitors. Actually, if the proposition were to simultaneously consolidate three or more competitors into one unified presenter organization, then you could still use this Cournot-Nash game-theory model as-is. You would simply put your own figures in as Presenter P, and then sum the figures for all of your competitors and put those sums in the Rival R column. Click here to read more.

Volunteers are the Backbone of Nonprofits

Last week we welcomed back our volunteers with a party to kick-off the season and thank all of them for their dedication and service. During the party I looked around and realized what a unique relationship non-profit organizations get to have with dedicated, hard-working individuals who have a passion for what they volunteer for. While the party was given by the staff to thank the volunteers many of them showed up early to help us set up even though they were not asked to. It’s funny how the core of a person never changes no matter what the circumstance. Once a volunteer, always a volunteer.

Whether the non-profit is big or small I guarantee it could not survive without the worthy volunteer time of individuals. Take The Nelson-Atkins Art Museum for instance. Most of the greeters and security people standing throughout the galleries are volunteers. One of the reasons The Nelson-Atkins is able to open their doors for free to the public is because of these individuals willingness to serve.

Tomorrow night is our first concert of the season and I look forward to seeing our volunteers in action. At the box office I will be working with two women who have been volunteering in the box office during concerts for many years now. Since this is my first concert it is a great relief to me to be with two wonderful people who can show me the ropes.

I honestly do not know how we would survive without the help of many, many people who are dedicated to helping us bring beautiful music to the masses. If you are not yet volunteering for a non-profit arts organization I would highly recommend it. There is nothing more satisfying than working for a cause you believe in.

Working for The Friends

Working in a non-profit office for chamber music was not something that was exactly high on my list of things to do as a college student. I had homework to do, real work to do, money to make, friends to hang out with, papers to write, naps to take; an internship was one of the last things on my mind. If I happened to find one, sure, that'd be fine, but it was not pertinent to my life at that present moment. But fate would happen to intervene. One day, after my brain had been slighted by too many hours of dull repetitive work, my cell phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voicemail. Upon hearing the message that our marketing director Jeremy had left, I was astounded. He had actually offered me an internship. It wasn't I who was fighting through ranks to earn a prestigious position as office intern, I was chosen.

I'd have to admit, for a few seconds, I felt like Highlander.

But once reality came back to me, and I stepped off the nearest table and relinquished my pen which I had brandished as a sword, I immediately called him back. We set up a meeting for the next Wednesday. When the day arrived, I dressed to look my best and went to the interview. We discussed the facets of working in the office, the music, the not being paid-ness (much to my chagrin). At the end of it all, I didn't feel like running out of the office into the street, so I decided that I'd work for them. A shake of the hand and my work schedule was set.

I do some of the basic boring intern things: Calling, filing, mailing, answering phones, typing; it's to be expected to do those things. But I do have opportunities to have more responsibilities. Because I'm the only one in the office under the age of 22, I have become the in-house techie and master of Facebook and Myspace. Also being a film student, I get to make a promotion video for The Friends of Chamber Music, which is something I highly look forward to. Plus it's always nice to be able to work in a professional atmosphere, and I look forward to being with the Friends for a long time.

Bring the Kids

We’re going to Paradise Park! That’s one of my favorite spots to enjoy with my grandkids—a delightful educational play spot right off 470/291 in Lee’s Summit with lots of great things to do and experience for kids from tiny to big! Granddaughter Carlyn and I went there to play last week—splashed in the water tables, checked out pretend groceries in the play store, made a beautiful “apple tree” out of the art supplies, and played outside on the little-kids’ jungle gym.

On December 7th, we’ll get to go back! For the first time, The Friends have made arrangements to have one of our “What Makes It Great?” performances there. Entertaining and educational Rob Kapilow, with the Biava and Penderecki String Quartets, will explore and perform Mendelssohn’s Octet. 2:00 Sunday afternoon, December 7, 2008. We’ll have an entire afternoon to learn about classical music together with our families, grab a bite at the food court, and play together until we’re all happily exhausted! (Paradise Park is staying open late especially for us folks going to the music program.)
Be sure to join Carlyn and me (oh, and maybe her mama and daddy) at Paradise Park on December 7th.

Great music with great fun! Great combination!

Music's Healing Power

My grandmother recently passed away. She was 96, and lived a long, happy life. Her cancer diagnosis came only one month ago, and we were fortunate that she didn’t suffer for very long. My family is grieving over this loss, but I find that we’re all using music to help lift our spirits.

A couple of weeks ago, on my way to visit Grandma, I listened to the Carter Family in the car. I wanted to hear something “old-timey” and simple, something that would remind me of Grandma’s childhood days on a farm in central Missouri. Much of the Carter Family’s gospel-themed music was appropriate to my mood, too. Grandma always followed the Carters’ advice to “Keep on the Sunny Side”!

Over that weekend visit to see Grandma, my dad, a bluegrass enthusiast, played his old record of Bill Monroe doing classics such as “What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul?” and “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire.” He played this record a lot while I was growing up, so the songs sounded very familiar and comforting. Later that day, my mom played a CD of hymns arranged by John Rutter, one of her favorite composers and arrangers. I realized that as all of us were coming to terms with Grandma’s prognosis, we were finding music that wouldn’t necessarily provide complete solace, but that would give us a soundtrack under which we could reflect upon our emotions and memories.

Both of my grandparents were big jazz fans. My grandfather, who passed away ten years ago, had a record collection that included all the “greats”. When he was in the nursing home, my mom would play Benny Goodman or Billie Holiday on a small stereo in his room, and he would smile as if this elixir was better than any pain medicine. Music can be powerful not only for those who love the dying, but for the dying, themselves.

My mom is going to play the organ at Grandma’s funeral. She says that Grandma always loved hearing her play, especially when she would “bang out” big, powerful hymns. One of Grandma’s favorite hymns was “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Mom will play it at the funeral, and will play it LOUD! Grandma will be smiling, I’m sure.

Art is Always Present

We have had a cloud of doom and gloom over our lives with threats and worries of a troubled economic state. Everywhere you turn there are talks of cutbacks and foreclosures and minimal resources. It’s real and it’s serious.

Often in situations where there is a question of resources we often look at what we can cut back on that will help to alleviate our financial burden. Unfortunately, that is often the arts. Those of us in the industry argue its need in maintaining a society of expression and diverse culture; others may argue that it is an extra benefit, something that we can live without. My opinion was recently confirmed in a new way.

A couple of weeks ago, The Friends participated in the Plaza Art Fair. This is always a very exciting event for our organizations because we get to interact with long committed patrons while at the same time informing others who are interested in learning about who we are and what we do. I chose to really take in as much as I could this year being relatively new to The Friends. When it was all over I was at the art fair all 28 hours! I interacted with countless attendees about The Friends and our upcoming season. We even had a game in which contestants could win a prize by playing “Name that Composer.” I ended up learning a lot about the impact of the arts that weekend. I have a degree in theatre and I have always been an advocate for the arts but I saw something a little different with this experience. Whenever someone would engage in a conversation with me about the season I would see excitement build within them and an energy just take off. The mere thought of what they might experience through catharsis at one of our concerts really exhibited the power of art. I would like to say that they were excited due to my eloquent words and engaging delivery but I will have to take a hit to the ego because it was more than that. It was the art. It was the legacy of the wide range of music we present, some of it going back 1200 years.

That weekend left me even more energized about the art we present. It drove my passion for the arts to be even stronger as I saw how art is always present no matter what the crisis, and furthermore that classical music isn’t for the elite but for everyone. Its effect can be the redemption we need in a time of crisis.