Author: Douglas McLennan

Why Has American Theatre Declined In The Past 30 Years?

In America, nothing sucks the oxygen out of the room with more deadly force than financial success. Musicals are booming, so that is where all the attention and money is streaming, a sweet spot that magically unites commerce, branding, and universities. This is not to say there have not been terrific songfests over the past 25 years. Just that it explains why our most talented stage practitioners are not writing plays, but working hard at scoring with the latest lucrative singing/dancing sensation.

Martin Amis: Writers Have To Expect Something Different From Readers

“I think most writers are wedded to social realism, these days — social realism is the only genre left. And there’s been a contraction, as I was saying, of what you can expect from the reader. It’s not a conscious decision to cease to be as complex as you might once have been; it’s just going with the flow of things. It was Trilling, wasn’t it, who said we like complex books? The truth is, we may once have liked them, but we don’t anymore.”

Singing Classical Music While Black

Kira Thurman: “Over the course of my life I have learned that to be black and a classical musician is to be considered a contradiction. After hearing that I was a music major, a TSA agent asked me if I was studying jazz. One summer in Bayreuth, a white German businessman asked me what I was doing in his town. Upon hearing that I was researching the history of Wagner’s opera house, he remarked, “But you look like you’re from Africa.” After I gushed about Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, someone once told me that I wasn’t “really black.” All too often, black artistic activities can only be recognized in ‘black’ arts.”

New EU Copyright Law Could Block Legitimate Legal Content

The effect would be similar to how YouTube tries to detect and block copyrighted audio and video from being posted on its site, but it would be applied to all types of content, including text, images, and software, as well as audio and video. Critics say this section of the proposal, Article 13, would lead to legitimate content, such as satire or short excerpts, being blocked even outside the EU.

Live Nation Wired Up Fans At A Concert With Biometrics. Here’s What They Discovered

At a Cannes Lions presentation this week, Live Nation unveiled the results of the experiment and, unfortunately for music-loving homebodies, they show that dragging yourself to a concert on a Friday will result in three times more emotional intensity than listening to a recorded album alone in your bedroom, wearing sweatpants and eating Wheaties.

Record Film/Video Residual Payments For Musicians Even As Music Business Declines

Employer contributions to a residuals fund for musicians whose work is heard on the big and small screens hit a record $100 million last year, according to the latest report from the Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund. Last year, the fund distributed more than $81 million to 17,000-plus musicians but is holding more than $5 million in unclaimed checks for more than 6,000 musicians for whom the fund has no current address or contract information.

How Technologies Will Transform The Ways We Interact With Art. Are You Ready?

Many would argue that the ways we look at and interpret a painting, experience a performance or appreciate an architectural location have not changed in millennia. This may be true, but the ways we discover, research, plan and communicate our experiences have fundamentally shifted. Whether it’s because of search engines, social media, mobile devices or online reviews, our experience of the world has been changed forever by digital technology.

The Fix Is In: Corruption At The Big International Music Competitions

Imagine the following scenario. A teacher in a German Musikhochschule is offered a paid week in a sunny resort. All she has to do is listen to hopefuls for a few hours a day and pick a winner from a list of students of the professor who invited her. If she plays ball, the chairman might let one of her pupils take the fourth prize. The rewards would swiftly follow. As a teacher of an international prize-winner, our anonymous friend might then be able to double her private fees and promise all future students that they will have prizes.

Are Big Band Jazz Ensembles Going Away?

The future for jazz looks challenging, particularly as it is overtaken by (or absorbed) into hip hop, R&B or pop. Playing-gigs as well as teaching-gigs may become harder to come by. On the other hand, Berklee College of Music seems to be an agile institution, constantly making adjustments in its outreach, going outside the US to draw students, and updating its curriculum to include teaching digital technology and recording in order to reach young people who may have little knowledge of or interest in jazz.