He sang surprisingly...

As a man who can keenly remember waiting until age 15 for my voice to break - yeah, that was a loooong sophomore year - this report about the dwindling numbers of boy sopranos in Europe was interesting.

But maintaining Bach’s legacy has become more difficult. The problem is with the sopranos. At St. Thomas, as in all boys choirs, the oldest of those singers with unbroken voices are the most prized. Like flowers that are most beautiful just before they die, these boys have the most power, stamina and technique. There are scholars who say that in Bach’s day, some boys’ voices didn’t change until as late as 17. Now boys’ voices are changing earlier, a lot earlier. Medical records tracking puberty through history do not exist, but Joshua Goldstein, chairman of the demography department at the University of California, Berkeley, has analyzed mortality patterns among boys, which can show increased risk-taking and, by extension, the onset of puberty. His research suggests that the age of puberty for boys has dropped, on average, 2.5 months a decade since the mid-1700s. That would mean that boys are sopranos for a shorter time. To maintain a well-stocked soprano section, St. Thomas needs to start with and train more boys. To house growing numbers of recruits, the choir has built a new, larger glass-and-steel-frame alumnat. [More for choral music fans]

I was fortunate to have been in school when chorus was attractive as a way to get out of study hall, and I subsequently learned to love singing. Like golf, it's something you can do for almost all of your life.

Laugh if you want, but The Stone's Keith Richards was a boy soprano who sang for the Queen. 

That's satisfaction.

Belated, but worth it...  

Meant to post this earlier, of course, but amazing has a shelf-life.



Wonder what the Star Trek Theme would sound like?

Meanwhile, I was a big fan...  

Of Vladimir Horowitz. We didn't have pianists like this when my hormones were raging.

 Pianist Yuja Wang struck a chord at the Hollywood Bowl this month and not just with her performance of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. The 24-year-old Chinese soloist had necks craning, tongues wagging and flashbulbs popping when she walked on wearing an orange, thigh-grazing, body-hugging dress atop sparkly gold strappy stiletto sandals.

In particular, Wang's outfit was a hot topic at the concert and continued after Times music critic Mark Swed's review appeared in print and online. While Swed praised her delicacy, speed and grace at the piano, his fashion comments — including the observation: "Her dress Tuesday was so short and tight that had there been any less of it, the Bowl might have been forced to restrict admission to any music lover under 18 not accompanied by an adult" — have touched off a spirited debate among music critics and bloggers about what constitutes appropriate concert attire and conversely, whether a critique of a performer's clothes has any place in a music review. [ More uptightness in every sense of the word]

More interesting still to those of us on the far fringe of classical music is the legions of brilliant pianists emerging with technical skills that were the province of a select few only a few years ago.

Ms. Wang’s virtuosity is stunning. But is that so unusual these days? Not really. That a young pianist has come along who can seemingly play anything, and easily, is not the big deal it would have been a short time ago.

The overall level of technical proficiency in instrumental playing, especially on the piano, has increased steadily over time. Many piano teachers, critics and commentators have noted the phenomenon, which is not unlike what happens in sports. The four-minute mile seemed an impossibility until Roger Bannister made the breakthrough in 1954. Since then, runners have knocked nearly 17 seconds off Bannister’s time.

Something similar has long been occurring with pianists. And in the last decade or so the growth of technical proficiency has seemed exponential. Yes, Ms. Wang, who will make her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall in October, can play anything. But in China alone, in recent years, there have been Lang Lang and Yundi Li.

Russia has given us Kirill Gerstein, born in 1979, the latest recipient of the distinguished Gilmore Artist Award, whose extraordinary recording of the Liszt Sonata, Schumann’s mercurial “Humoreske” and a fanciful piece by Oliver Knussen on Myrios Classics was one of the best recordings of 2010. In June Mr. Gerstein made his New York Philharmonic debut at a Summertime Classics concert with a boldly interpreted and brilliant account of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. But don’t let his probing musicianship distract you. He is another of those younger technicians who have figured out everything about piano playing. [More]

This could be what I think of as the Tiger Woods Syndrome, where parents start much earlier with talented offspring and with the help of new methods of training produce prodigies in abundance.

But for a sector of the music industry not looking at a booming future, I think is was inevitable to see sex appeal woven into the product. It was already a big part of standard soprano uniforms. And if you look a the orchestras backing the admittedly treacly music of Andre Rieu. et. al., it is pretty obvious you need to be obviously pretty to apply.

Also, the live event is rising in importance to recorded music likely due to file-sharing and the decreased profits. So looking smoking hot works is not limited to the album cover CD case. I suppose the same things could be said for men (see also: El Divo) but I'll have to take Jan's word for that.

With increasing cosmetic surgery and other enhancement techniques, looking good is slipping onto the requirement list for more professions. 

At some point, I wonder, will farmers have to be gorgeous to succeed? Screwier things have happened.

I'm getting out just in time.

Not just for Star Trek theme music* anymore...

The much belittled theremin can be more than a prop for a Big Bang episode.

Behold, music played strangely.



What is really fascinating is how seriously they all seemed to take it.

*Trick question! The theremin-like sound was actually a remarkable soprano.

Heh.

The Virtual Choir...

I continue to marvel at what we can do with the Internet. This "choir of individuals" is either genius or another blow to our social infrastructure.



Nonetheless, it is beautiful music.

For Jan...

Who once skated down our roadside ditches.  A remembrance of her Dutch heritage.


Dutch Winter from Kasper Bak on Vimeo.

Cool music too. (Ice Dance by Paul Reeves)

I wept like a girl...

Since it would appear 1 November is the start of the season, this wonderful start to my and I hope your Christmas time.




I hope I never lose my vulnerability to great music to overwhelm me by surprise.

BTW:  Given the acoustics and scattered nature of the singers, this was no small accomplishment.

[Thanks, Brian]

Back off, Jack...

I'm packing Elgar.

Classical music isn't just for listening to - it is a powerful people repellent.

The use of classical music in public places is increasingly common: in shopping malls, parking lots, and other places where crowds and loitering can be problems. The TTC is by no means the only transit service to use the technique: in 2005, after classical music was introduced into London’s Underground, there was a significant decrease in robberies, assaults and vandalism. Similar results have been noted from Finland to New Zealand. The idea may be a Canadian innovation: in 1985, a 7-Eleven store in Vancouver pioneered the technique, which was soon adopted elsewhere. Today, about 150 7-Elevens throughout North America play classical music outside their stores.
As a classical music lover, I’d like to believe that my favourite music has some kind of magical effect on people – that it soothes the savage breast in some unique way. I’d like to think that classical music somehow inspires nobler aspirations in the mind of the purse-snatcher, causing him to abandon his line of work for something more upstanding and socially beneficial.
But I know better. The hard, cold truth is that classical music in public places is often deliberately intended to make certain kinds of people feel unwelcome. Its use has been described as “musical bug spray,” and as the “weaponization” of classical music. At the Bathurst Street Subway Station, the choice of music conveys a clear message: “Move along quickly and peacefully, people; this is not your cultural space.”
Some sociologists have expressed concern that this particular use of classical music only serves to further divide society along lines of age, class and ethnicity. And, not surprisingly, some in the classical music community are offended by this new purpose for their art. The English music critic Norman Lebrecht has written that using classical music as a policing tool is “profoundly demeaning to one of the greater glories of civilization.”
However, it’s not really the fault of those concerned with public order and safety that many young people – especially those who come from economic and cultural backgrounds that have never embraced Western classical music – have an aversion to classical music. The managers who install the loudspeakers and switch on the music are pragmatists who are taking convenient advantage of a pre-existing socio-cultural state of affairs. To direct hostility against them, as Lebrecht has done, is to shoot the messenger. [More]

I think I have reached that point where old guys stop apologizing for unpopular beliefs or tastes. I have watched with quiet detachment as my own church embraces music that touches me not, and have dropped out of the popular music culture without a backward glance.

But just like the new politics, the triviality of contemporary music seems based too much on simple emotion and minimal intellectual effort. It is fast food for the ears.  And just like foodies swimming upstream in this current, I happily can choose to join that tiny minority with my listening tastes.

I do not begrudge others their their own joys, but suspect they will pall quickly because they are built to be ephemeral.  Like the incredibly uninformed political opinions (Cut taxes to fight the deficit!) rampant across the US, I don't have to argue against them, just wait.  Illogic collapses on its own.  So too will much of what passes for music, I would venture.

This all sounds terribly condescending, and I suppose it is, but our race to the bottom culturally, fed by economic bifurcation, will make such views more common coming from that tiny portion of us who are doing well in the US. We will simply have fewer things in common with the lower 99%. (Yeah- I'm in that bracket, and unlike many farmers I know, I at least admit it.)

The weird thing is that even though my attitudes irritate so many, those same folks are sacrificing their own futures to defend mine.  (Go ahead - cut my taxes.)

I seem to have wandered from the music intro, but perhaps classical music is a small window into the growing division between us.

Eat your heart out, Bellagio...

THIS is a musical fountain!

The Dubai Fountain. Located next to the soon-to-be second tallest building in the world.


[via sullivan]

No wonder...

I thought I kept hearing the same song over and over...

In my Economics and Current Policy Issues lecture on copyright, I point out that strengthening the duration or application of copyright both increases the returns to created works and increases the costs of creating new works; I usually point out the list of artists who'd have to be paying royalties to Pachelbel's heirs for ripping off the chord progression from Canon in D (or, more likely, who wouldn't have created their songs at all) were copyright too strictly applied. [More]

Which would also help explain this:

[More]

I think the same story could play out in many other realms of intellectual property.

Print media springs to mind: too many wanna-be authors, too easy to publish and distribute on-line.

Which is why live-performance is the center of attention.

On the other hand, record companies are far less susceptible to the cost-disease. Musicians rarely make money off of recordings, because the record companies' overhead and profit take precedence; some performers have tried to keep more revenue for themselves by starting their own recording ventures. Success isn't automatic—the risks remain high, even as the costs of creating and manufacturing recordings have declined. Internet technology, however, has lowered the barrier-to-entry even further, cutting the distribution costs involved in selling recordings to almost nothing. The demise of Tower Records is lamentable, but the economic forces that shut their doors are creating opportunity: for a historically miniscule start-up investment, performers can control content, manufacturing, and distribution in a vertically-integrated way. In this model, live performance becomes not just an end in itself, but also a marketing tool that funnels money into your record business. [More] 

Hence we see concert ticket prices rising.

Why are concert ticket prices so high?

The only way for ticket prices to go down is if artists charge less. Building owners and promoters don't control pricing. That's controlled by the artists and their managers. Those are the groups that have to make the conscientious decision to give the consumer a break on tickets and pricing.

That said, it's not all their fault. It's also the fault of the promoters who bid up the price. We're our own worst enemies. Agents aren't going to stop us because they want to get as much money as they can for the artist. At some point, we need to deal with the mentality of winning the bid at all costs because, in the end, the consumer ends up paying the price. [More]

Not that I've, like, actually attended a concert in this century, of course.

Great finishes...

I have admired the work and artistry of Placido Domingo over all the tenors I have heard, including Pavarotti.  Now at 69, he is extending his career as a baritone - and apparently successfully.

And does Domingo ever die! He doesn’t just gradually sink to the floor holding on to the sturdy soprano to cushion his fall. He pitches headlong toward the prompter’s box (from which helpful whispers emanated all night long).
It was a thrilling end to an unusual evening.
Having made his debut as a tenor in 1968 at the Met, Domingo now made a second debut as a baritone in the same week he celebrated his 69th birthday. His mental and physical fitness are amazing; his technique and energy, simply beyond compare. (In between shows, he’s also conducting another mid-tier Verdi piece, “Stiffelio.”)
Burnished Sound

That burnished sound of his filled Simone’s often wistful music without seeming underpowered in the middle range. When in the last scene Domingo sang of the sea and remembered his great deeds, so did we. [More]

I am wavering between the model of a graceful, timely exit from the professional scene and seeing how long I can contribute anything worthwhile. Examples like Placido Domingo make the latter look appealing.

After all, 69 isn't that far away.

Christmas music to avoid...

Listen to some samples, if you dare.

Maybe for the office party grab bag?  Take the poll, as well.

Jump Bach, Jack...

Music on a Mobius strip.



The trouble with true genius is we can't really grasp it.

[via j-walk]

Ah, yes...a capella on Sunday morning...

This quick essay rang a bell.

The first time I attended my father’s church, I was mortified, standing among my siblings, to realize we would be singing hymns without accompaniment: the sole piano player had defected to another church before my father’s arrival. With barely over a dozen members in the congregation, you couldn’t get away with mouthing the words. And trying to sing loudly enough to prove you have neither a heathen’s irreverence - though you are your very own, grown-up kind of heathen, singing out of respect for your parents’ belief - nor a tin ear while trying to keep your neighbors from hearing the cracks in your voice is akin be being strangled. Or slowly drowning. The necessary ratios of open throat to closed throat, of sound release to sound blockage, are tricky. Sure, it sounds pornographic, but anyone who has reluctantly joined in on the joys of communal singing knows it’s the truth. Your heart rate accelerates equally from oxygen deprivation as congregational stage fright. All this to say, trying to maintain privacy while singing in church is difficult enough without a conspicuously absent piano and twelve good country people singing acapella. [More]

To all for whom congregational singing is not something you look forward to.

[via 3Q]

I've heard a piano sing...

But now we can make it talk.




[via rgs]

It was wonderful, honey...

To all those fellow grandparents sitting in the school auditorium for the band concert.

[Update: Andrew and I got snookered - it may not be a high school band.  I add my apologies as well]

[via sullivan]

I'm not sure...

But I think this may become a new approach to musical notation.



At any rate, I found it wonderful to watch, and intuitive to see the parts.

Here's a Bach fugue.

[via sullivan]

Sing the old songs...

I  miss my choir, now that I have stepped down as director. This feeling is not unique.

An interesting corollary is that our exposure to different types of music, and hence our musical literacy, has certainly expanded, but perhaps at a cost. As Daniel Levitin has pointed out, passive listening has largely replaced active music-making. Now that we can listen to anything we like on our iPods, we have less motivation to go to concerts or churches or synagogues, less occasion to sing together. This is unfortunate, because music-making engages much more of our brains than simply listening. Partly for this reason, to celebrate my 75th birthday last year, I started taking piano lessons (after a gap of more than sixty years). I still have my iPod (it contains the complete works of Bach), but I also need to make music every day. [More]

It is difficult to explain how music - in my case choral music- adds to our lives, but its absence is clearly experienced. I think one reason I identify with my British ancestry is their enduring heritage of choral singing. (Maybe I have some Welsh in me too).

But the point made above seems valid.  Music may be ubiquitous today, but only in a passive sense.  And it appears singing could be something that adds greatly to our later years.

It just wouldn't be the Fourth...

Without the Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa



I still stand by Vladimir Horowitz, however. (From a 1945 concert, I think)



Since you can't see him actually perform, watch this effort to match. (Arkady Volodos)




And finally, back by popular demand:

Happy Independence Day!!

Forty (wet) acres to go...

Back when I was just a lad (34) Toto released "Africa".  I like this version even better.



Note the power of one really good bass.

And I was reminded too often rain is a much wished-for blessing.