| Brought to you this hour by |  | Advertising and Web Hosting on Woodwind.Org! |
Doublereed Archive - Posting 000072.txt from 2006/10
From: Oboeeee@-----.com
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Re: QOD...Surviving the Critical Review
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:57:07 -0400
Dear Phil,
I appreciate your comments. Unfortunately, a critic has the potential to
make or break a young struggling orchestra such as the ABO. As the only
permanent, period-instrument orchestra staged in the Southeast, we hope this jewel
survives in a city now famous for hip-hop artists and gangster rap promoters.
As a member of the Board of Directors and the VP for Development, raising
close to $20,000 per concert to keep the band on the stage can keep one awake
at night particularly when we are in a campaign to build our audience and our
donor base.
The true critic should remain unbiased regardless of the opinions expressed
either privately or publicly with respect to the press. Otherwise, the
critic himself needs to grow a thicker skin or abandon his trade. Criticism is
always controversial...that's the name of the game.
As for Ph.Ds in early music performance and related fields such as
musicology, they are nice sheep skins to hang on the wall. That assumes one can
afford a wall immediately postgraduate or even ten years down the career path.
The only good news is that without a job, there is ample time to
practice...10,000 hours to many early music musicians may be manageable.
I apologize if you were offended by the thread.
Warm Regards,
Janie
Enduring many sleepless nights
This is your strategy for "survival": counter-attack?
Sniping at a critic's degree in Forestry, or lack of Music degree,
seems like a dubious strategy, to me. Doesn't that imply that the
proper appreciation of your performances requires a Doctorate? If so,
you're going to have to do a lot of "educating" to build any sort of
following, as most of us don't have Ph.D.'s in Music History.
Fortunately, the critic as voiced a willingness to put himself in a
position, via the interview, to learn more about what your group is
doing and to pass the word on to his review-reading public. Will this
opportunity remain if the fellow finds out he is being disrespected
behind his back, or if he confronts condescension in the interview?
Phil Freihofner
---------------------------------------------------------------------
For personal help: email doublereed-owner@-----.org
Doublereed is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
