pageflake

I recently created a pageflake where I put links to blogs, websites, bookmarks and scholarly resources about music and Los Angeles.

I think it's swell.

Would you like to learn more about my page?

(Yes, you would.)

Oh, you would? Well then, continue reading for a mini "tour" of my pageflake...

RSS Flakes

The RSS feeds I have included are an unfortunately accurate representation of existing classical music blogs. Ranging from uber traditional to slightly less traditional, these blogs form a very slender bell curve that covers chatter on classical music in contemporary society.

Way out in left field are blogs such as “Sandow,” written by a well-learned music critic and educator, and “Dial ‘M’ for Musicology,” which is not as clever as its name suggests. You can rely on these blogs for almost daily updates on classical music musings, scholarly reports and hypothetical questions.

On the right side of this grassy field are blogs by youngins like Molly Sheridan and Steven Kac. Youthful and full of spunk, their blogs have a few more pop culture references than their elders’ and use literary devices such as sarcasm and comedy. Still, their blogs remain to the point, and you will find traces of academia hiding between their italicized punch lines.

Loafing around in the middle of the field, picking weeds and looking bored, are blogs like “My Fickle Ears Dig It” and “Musical Assumptions.” While these feeds do offer some notable posts about the music world, personal posts and daily reflections make up the majority of the feed. These blogs, when paired with warm milk and a blanket, will put you right to sleep.

Search Flakes

I used the terms “classical music and culture” and “future of classical music” in the Universal Blog and Universal News searches, respectively. Because “music in Los Angeles” is so specific it did not bring up enough material, so I kept my key terms very general.

For the Blog search in particular, it was very difficult to pull up any feeds other than RIP Michael Jackson posts or random music event ads. Apparently the general blogging public is more interested in the death of a pop culture legend than the future of classical music. Go figure.

Soulmate Flake

Let me introduce you to my soulmate. That is, my long-lost, web2.0-loving, internet-surfing, classicial-music-blogging, Diigo-using soulmate. Her/his name is Philharmania.

I know what you’re thinking.
“Gosh, she doesn’t even know her soulmate’s gender??”
But let me reassure you, our social bookmarking relationship goes beyond the meager social construct you call gender. This is internet love.

Philharmania and I share a whopping ten tag terms. Not only that, but both “it” and I have designated over half of our Diigo tags as music related, whether it be “musicology,” “opera,” or even “Rameau.” Not only that, but Philharmania also shares my interest in classical music websites and has an avid bookmark collection of blogs, mp3 sharing sites and music reviews.

Bibliography Flake

I attempted to make my Zotero bibliography quite general. Rather than only include articles about music in Los Angeles, I chose sources that spoke about music alone, or music and society, or old people. In this way, I have a flexible source of material for my research paper and my pageflake readers are not bored to tears by the sight of the words “Los Angeles” and “music” in the same sentence.

Five of my fourteen sources are books. Surprisingly, the USC music library has quite a few heavy volumes on ethnomusicology, sociological aspects of music, popular music constructs, music-socio-economic studies, the psychology of music, and other equally stimulating topics. So, after brushing off the dust, I picked out the ones with the best covers and took them home.

My other nine sources are, you guessed it, not books! These journal articles and anthologies tackle subjects slightly more specific, such as audience demographics and everything you ever want to know about mariachi music. Shorter and easier to read, these articles add diversity to my hard-back collection and offer contemporary opinions on our musical society.


Now, go look at my pageflake!

white noise

Forget about the snobby Beverly Hills crowd, the 24-hour traffic, the ever-present tanning salons and the heavenly cost of living. Los Angeles is miraculous.

Why the sudden change of heart?

Today being the glorious, sunny, 80-degree day that it was, I decided to take a trip to the beach with some friends. I splattered on sunscreen, stretched out a towel and collapsed on the sand.

Soon enough I caught myself drifting off… all of a sudden I was Captain Plush, on a mission to destroy the sun monster. Feathered torpedoes zoomed around me and waves of heat blinded my eyes, yet I pushed on, determined to demolish the growling cookie monster eating the sun.

Wait a second… growling cookie monster? As I came to, trying to make sense of my dream, I realized the growling, devouring creature must have been the ocean. With its low grumble and howling waves, it made for a pretty good space villain.



But why was the cookie monster sleep-inducing? Why is the sound of the ocean so calming?

One of my friends proposed that the ocean must remind us of our mother’s embryonic fluids, the sticky sort we floated around in while in the womb. Though a charming idea, I was doubtful of our ability to identify with a feeling so… primal.

I think the ocean is calming because it is “white noise.” Like the sound of a trickling stream, a bedroom fan, the hum of an air conditioner, the static of a radio. It’s a constant, unchanging, barely discernible sound that floats in the back of our minds and washes away our troubles.

Picture yourself lying on the beach with the roar of the ocean in your ear… Now that’s relaxation. Where else can you experience that?

Why, in a symphony hall, of course! Or, perhaps on a classical music radio station!

I realized today that the classification of classical music as “calming music” stems from people’s perception of complex progressions and unusual instruments as “white noise.”

Just as I might turn on a baseball game for the sake of distraction while I cook dinner, or turn on the bedroom fan so I can fall asleep, the average person will listen to a classical piece of music and hardly hear it.

This reminds me of a time I spent in the car with my sister. We were driving a long distance so I turned on a Mahler symphony. Thirteen minutes in I’m on the edge of my seat, holding my breath as a chord resolves in a deceptive resolution, and I looked over to see my sister, who is in the passenger seat sending a text, biting her fingernails and asking if the song is over yet.

Unlike pop songs and hip hop singles, which can be easily recognized by rhyming lyrics over a weak, repetitive chord progression, symphonic and operatic repertoire floats in the deep end of musical intricacy.

I-IV-V-I is baby food for classical musicians. We have no appetite for it. We need something thick and meaty to sink our teeth into, to tear apart and savor, piece by piece.

To the untrained ear, on the other hand, a Brahms symphony is merely fifty minutes of I-IV-V-I progressions. (No wonder the old ladies are always nodding off in the front row. If that was all I heard, I’m sure it would put me to sleep, too.)

With this understanding, I’m left with an unfortunate lack of hope that average Joe (who is most likely a Coldplay fan) will ever truly appreciate classical repertoire. After all, average Joe has never played an instrument, read a music theory textbook, or even learned the notes in a C Major scale. Likewise, his elementary school level of music education only goes so far, and everyone knows he’s too cool to attend those classical community outreach programs.

What keeps the public, then, from tossing classical music into their database of white noise and storing it away until they need help falling asleep?

Unfortunately, nothing.

sometimes trying just ain't good enough

Oh deary me! Every time I go to the opera I am accompanied by a graying/bluing lady with a bad perm and her handkerchiefed husband.

The wealthy, elderly folk are unavoidable at classical music concerts. Opening candy wrappers to your left, spilling into your seat on the right, opening bottles of Perrier from behind, they’re like cockroaches! Not to attack our senior citizens, but honestly. Is there an unwritten rule that you have to be over 75 years old to see an opera?

In 2005 the National Endowment for the Arts released statistics on audience demographics for American opera companies:

In comparison with other arts-goers, opera attendees are wealthier, the most highly educated, and tend to reside in the suburbs. Opera tends to attract more women (58%) than men. In 2002, 6.1% of the opera audience was Hispanic, 3.8% was African American, and 3.6% was Asian American and Native American.

..."Tend to reside in the suburbs?” HA. I suppose that’s the PC way to say, “the people who go to operas are khaki-wearing, conservative, Caucasian retirees.” Personally, I find the latter definition much more accurate.

It’s disappointing, really, that classical music audiences are not more eclectic.

If a greater number of racial minorities attended concerts, for example, perhaps companies would begin to explore composers outside of the 18th century canon. Would a predominately Hispanic crowd not encourage the addition of composers like Robert Rodriquez to programs? Would Japanese concertgoers not want to hear music by Toru Takemitsu included in the performance?

If nothing else, our concert halls need the gumption of youth. It’s exasperating when I go to see Wagner’s Die Meistersinger and the elderly woman next to me is nodding off. If that woman was a ten-year-old boy I guarantee his eyes would have been glued to the stage, wide with horror at the sight of the valkyries’ flaming horses. Didn't you know it’s important for younger generations to attend classical music concerts. It makes them cultured. Less stupid.

So, why are audience demographics so narrow? Why can’t classical music organizations attract bigger audiences?

I recently interviewed for an internship with the Los Angeles Opera. Unfortunately for them I was overly qualified and was not offered the job. Anyway, the position was with the Education and Community Programs department, which organizes programs and learning opportunities for children, adults and educators in LA County.

They hold free “Opera Talks” in low-income neighborhoods, put on miniature performances of Madame Butterfly for elementary schools, offer discounted opera tickets for college students, and post downloadable opera lesson plans for teachers. It’s quite a charitable department (and considering the LA Opera’s $54 million budget, it’s to be expected).

The LA Opera assumed that by reaching out to their community and sharing opera with the public that they would attract some attention. Students would take an interest. Teachers would begin to organize field trips. More people would come to the opera. Still, despite all their philanthropy, they have yet to see a definitive change in opera attendance. Where are all of the 1st graders from Norwood Elementary who reenacted The Marriage of Figaro? Where are the LAUSD teachers who attended the Opera 101 training seminar? Sitting at home listening to Miley Cyrus, I guess.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has made similar efforts. Firstly, they hold a summer series of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. Not only are these concerts community friendly and sometimes accompanied with fireworks, but they even have $1 tickets! Gasp! The LA Phil also runs the Young Musicians Initiative program, which encourages LA students to participate in Youth Orchestras and offers them opportunities to perform aside LA Phil members. And they, too, hold neighborhood concerts through their Community Partnership Program.

But, once again, despite their best efforts, the LA Phil has failed to attract a larger audience. Classical music concert attendance is still dropping, classical music organizations are still going out of business, and community members still don’t care.

Take another look at Molly Sheridan’s post. It’s miserable!

I say enough with the advertising. Enough with promoting silly concerts that pair Handel and hot chocolate. If people don’t like or understand the music that is being played, it won’t matter how many times we candy coat the concert, they won’t come.

We don’t need any more cheap concerts or kid friendly ads. What we need is sex appeal. Some tall red heads in bikinis… a few male underwear models… name your favorite celebrity. If traditional advertising methods won’t work, then by God we’ll make classical music untraditional!



So, step aside Mozart and Schubert, your tunes have been played one too many times. We’re in a new era of classical music now, the kind with rock bands and electronic music and experimental techniques and indeterminacy. Classical concerts should no longer be boring afternoon outings for Red Hat Society ladies. The new era of concerts need to be hot. Spicy. Wild!

Now, where did we put those handcuffs?

trifecta

A recapitulation of the last three posts...



Hello Reader,

Once upon a time there was a young girl who loved music. Raised by Tuvan throat-singers in the hills of Kyrgyz, this child learned to read, write, and tie her shoes. When she was old enough, she enrolled in a money-order-only private school and learned how to play the tuba from an eighty-year-old arthritic gymnast. When the girl was discovered to be a tuba-playing prodigy she was kidnapped by CIA scuba divers, given a sleeping potion and taken to Los Angeles.

Upon reaching Los Angeles the girl awoke to find herself in the middle of a Writing 340 class, within yet another cash-sucking private school. Although she desperately wanted to return to Tuva to play tuba, she decided to stay. Her new professor was going to teach her how to make a blog, and with this new, flashy internet site she could study music and then tell the whole world about it.

Unfamiliar with Los Angeles, the girl tubist recently decided to write her blog about the new city and the music she discovered within it. The girl is very inquisitive, you see, and wants to know what genres of music are popular in Los Angeles. According to the media, Hannah Montana and Coldplay are the coolest kids on the block, but the girl is very skeptical. She has seen advertisements for Wagner’s Ring Cycle performed by the LA Opera and flyers for Herbie Hancock live at the Hollywood Bowl. These concerts wipe the floor with teenage girls and boy-bands. What are these people smoking?

After getting to the bottom of Los Angeles inhabitants’ seemingly contagious drug abuse problem, this girl hopes to discover what music is played in LA’s many communities and why. Aside from obvious ties between ethnicity and indigenous music, such as Mexico natives and mariachi or Japanese residents and ehru music, why do music genres seem to be limited to select performance venues? Why are the majority of classical performances in downtown? Why do rock bands frequent Hollywood? Why do soul and R&B artists play in South Central?

These are difficult questions, indeed, and to answer them the girl will have to go to a good deal of live concerts. Oh, well. Perhaps while she’s at these concerts, to fend off her inevitable boredom, she will take some notes. After writing down the type of music she hears, the location of the show and then drawing stick figure illustrations of the people she sees there she just might find a noteworthy relationship (chuckle) between music genres, concert venues and concert attendees.

The girl also expects to comment on dreary subjects such as the social hierarchies within Los Angeles, social constructs and concert attendance, the effects of our slowing economy on local musicians and local opinions about the LA music scene. But don’t worry your confounded little head. You won’t be bored. Her blog will be entertaining, comical, down right visionary! For after her hard work is done this girl plans to predict the future. That is, the future of music in Los Angeles.

Because her Tuvan parents avidly check her blog for updates, look forward to the tuba playing girl’s weekly postings about Los Angeles and its music.

The End.

Is classical music dying? Greg Sandow presents us with an answer.

Sandow’s blog, “Greg Sandow on the future of classical music,” explores societal opinions on classical music, its shrinking audience base, changes being made to classical ensembles and what we can expect of classical music in the future. While most bloggers of the general public would read his blog and instinctively yawn, Sandow’s focus is a weighty one for bloggers of the music world.

Our professions and paychecks rely on the musical prophecies he casts in his blog. And as we musicians wait for news, nervously plucking our strings, we trust that Sandow is qualified to discuss our future. Sandow received a MM in Music Composition and, after a short career as a composer, became a music critic, writing for Entertainment Weekly and The Wall Street Journal. He now works as a music critic and consultant based in New York City.

Sandow began his blog in July 2003 and has since written over 700 entries, averaging around three posts a week. Sandow’s blog is an ArtsJournal weblog and is rather popular, as his posts consistently receive comments from other bloggers and he hosts numerous ongoing discussions on his site. Two recent posts I find engaging are “Beyond Media” and “New Mission for orchestras?”

“Beyond Media” questions what type of advertisement is needed, if not a form of media, to promote classical music concerts. We all know that the question “Hey, ya want to go hear Beethoven’s Ninth with me?” usually fail as a pick up line, so Sandow attempts to spruce it up a bit. “New Mission for orchestras?” discusses the conflict confronted when orchestras must sacrifice professionalism, musical worth, and musicians’ gratification in order to appear community-friendly. In a slowing economy that, let’s face it, has a tendency to neglect the arts when times get tough, our approach toward advertising and performing classical music is very crucial.

I am pleased with the hospitable character of Sandow’s blog. While he offers insightful opinions and broaches controversial questions, he never adopts an authoritarian tone. Instead, as in his post “A shocking proposal,” Sandow offers his opinion and then asks for those of his readers:

Everyone talks about covering classical music in a livelier, more accessible way. But while I think that's certainly a good thing to do, I don't think it's the main problem. I think the main problem is that classical music isn't covered at all. What do you think?

While his question could be answered by any internet blogger, Sandow’s targeted audience are people involved in the arts. Many of the bloggers who comment on his page are musicians themselves, meaning Sandow’s topics hit close to home and they have a lot to say. Composers and tuba players alike can see the decline in classical music popularity as professional orchestras go out of business, less new music is commissioned, and less orchestral jobs become available, and, strangely, we like to blather about what horrible experiences the future holds for us.

In one of his posts labeled “Teaching,” Sandow tells of his experience as a professor at the Julliard School and Eastman School of Music. Naturally, many of the comments on this post come from other professors. While some of the talk is humdrum academic mumbling, most readers offer valuable suggestions of how to inspire classical music students to create their own paths in a shrinking classical music world. At least our teachers are optimistic. Or maybe it’s a scam…

In addition to its accepting, scholarly atmosphere, Sandow’s blog also includes ordinary discussions on ordinary subjects. Several of his posts are about visual art, political happenings, social sciences, education and -- get ready for this --“quotations of the day.” Still, Sandow’s writing is always researched, well written, highly detailed and calculated. His experience as a music critic is evident in his writing style, and his blog is immediately recognizable as a credible site for scholarly discussions and bloggers of academia. In other words, if you’re over fifty, wear tweed suits and enjoy isorhythmic motets, I guarantee you will like this blog.

In my own blog, “How Does LA Sound?” I hope to echo the substance of Sandow’s blog posts and his readiness to talk about subjects other than music. And, fortunately for you, the focus of my blog will be more concise than Sandow’s. Rather than discuss the future of a genre of music in the entire world, I will pinpoint only the music of Los Angeles. By observing the variance among music performed in Los Angeles I will identify what music thrives and what music is dying, find relationships between concert venues, performers and audience members, and foresee what the future of music will be for Los Angeles.

So take off that tweed jacket and grab a recording of the Brad Mehldau Trio. We’re traveling to lands not yet heard.

At last! A classical music blogger who discusses something other than Beethoven.

Molly Sheridan, a thirty-something female musician and music critic based in New York City is author of the ArtsJournal sponsored blog “Mind the Gap.” Unlike most classical music and musicology bloggers, Molly avoids littering her blog with lengthy concert reviews and mundane chats on the changing structure of the canon. Rather, Molly writes posts on “roller-skate chicks” and stolen scooters, all the while relating her quirky tales to the music business.

The eclectic nature of her posts is enough to attract the attention of any musician, if only from mere curiosity as to how “Mind the Gap” could possibly be a music blog. Molly’s writing, too, easily pulls readers in. It’s funny, sarcastic, simple, conversational… everything you could ever want from a not-too-academic blog. While she keeps her formatting and structure tuned down to “by the book” levels, Molly takes liberty with her diction, tone and subject matter.

In a recent post titled “Kiss My Skates” Molly recounts her adventure to a female roller derby:

The not-always-PC feminist I carry around in my head was not sure she was cool with this. The teams are made up of some kick-ass ladies, but they are also some unabashedly sexy chicks.

Her sarcastic description of herself as not always being politically correct and her casual use of the adjectives “kick-ass” and “unabashedly sexy” make clear that Molly does not filter niceties for the sake of etiquette, but embellishes her stories for shock value.

Molly then proceeds to relate these roller derby women to feminism in the music world (a strange comparison, right?):

I agonize over being a girl in the 2009 music world. I hear tales of misogyny among professionals and teachers. I watch music documentaries and wonder why the only women interviewed are "fans." I am annoyed by "women's concerts" and talking about "women's issues" in the field, but I'm awake enough to see why people still need to be reminded about them and poked regularly anyway.

Molly’s tone quickly moves from humorous to reflective, yet her voice is still very comfortable and personal. Even when broaching weighty subjects, Molly remains a calm and reasonable critic.

A more sober example of Molly’s sarcasm can be seen in her post “If You Didn’t Arrive Here Depressed.” In this short remark she recounts the latest news of struggling orchestras and their looming ruin, her title implying that if these dying music institutions don’t already upset the reader, then they should. Still, Molly is not morose, ending her post with “Alas, what a day in the world,” and an optimistic wish that things will turn around.

Another notable technique Molly employs to enhance her voice is the use of allusions. There are so many popular culture references in her blog, you would swear she spent all day at home watching television and reading Entertainment Weekly. Whether she’s mentioning The 700 Club, reality TV shows, iTunes, or Kool-Aid, her trendy quotations add energy to her posts and help her readers relate classical to popular music.

Comic diction, sarcasm, anecdotal posts and popular references all contribute to Molly’s success as a classical music blogger. Her voice is amusing and original. Her blog screams to the reader “I swear I’m not boring!” And, considering the vast majority of classical music blogs are dull tales of the newest advances in opera staging, her popular status is easily achieved.

reading Molly's voice

At last! A classical music blog that discusses something other than Beethoven.

Molly Sheridan, a thirty-something female musician and music critic based in New York City is author of the ArtsJournal sponsored blog, “Mind the Gap.” Unlike most classical music and musicology bloggers, Molly avoids littering her blog with lengthy concert reviews and mundane chats on the changing structure of the canon. Rather, Molly writes posts on “roller-skate chicks” and stolen scooters, all the while managing to relate her quirky tales to the music business.

The eclectic nature of her posts is enough to attract the attention of any musician, if only from mere curiosity as to how “Mind the Gap” could possibly be a music blog. Molly’s writing, too, easily pulls readers in. It’s funny, sarcastic, simple, conversational… everything you could ever want from a not-too-academic blog. While she keeps her formatting and structure tuned down to “don’t scare anyone away” levels, Molly takes liberty with her diction, tone and subject matter.

In a recent post titled “Kiss My Skates” Molly recounts her adventure to a female roller derby:

The not-always-PC feminist I carry around in my head was not sure she was cool with this. The teams are made up of some kick-ass ladies, but they are also some unabashedly sexy chicks.

Her sarcastic description of herself as not always being politically correct and her casual use of the adjectives “kick-ass” and “unabashedly sexy” make clear that Molly does not filter niceties for the sake of etiquette, but embellishes her stories for shock value. Molly then proceeds to relate these roller derby women to feminism in the music world (a strange comparison, right?).

I agonize over being a girl in the 2009 music world. I hear tales of misogyny among professionals and teachers. I watch music documentaries and wonder why the only women interviewed are "fans." I am annoyed by "women's concerts" and talking about "women's issues" in the field, but I'm awake enough to see why people still need to be reminded about them and poked regularly anyway.

Molly’s tone has quickly moved from humorous to reflective, yet her voice is still very comfortable and personal. This shows the reader that even when broaching weighty subjects, Molly remains a calm and reasonable critic.

A further example of Molly’s sarcasm can be seen in her post “If You Didn’t Arrive Here Depressed” from March 2009. In this short remark, she recounts the latest news of struggling orchestras and their looming ruin, her title implying that if these dying music institutions don’t already upset the reader, then they should be. Still, Molly is not morose, ending her post with “Alas, what a day in the world,” and an optimistic wish that things will turn around.

Another notable technique Molly employs to create her voice is the use of allusions. There are so many popular culture references in her blog, you would swear she spent all day at home watching television and reading Entertainment Weekly. Whether she’s mentioning The 700 Club, reality TV shows, iTunes, or Cinderella, her trendy quotations add energy to her posts and help her readers relate classical to popular music.

Comic diction, sarcasm, anecdotal posts and popular references all contribute to Molly’s success as a classical music blogger. Her voice is amusing and original. Her blog screams to the reader “I swear I’m not boring!” And considering the vast majority of classical music blogs are humdrum tales of the newest advances in opera staging, her popularity is easily won.

a profile of Sandow

Is classical music dying? Greg Sandow presents us with an answer.

Sandow’s blog, “Greg Sandow on the future of classical music,” discusses just what its name suggests and, in doing so, explores societal opinions on classical music, its shrinking audience base, changes being made to classical ensembles and what we can expect of classical music in the future. A weighty topic, indeed, yet one which Sandow is well qualified to discuss. Greg Sandow is a music critic and consultant based in New York City. Sandow received a MM in Music Composition and, after working as a composer, became a music critic, writing for Entertainment Weekly and The Wall Street Journal.

Sandow began his blog in July 2003 and has since written over 700 entries, averaging around three posts a week. Sandow’s blog is an ArtsJournal weblog and seems to be fairly popular, as his posts consistently receive comments from other bloggers and he hosts numerous ongoing discussions on his site. Two posts I find worth mentioning are “Beyond Media” and “New Mission for orchestras?” “Beyond Media” questions what type of advertisement is needed, if not a form of media, to promote classical music concerts. “New Mission for orchestras?” discusses the conflict confronted when an attempt is made to make an orchestra more community-friendly at the cost of professionalism, musical worth, and musicians’ gratification. In a slowing economy that has a tendency to neglect the arts when times get tough, our approach toward advertising and performing classical music is very crucial.

I am pleased with the hospitable character of Sandow’s blog. While he offers insightful opinions and broaches controversial questions, he never adopts an authoritarian tone. Instead, as in his post “A shocking proposal,” Sandow will present the subject – “Everyone talks about covering classical music in a livelier, more accessible way. But while I think that's certainly a good thing to do, I don't think it's the main problem. I think the main problem is that classical music isn't covered at all,” defend his argument, and then ask his readers the most important question – “What do you think?” While his question can be answered by any internet blogger, Sandow’s targeted audience is people involved in the arts, whether it’s music or dance, classical or non-classical. Many of the bloggers who comment on his page are musicians themselves, meaning Sandow’s topics hit close to home, and these readers often have opinions to offer. In one of his posts labeled “Teaching,” Sandow portrays his personal experience as a professor at the Julliard School and Eastman School of Music. Naturally, many of the comments come from other professors who offer their own insights as to how to inspire classical music students to create their own paths and battle the shrinking classical music world.

In addition to its accepting, scholarly atmosphere, Sandow’s blog also includes a discussion on a variety of subjects. While his primary focus is on the future of classical music and classical composers, many of his posts talk about other art forms, political happenings, social sciences, education and even “quotations of the day.” Still, Sandow’s writing is always researched, well written, highly detailed and calculated. His experience as a music critic is evident in his writing style, and his blog is immediately recognizable as a credible site for scholarly discussions and bloggers of academia. As a classical musician, I can attest that the topics discussed on Sandow’s site are weighty issues in the music world. Composers and tuba players alike can see the decline in classical music popularity as professional orchestras go out of business, less new music is commissioned, and less orchestral jobs become available, and we are all anxiously awaiting the future of classical music and what that means for us.

I hope to echo the substance within Sandow’s blog posts, as well as his readiness to talk about subjects other than music in my own blog. The main focus of my blog will be much more concise than Sandow’s, however, and rather than discuss the future of a genre of music in the entire world, I will pinpoint only the music of Los Angeles. In my blog I will observe the variance among music performed in Los Angeles, identify what music thrives and what music is dying, find relationships between concert venues, performers and audience members, and foresee what the future of music will be for Los Angeles.

story time

Dear Reader,

Once upon a time there was a child. She loved music. Raised by Tuvan throat-singers in the hills of Kyrgyz, this child learned to read, write, and tie her shoes. When she was old enough, she enrolled in a money-order-only private school and learned how to play the tuba from an eighty-year-old Armenian gymnast. When the girl was discovered to be a tuba-playing prodigy she was kidnapped by CIA scuba divers, given a sleeping potion and taken to Los Angeles.

Upon reaching Los Angeles the girl awoke to find herself in the middle of a Writing 340 class, within yet another cash-sucking private school. Although she desperately wanted to return to Tuva to play tuba, she decided to stay. Her new professor was going to teach her how to make a blog, and with this flashy internet site she could study music and then tell the whole world about it.

Unfamiliar with Los Angeles, the girl tubist recently decided to write her blog about the new city and the music she discovered within it. The girl is very inquisitive, you see, and wants to know what genres of music are popular in Los Angeles, discover what music is played in what communities, find relationships between venues, genres and concert attendees, observe what music is thriving and what music is dying, and attempt to predict the future of music in Los Angeles.

The girl also expects to comment on subjects such as the social hierarchies within Los Angeles, social constructs and concert attendance, the effects of our slowing economy on Los Angeles musicians, local opinions about the LA music scene, and the future of classical music in LA. Because her Tuvan parents avidly check her blog for updates, look forward to the tuba playing girl’s weekly postings about Los Angeles and its music.

The End.