Classically trained pianist and composer Arthur Bloom isn’t engaging in “standard music therapy” in his project with injured veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Determined to provide them with “serious, one-on-one, customized training, ongoing collaboration, [and] professional mentors, … he persuaded donors to give him instruments, got Steve Jobs to donate computers, and set up what looks like a small recording studio in one of the residential houses at Walter Reed.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Narratives Vs. Episodics — Not Much Of A Smackdown
“[E]pisodic fiction has been dealt a sorry hand of late. Our most popular critically acclaimed novels are pure narratives. Their straightforward storytelling style connects events together in one continuous thruline whose fundamental purpose is to reveal the Big Fated Meaning of life. In the war between Narratives and Episodics, the former are winning hands-down.”
C’mon, PA Pols: Eliminating Arts Funding Makes No Sense
“[W]hen you’re balancing concerns about education or health against arts and culture, eliminating the latter seems like a no-brainer. … That’s because most of us think of the arts as Cinderella waltzing in her ball gown at the palace — fun, frivolous, pleasant but expensive and nonessential. A more apt image would be Rosie the Riveter, the female laborer with a scarf binding up her hair, a rolled-up sleeve displaying real muscle and a ‘We can do it’ attitude.”
Let The Betting Begin: Coetzee Is Odds-On Booker Favorite
“[J.M.] Coetzee has been given odds of 3/1 to take the award for a third time by Ladbrokes, well ahead of the only other author to have previously won the prize, AS Byatt, who trails in at 10/1 for her much-praised The Children’s Book. ‘Coetzee is the field’s big name and we anticipate that literary punters will be quick to back the author’s bid to create history,’ said Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg.”
Reed Puts Publishers Weekly, Library Journal On Market
“Reed Business Information is putting Publishers Weekly and its affiliated publications, Library Journal and School Library Journal, up for sale. The sale of the group is part of RBI’s strategy to divest most of its trade magazines in the U.S.”
Tuned To The Zeitgeist, Theatre Is Deconstructing The Era
“With unprecedented intensity, new plays are telling us about our lives in styles ranging from documentary socio-drama to great apocalyptic statements. Our fears are transformed into hopes in that process of joyful recognition peculiar to the experience of live theatre.”
Let Us Now Praise Valery Gergiev
Editorial: “It is not difficult to question the extraordinary workload that the Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, who holds major musical appointments in St Petersburg, London and New York, inflicts upon himself. … The Gergiev Ring may be a self-imposed challenge too far, but Mr Gergiev’s hyperactivity is overwhelmingly his strength rather than his weakness. His lifestyle may be intense, but so is his music-making.”
Bharatanatyam Boom: Indian Classical Dance Catches On
“It’s hard to think of anything less obviously appealing to your average primary school pupil than the exhausting and obscure art of bharatanatyam. Routines include separate movements for the eyes, eyebrows, neck, shoulders, wrists, arms, torso, thighs, knees and feet, to narrate the action and convey emotions.” With some similarities to ballet, it “is an ancient and integral part of southern India’s Carnatic classical music tradition.”
Black Orchestral Musicians Are Out There; Networking Isn’t
“Defenders of the status quo will tell you two things about African Americans and the American symphony orchestra: The reason there are so few blacks in orchestras is that the talent just isn’t out there, and racism can’t be the issue because auditions are played behind screens.” What’s really missing may be the relationships that help musicians get hired.
Their Budgets Tight, Visitors Flock To Historic Sites
“Just when the withering economy is shrinking art, antiques and design sales, there is a rise in attendance and interest in historic homes and artist sites in both the US and the UK.”