Category: music

Yo Yo Ma And Deborah Borda: Music As A Force For Social Justice

Ma: “It’s never art for art’s sake, because even if I do it for myself in my head, I have an ideal. I’m actually trying to take something — a construct, a concept, a theory — and then I want to make it visible, I want to make it audible, I want to make it tactile. I want to make it felt.” Borda spoke of the New York Philharmonic’s efforts to engage with social issues, including gender equality. Recognizing that “all the music we play was written by men,” the organization is launching an initiative next year — the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote — to have 19 women write major world premieres for the orchestra. – Harvard Gazette

Is Music Strictly A Human Ability? Or Do Other Animals Have Musicality?

“Do we share musicality with other animals on account of the ‘common physiological nature of [our] nervous systems,’ as Darwin suspected? To understand the evolution of music and musicality, we have to establish what the components of music are and how they demonstrate their presence in animals and humans.” Music cognition researcher Henkjan Honing takes on the challenge. – Nautilus

Actors, Politicians, Even Nancy Pelosi Speak Up In Support Of Striking Chicago Symphony Musicians

As negotiations over a new contract drag on and concerts get cancelled, members of Chicago’s acting community have joined musicians on the picket line, both candidates for mayor in the city’s runoff election have come out in the strikers’ favor, and the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has issued a statement of support. – Chicago Tribune

Chicago Symphony Musicians Strike Continues Into Second Week

There are no further meetings between the sides scheduled at this time. CSO President Jeff Alexander said that after no progress was made after lengthy sessions on Friday and Saturday, both sides agreed it would be “good to take a pause” in negotiations. On a small note of optimism, Alexander said that “there is room for movement” on the salary element of the contract. The CSOA is currently offering a 5% increase over a three-year contract while the union seeks a 12% increase over the same period. – Chicago Classical Review

Here’s What Happens When You Play Mozart, Hard Rock, Techno, And Hip-Hop To Ripening Swiss Cheese

Last fall, Swiss researchers exposed nine wheels of Emmentaler in an aging cellar to various types of music: classical (Mozart’s Magic Flute), rock (Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”), techno (Vril’s “UV”), hip-hop (A Tribe Called Quest’s “Jazz (We’ve Got)”) ambient music (Yello’s “Monolith”), and, as controls, steady high, medium and low tones and silence. All were on nonstop loops, with mini-transducers transmitting the sounds directly into the cheese wheels. After six months, the wheels were taken out and taste-tested — and here are the results. (So why was the classical music used Mozart instead of Mahler, Monteverdi, Stravinsky, or Steve Reich?) – Smithsonian Magazine

British Opera Audiences Are Booing The Villains, Just Like At A Panto

“Audiences at the opera are increasingly booing the ‘baddies’, not for a perceived poor performance but because of their characters, in a change that has been attributed to the enthusiasm of new audiences. While lifelong opera-lovers have feared the trend may be disconcerting for singers, especially foreign stars who would find the world of pantomime alien, it has been emphatically welcomed by many.” – The Telegraph (UK)