Quote of the month

by | Nov 18, 2007 | A view from the podium

This is possibly my favorite post concert comment ever, courtesy of Tom (thanks for dinner, Tom!!!!) “You could hear everyone onstage and, you know, there wasn’t any weird shit going on” I loved that! This came out of my mouth this morning in reference to a former...

Ten must-have recordings….

by | Nov 17, 2007 | A view from the podium

Vftp regular Travis asked for my list of the top 10 recordings every musician should have. I chose to include non-classical and to focus on recordings that are not only great listening experiences, but that have something unique to teach us  about the art of...

Now that’s what I call keeping time

by | Nov 16, 2007 | A view from the podium

Well, I’ve finished the last bit of fire related business for me here in Pendleton. As I’ve mentioned before, when I moved to the UK, a lot of my old stuff that I didn’t need on a daily basis stayed in the old office, and most got cooked in the fire. A very few boxes...

Recent comments

by | Nov 14, 2007 | A view from the podium

We were rehearsing one of the developmental episodes in the last mvt of Beethoven 8 last night (the march section), and were having some ensemble problems. It’s normal in passages with repeated staccato notes for players to suffer varying degrees of rushy-ness. So, I...

Orchestra retreat wrap up

by | Nov 12, 2007 | A view from the podium

It’s happy hour on Sunday afternoon (in this case, it’s a caffeine oriented happy hour), and, although I could hardly be more tired, I’m in really high spirits, thanks to the efforts of the OES preparatory orchestra. This youth orchestra is only in its fifth season,...