karma
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Daily Smile #2
I came across this last week and cringe-laughed for a good few minutes. I’ll let you watch before I comment: Oh, where do I begin. I mean, I’ve certainly heard my share of horn clams and mistakes of all kinds and “wtf-are-you-even-playing-the-same-piece?” moments on the podium, but one of the fundamental things a conductor should do is to NOT REACT LIKE THIS. In this instance I’m sure the horn player was mortified enough with his blipped entrance without having to face that look of death (he even stops conducting! During a concert!). You don’t need to magnify a moment like this with pouting or histrionics on the podium. It doesn’t…
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Small gestures
Pinkerton and I see a lot of Starbucks. It’s a reliable place for a cup of caffeination and a portable breakfast, and if there’s one close by wherever I’m staying (and there always is) we’ll be there every morning, pre-rehearsal. The Starbucks we frequent the most is one attached to a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, where I conduct monthly. Your typical hotel Starbucks is usually a scene – long lines of customers with their complicated custom orders (“sugar-free no-whip half-caff mocha with soy milk”) and harried baristas with barely a moment to look up from the register. This one is different. A few years ago, a new barista started working…
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Positive payback
When I started my career as a conductor, I was fresh out of conservatory and newly married. I was teaching part time at Curtis and working for a small regional orchestra near Philly and doing the odd little gigs that came in. Paul and I made maybe $25K between the two of us, didn’t have health insurance and barely had two pennies to rub together. We were starving young musicians in all senses. I remember throughout those very lean early years that though money was tight, I didn’t want to completely curtail my social life, particularly the relaxing ritual of the post-concert drink. And on many occasions, after a cocktail…