This blog post from Adam Thurman of Mission Paradox resonated with me. Worth a read!
"You belong. Find your place. Use your skills. Help get great art into the world. It can't happen without you."
An Open Letter to Arts Administrators
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One of the things I love about summer is catching lots of fantastic live music. There are so many great concerts...I couldn't possibly go to everything on my wish list. Below are the musical events on my itinerary so far. And in between, I'll be getting work done (promise!).
Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Alisa Weilerstein, Dvorák - Cello Concerto, June 10
Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Beyond the Score, Dvorák - Symphony No. 9, June 11
Colorado College Summer Music Festival, World Premiere by Patrick Zimmerli, Light, Color, Line, Symbol: Meditations on Architecture for Orchestra and Three Video Projectors, conducted by Scott Yoo, June 16
Opera Theatre of St. Louis, John Corigliano - The Ghosts of Versailles, conducted by Michael Christie, June 19
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen Chamber Symphony with Jeremy Denk, piano, Beethoven - Piano Cto. No. 1, June 26
Colorado Music Festival, Michael Christie - music director, (I'm setting up a tent in Chautauqua Park...kidding!)
Grieg Piano Cto. in a minor with Jon Nakamatsu and Peer Gynt, July 21
Festival Mozaic, Scott Yoo - music director, San Luis Obispo, CA
Colorado Symphony Orchestra, World Premiere Mandolin Concerto with Chris Thile, September 17
Chautauqua Concert Series, Boulder, David Wilcox, September 19
“What makes us feel drawn to music is that our whole being is music: our mind and body, the nature in which we live, the nature which has made us, all that is beneath and around us, it is all music.” ~Hazrat Inyat Khan (Sufi Master)
My life has been graced by the power of music. Music was there when my dad had a debilitating stroke eight years ago. It connected him to his memories and helped him learn to walk again. My young daughter has speech and motor challenges and has difficulty putting words together. Music allows her to do so. Her first sentences were sung.
As long as I can remember, music has been a creative outlet for me--a way to move out of the thinking realm and into the spirit. And again, now, music has come back to speak to me in powerful ways through my marketing work.
I am so grateful for the healing, restorative nature of music and how it has influenced me. It gives my life meaning and hope...and I am forever indebted.
I'm not professing to be a Twitter or social media expert. But I am knowledgeable about marketing, and have been Tweeting since last September. Until more recently, I've been more of a Twitter lurker, which is perfectly OK for this somewhat voyeuristic--yet very personal--communication tool.
Now that I'm hooked on Twitter, and have made it a part of my daily existence, I have to admit that it took me a few months to "get" it. And I'm thinking that quite a few organizations out there aren't getting Twitter either. I'll focus on music organizations since that's a large chunk of my Following list.
My advice to music organizations is to think about MAKING CONNECTIONS first. How can your Twitter streams be used in the most effective way to connect your organization to more people? How can you more fully develop your organization's brand using Twitter to:
1.) Share your mission
2.) Inform and inspire
3.) Entertain
4.) Create dialogue
5.) Build community
6.) Get people involved so they care more deeply about what you do
None of the above is possible if all you're doing is using Twitter to blast out concert updates and discount offers! Sure, it's an easy way to get that information out into the world, but it shouldn't be the focus.
Singer/songwriter John Mayer addressed this issue when he announced via Twitter last week, "Just signed a deal to sell ad space inside my Tweets. Now it's time to celebrate with one of the many low sodium soups from Campbells!" I had to laugh because it seemed so ridiculous and unauthentic. Well...perhaps that's how orgs come off when they're pushing the latest sales offer multiple times a week.
My advice is to establish an authentic voice, a voice that speaks from the heart about who your organization is and the connections it wants to make. And then we can ride this paradigm-shifting wave to a more engaged and informed audience down the road. The thought is exciting, isn't it?
UPDATE: John Mayer's recent Tweet: The Associated Press called my publicist to ask if I was really endorsed by Campbell's Soup. Mission accomplished.
This past weekend will now be known as the weekend Holly went to Brooklyn with Brandi, did a lot of eating, drinking, walking and people-watching, listened to music, had a musical epiphany, cried, wrote about it, and then had it published for other people to read.
Thanks, Greg. Thanks, Michael.
Some good musical humor. Adagio cantabile with a rock tempo feel. Increase breathing. Release the penguins.
I was very happy to read Kyle Macmillan's recent article in the Denver Post, "Classical music's wild turn." In it, he describes some of the new genre-defying groups -- Alarm Will Sound, Ethel, Osso -- who are attracting 20- and 30-somethings to chamber-ish music. These are classically-trained, casually-dressed artists who have created a unique sound, followed their inner musical voices, and are changing the definition of traditional chamber music.
A great pullquote: "All art forms need to be revitalized to survive, and too often classical music has been more concerned with preserving its past than defining its future."
Amen, Kyle. My hope is that decision-makers at classical music organizations spend more time contemplating how classical music is evolving and how current and prospective audiences want to experience this art...on their terms. Not just following tradition because that's the way it has always been done.
"Tradition is the illusion of permanence." ~Woody Allen
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common -- this is my symphony.
~William Henry Channing
Happy New Year!
The composer Olivier Messiaen was born 100 years ago today. Another "living large" Sagittarius. This past summer, I downloaded Des Canyons aux Etoiles ("From the Canyons to the Stars") so I could listen to it as we toured and hiked through Bryce, Zion and Cedar Breaks National Parks in southern Utah, the source of his musical inspiration.
While it's not what I would describe as "easy listening" music (the rest of the people in the car were not appreciative), I did enjoy the harmonies and wind machine parts. We were staying above 9,000 ft. on our trip and got caught in an early summer snowstorm. Being at that altitude, the wind howled most of the time we were there. It made me appreciate how music can express non-verbally what it's like to be in a particular place and can so accurately mimic elements of nature. It's a powerful artistic medium. I guess you could say Messiaen encouraged me to listen to music differently...to listen beyond lyricism and melody, and focus on other attributes.
As Messiaen described:
"Whenever I hear music or read music, I see colors...the piece I composed about Bryce Canyon is red and orange...the color of the cliffs."
"I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colors for those who see none."
I was very encouraged when I recently read about "Telling Stories," a concert series in the Denver/Boulder area that combines classical and mixed-genre chamber music performances with literature readings. Performances are held in coffeehouses, art galleries and bars for a casual, intimate environment.
Now entering its third season, the series was founded by Jennie Dorris, a percussionist and writer who wanted to create a less stuffy, relaxed atmosphere for classical music. As part of her mission, Dorris is also committed to collaborating with other arts organizations, like the Denver School of the Arts and the Center for Digital Storytelling. The series was recently awarded "Best High Culture for the Cool Crowd" for 2008 by Denver's Westword.
I love this concept because it makes live classical music more accessible and easy-to-like. The concert experiences are comfortable, intellectually stimulating, and something you can do with a group of friends and just hang out. So, basically, the opposite of a traditional evening in the symphony concert hall. As Dorris describes, "Keep an open mind about classical music...A lot of people pigeonhole it and think it's not for them. But there is a lot out there to be explored in this genre. Just keep an open mind. Try something new."
~Benjamin Britten “It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony.”
The Stephen Colbert interview in which Yo-Yo Ma says he likes people, needs friends and believes the world should have more good songs about pickup trucks and kickin' ass. This Colbert Nation-lovin' classical music fan is in heaven!
