“Customizable Internet radio such as Yahoo’s Launchcast.com has been around for years, but Pandora is a twist on the concept: Instead of relying solely on computer software to spit out playlists, Pandora draws on its Music Genome Project, a 6-year-old effort by a group of musicians to identify the hundreds of traits and qualities that form the building blocks of music — and then to map out each individual song within this framework, or genome. Genre disappears, and every song is at once relatable, however closely or distantly, to every other.”
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A Composition Plan For An Orchestra Circuit
How do you get more than one performance of new music? A couple of new projects band together dozens of orchestras to give new music multiple performances. “The project originated during a meeting of the leaders of small-budget orchestras belonging to the American Symphony Orchestra League. Wanting to make the presence of their orchestras felt, they decided to pool their resources to commission a new work. Each of the initial participants contributed $1,000, and those presenting four regional premieres kicked in a few thousand more.”
Psychology The Key To Finding New Ballet Stars?
“An international conference in Switzerland of 32 ballet leaders from 12 countries was convened this week by British dance administrators because of concerns about training and inadequate collaboration between dance schools and the ballet companies.”A psychologist suggested that “to develop and shine, ballet dancers needed the individual training programmes already common in sport. Some countries, including Australia, have already incorporated performance psychology into their training curriculum for young ballerinas.”
Muslim Furor Over European Muhammad Cartoons
Muslims across the Arab world are protesting against European publications that have published cartoons depicting Muhammad. “Newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway and Switzerland have run some or all of the cartoons first commissioned by Jyllands-Posten’s culture editor, Flemming Rose. It is apparent that the demonstrations are the biggest, and the diplomatic reactions the most vehement, in countries where authoritarian regimes are under domestic pressure from Islamist opposition forces.”
Berlin Audience Protests Violent Production
A production of Titus Andronicus at the Berlin theatre was so violent, the audience protested and tried to storm the stage. “You’re getting off on it [the violence],” members of the audience shouted at the actors in protest at the graphic rape scene in which Titus’s daughter, Lavinia, also has her hands chopped off and tongue ripped out.
Gottlieb: Where’s Wheeldon?
Christopher Wheeldon is unquestionably a talented choreographer. But, wonders Robert Gottlieb, “why don’t his ballets—and we’ve seen a lot of them by now, a dozen or so for City Ballet alone—add up to a coherent artistic statement? Where is the major work that will identify his essential qualities and justify the hopes everyone has placed in him?”
Movie Theatres Bank On Concerts
American movie theatres, faced with declining audiences, are offering other fare like simulcast concerts. “Attendance for these shows varies widely. A pair of Phish performances in 2004, one at Coney Island and another in Vermont, drew more than 30,000 fans each for national simulcasts. A Prince tour attracted 25,000 fans at multiplexes across the country.”
Are Political Beliefs A Psychological (Dis)Order?
“When presented with negative information about the candidates they liked, partisans of all stripes found ways to discount it. When the unpalatable information was rejected, furthermore, the brain scans showed that volunteers gave themselves feel-good pats — the scans showed that ‘reward centers’ in volunteers’ brains were activated. The psychologist observed that the way these subjects dealt with unwelcome information had curious parallels with drug addiction as addicts also reward themselves for wrong-headed behavior.”
CBS Jumps Into Download Business
But instead of making its shows available on iTunes, the network is selling them directly on its website. “CBS would be the first broadcast network to sell its shows via its own Internet storefront. The move signals that CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves believes the network is a potent enough brand that it can go it alone — without Apple Computer Inc.’s popular iTunes software and website — and thus not have to split the spoils.”
Howard Stern Pirated
Fans of Howard Stern are pirating copies of his radio show, which is now available legally only on subscription-based Siruis satellite radio. “Although no one can know the total number of Stern stealers, it is clear that Stern is a runaway hit among file sharers. His shows are more popular than the TV show ‘Gilmore Girls’ and just behind Fox’s ‘The Simpsons.”