Latest Blog Posts

I would hate to see what my verbal ability would have been like if I hadn’t studied music:  While it is no surprise that the young musicians scored significantly higher than those in the control group on two skills closely related to their music training (auditory discrimination and finger dexterity), the more surprising result was […]

Liberal blogger Kevin Drum comes out against federal funding for the arts: Now, I, Kevin Drum, happen to like classical music but not jazz. I like film but don't really get much of a kick out of theater. I love novels but have never developed an appreciation of poetry. Etc. etc. If it turned out […]

I love Chicago.  And I am happy to say that it is a relationship of mutual admiration—Chicago loves art. You cannot move through Chicago and be unaware of Chicago’s dedication to art, whether through the city’s stunning architecture, Millennium Park’s public space sculpture and landscape design, the world class Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago […]

Liz Garnett dissects a recent ChoralNet discussion in her latest blog entitled Metaphors and Professionalism.   After restating the positions of some of our frequent bloggers (Allen, John, and Anna), she boils the discussion down to this:   It looks, therefore, like there are three variables that may affect how happily advanced musicians respond to […]

Oh . . . There are many reasons you don’t want to miss the ACDA Conference in Chicago.   Here is another:   The conference will feature 2011 Grammy Award winning Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under guest conductor Helmuth Rilling. The CSO’s recording of Verdi’s Requiem, led by Music Director Riccardo Muti, was awarded […]

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You don't want to miss the ACDA National Conference in Chicago.   One of the things I am most excited about is Simon Carrington's session on Wednesday morning.   It promises to be excellent.  I had an opportunity to interview Simon Carrington last Friday and I've turned the first part of that interview into the […]

Twitter keeps feeding me news stories about choral music: 1.  Former choral teacher settles with University of Northern Iowa for $210K.  Story here.   2.  Article about a rock star in the choral world can only be one person.  Story here.   3.  Chicago politician loves singing and architecture.  Story here.       And […]

A counterpoint to yesterday’s post by Philip supporting John Mackey’s argument (posted on Whitacre’s blog) that self-publishing is a better deal for composers.   The counter-argument is, that if a publisher can sell 1,000 copies and you get 10%, you’re better off than if you keep 100% of 12 copies sold through your website. The […]

The nonprofit arts industry generates $166.2 billion annually in economic activity, supports 5.7 million full-time equivalent jobs in the arts and related industries, and returns $12.6 billion in federal income taxes. Measured against direct federal cultural spending of about $1.4 billion, that’s a return of nearly nine to one.   Federal funding for the arts […]