The REAL Grammy's

The most important result. There might be some others announced on TV right now.

Update: Dr. Dick has the rest of the classical Grammy's.

What You Never Learned in School

Today members of eighth blackbird graced my three musicianship classes to talk about their education and how it affects their professional lives. The students were dismayed to hear that ear training was important. In two of the classes the importance of sight singing was particularly stressed, bringing a smile to this solfège meister (as I heal the wounds of World War I). All six members (two each came to the three classes) said they wished they had done more improvisation as undergraduates. Other skills on this wish list were score reading, transposition, and keyboard skills, eliciting more grins on my part and groans from my beloved pupils.

So, what things do you wish you had learned in school? I'd put computer programming on my list. I did learn in grad school, and even wrote some programs for my dissertation research, but learning as an undergrad would have made my life much easier later on. Other wished-for skills or knowledge are interpersonal communication, self-marketing, and weight training.

New digs

eighth blackbird's Tim Munro has posted pictures from their residency here at DePauw last week. You can see several parts of our new building, including the Great Hall facing towards the doors to our main performance stage, the small rehearsal room (populated by various students and colleague Eric Edberg), and two shots of the large rehearsal room. I completely agree with Tim that the residency has started wonderfully. The students have been very charged from working with these great musicians, and the convocation on the business side of music was very eye-opening.

A good day

Yesterday was a good day. I got to see my daughter sing in her choir robes for the first time. I took part in an interesting Bible study. I watched the Colts win a squeaker against the Texans with excellent clock management, which then switched over quite nicely to the Packers-Chargers game so I could watch Brett clinch that win. I took my wife out for a good meal and good conversation. And I got to see eighth blackbird perform the opening concert of their residency here at DePauw. I had never heard De Mey's Tafelmusik (literally performed on a table, really a dance of six hands), which was a great opening. The ending of Rzewski's Pocket Symphony was like giant wood blocks pounding out chimes that rattle the soul before moving away. The recited poetry of Bresnick's In the Twentieth Century was not amplified well for most of the speakers, but the piece had some incredible shifts of musical space, especially through timbre. And Higdon's Zaka was a virtuoso finish, even if lacking in deep emotional content.