Discussion Topic: Community

  1. Live Blog: Spotlight Conversation #2

    3:005 pm: A peer network is one of the best things to come out of Sphinx training.

    3:02 pm: We are learning that Amos Yang is a major prankster. When the substitute teacher would come in, all the members of his school orchestra would switch instruments. Suddenly, he was the Concertmaster!

    2:55 pm: Afa Sadykhly Dworkin has observed that the idea that classical music “isn’t cool” doesn’t come into play until the teenage years. Young kids don’t have this bias.

    2:54 pm: Afa Sadykhly Dworkin: for many kids that Sphinx works with “survival skills are perhaps more key” than learning an instrument. Music is a luxury and a foreign value. Sphinx brings music to them — literally — transportation is often an issue. Sphinx instructors often have to be the cheerleader to keep a kid to stick with music, in the face of many obstacles. Often it’s not going to be someone in the family telling them to continue.

    2:49 pm: Amos Yang fist stepped on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall thirty years ago as an 11-year-old cellist in the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra. He claims he goofed off in the last stand of the cello section. He wanted to quit, but was encouraged to stay in the orchestra. He recognizes that kids these days have so much pressure to excel in so many different activities.

    2:45 pm: Community often starts in small, grassroots ways.

    2:40 pm: Amos Yang on beginning to play the cello: his teacher told him, “put your arms around the instrument and give it a bear hug.” That’s how it all began! Amos Yang played in the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra, and now in the SF Symphony.

    2:39 pm: Afa Sadykhly Dworkin introduces the Sphinx Organization. Growth in audience will reflect the growth in the population.

    2:35 pm: Spotlight conversation #2 begins with Afa Sadykhly Dworkin, VP/Artistic Director, Sphinx Organization, Detroit, and Amos Yang, Assistant Principal Cellist, San Francisco Symphony, and alumnus, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra; moderated by Steven Winn, San Francisco arts journalist and critic.

    Topic: Community | Tags:
    October 23, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (0)

  2. Live Blog: Spotlight Conversation #1

    2:33pm: Neil Harris: culture is a religion to many people. Historically, many concert halls were built almost as temples; you approached as a worshiper. There was a “priest” and a “congregation.” This created a distance between people and the art form.

    2:27pm: Interesting question. How do you convince someone of the redeeming spiritual value of music — that experiencing beauty or being intellectually stimulated — actually serves the public good?

    2:22pm: How does technology change the relationship between the orchestra and the community? Jesse Rosen: the New World Symphony’s new concert hall with giant outdoor Wallcasts changes the nature of what is “live” — people watch the first part of the concert in the hall, then walk out to experience the second half in the crowd outside. The energy of the crowd is part of the musical experience.

    2:19pm: A hundred years ago, there was live music everywhere (cafe orchestras, park bands, etc.) — and you couldn’t carry the music around in your ear. Early funders sometimes saw this as a cheapening of musical taste. Many wanted to establish a “quality” sound.

    2:15pm: It can be a challenge to grow an international reputation, while also serving local communities. Orchestras tour around the world and also perform in local senior citizen centers — an amazing range of activity.

    2:11pm: Jesse Rosen: the initial focus of orchestras was solely on the quality of the artistic experience, but as our country changed — and as our sensibilities changed about what it meant to be a non-profit organization in America — we’ve seen a shift in what is expected of an American orchestra.

    2:07pm: Neil Harris: in the late 19th/early 20th century, cities felt they needed orchestras (and other civic organizations) to place the community on the world map. Philanthropists played the role of city boosters.

    2:00pm: SF Symphony Executive Director Brent Assink welcomes the audience and outlines the afternoon. With tongue-in-cheek: “Please participate and stump our panelists with your questions.”

    1:57pm: Greetings from Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco! People are taking their places for our first spotlight conversation with Jesse Rosen, President/CEO, League of American Orchestras, and Neil Harris, Professor of History and Art History, University of Chicago; moderated by Mark Clague, Professor of Music, University of Michigan.

    Topic: Community | Tags:
    October 23, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (0)

  3. Talking about Community: Things I’m Hoping to Learn at Today’s Event

    In this post, Mark Clague, co-moderator of today’s live event, shares some of what he’s hoping to learn from each of our speakers. If you can’t join us in San Francisco, you can follow the conversation on this blog, on Twitter and view complete videos from the event later this week.

    Things I’m Hoping to Learn… (more…)

    Topic: Community | Tags:
    October 23, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (0)

  4. Is music an essential human right?

    In this guest post, Deborah Borda, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, explains how thinking big and embracing social responsibility led the LA Phil to a groundbreaking new partnership. Ms. Borda will be speaking at our free event on Sunday, October 23rd, with Gustavo Dudamel, Music Director of the LA Phil.

    Who would imagine that an orchestra, a conservatory, and a college on opposite coasts would – or could – unite around a common goal? A few short weeks ago, the answer to this question was revealed when the LA Phil announced a groundbreaking new partnership with the Longy School of Music and Bard College to support social change through music. The joint initiative, called Take a Stand, is inspired by Venezuela’s revolutionary music education program, El Sistema, and supports the pioneering field through national conferences and a credentialed teacher training program. In the past, a venture like this – so heavily rooted in social responsibility – may have been considered out of place in the symphony orchestra world. But today, it is precisely this kind of undertaking that we must challenge ourselves to seek out in order to survive and stay relevant. (more…)

    Topic: Community | Tags: , , ,
    October 21, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (4)

  5. Speaker spotlight: Jesse Rosen

    Jesse Rosen, President and CEO of the League of American Orchestras, will speak at our first live event in San Francisco on Sunday, October 23. In this video, he shares a few reactions to recent conversations happening here on the American Orchestra Forum website — from the Attica prison riots (really! see this post if you missed it) to how music can be the catalyst for deep personal transformation. In the end, it’s all about how music, and orchestras, can connect with people and communities on the most fundamental level.

    Topic: Community | Tags: ,
    October 20, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (1)

  6. A Pioneering Educational Partnership: the University of Michigan and the San Francisco Symphony

    Participating in all three American Orchestra Forum events will be a group of eleven graduate students from University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. These students are enrolled in “Musicology 650: The Ensemble in America,” an upper-level doctoral research seminar organized by musicology professor Mark Clague, author of this post. The class examines the history of orchestras, choirs, bands (concert, rock, and marching), and chamber groups in the United States.

    The fundamental hypothesis of “The Ensemble in America” is that the history of music in the United States is not just a story of talented individuals (composers or musicians), but of cultural organizations, such as the San Francisco Symphony—encompassing its audience, staff, donors, and civic leaders, as well as its musicians. Generally we think of “Art” as the product of individual genius, but making music really requires collective action and these collectives can also be creative. The San Francisco Symphony centennial only highlights this pervasive phenomenon. (more…)

    Topic: Community | Tags: , ,
    October 19, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (8)

  7. Speaker spotlight: Deborah Borda

    Deborah Borda is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and will appear in conversation with Gustavo Dudamel at our live event on Sunday, October 23rd. She recently sat down with Jim Farber of San Francisco Classical Voice for an interview and had some interesting things to say about the role of the orchestra in its community:

    You can’t manage an orchestra the way we did 20 years ago, even five years ago. It used to be that as a manager all you had to worry about was the artistic imperative of putting the best show you could on stage. Of course, you still have to worry about that. But in addition, as our society has changed, there is a new moral imperative that we have not really addressed or thought about. Symphony orchestras are cultural institutions. But we are also human service institutions and we need to consistently demonstrate our value. That’s especially true when you are saying to the community, “You need to give me 60 percent of my budget to sustain the institution.” Read the full interview.

    Topic: Community | Tags: , ,
    October 18, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (2)

  8. The Brooklyn Philharmonic Reboot

    The Brooklyn Philhamonic calls its 2011 season a “reboot.” Under the leadership of Artistic Director Alan Pierson, the orchestra is going “deep into Brooklyn’s famed neighborhoods to connect with the vibrant musical traditions of the people who love it most” and collaborating with a variety of Brooklyn-based artists you might not normally find in the concert hall. (more…)

    Topic: Community | Tags: ,
    October 17, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (4)

  9. Culture and the City

    In this guest post, Neil Harris, Professor Emeritus of History and Art History at the University of Chicago, examines how American arts organizations have arrived at this particular moment in time. Born out of civic pride, one-upmanship and good will, our institutions face a unique and challenging legacy. Neil Harris will be a panelist at our live event in San Francisco on October 23.

    During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, over the course of three or four decades, major American cities brought forth a series of cultural institutions–art and natural history museums, symphony orchestras, opera companies, research libraries. They performed mutliple functions. Many of them were designed to credential their civic hosts, to provide them with status in the highly competitive world of American municiaplities, to invoke the rich cultural life of storied European cities. In a number of cases institution founding was linked to some great local event, or the survival of some great crisis. Patronized in large part by wealthy local businessmen and professionals, they were also in part gestures of good will toward the towns where they had done so well. (more…)

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    October 12, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (6)

  10. Common Chords at the Minnesota Orchestra

    This week the Minnesota Orchestra launches the Common Chords initiative, designed to create “one-of-a-kind collaborations between the Orchestra and communities around the state.” The first lucky city to participate? Grand Rapids, MN. Population 10,869.

    The week’s events include: Tea and Chamber Music at the Library, Lunch with Minnesota Orchestra Musicians at St. Joseph’s Church, and a Side by Side rehearsal with the Itasca Youth Chamber Orchestra, leading up to a performance by the Minnesota Orchestra on Saturday.

    In her recent post, Afa Sadykhly Dworkin argued that artists and organizations “have to build the sense of value and experience, one person, one family at a time,” and it appears that the Minnesota Orchestra has reached a very similar conclusion. Is this the future of “community” or simply a return to it?

    Learn more about Common Chords.

    Topic: Community | Tags: ,
    October 11, 2011 by Beth Hondl | Comments (0)

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