It’s like having a baby. Lots of work, but worth it, because it’s YOURS. Last night we had our first.
We had a blast, and so did the audience. After a 5 minute standing ovation when Jim Akins announced, “We are the Musicians of the Columbus Symphony”, we knew we were in the right place and all on the same page!
Here are some photos, taken by David Tanner, violinist in the orchestra. There are more at Symphony Musicians Photos.
This Saturday, you can show that you want your orchestra back! All the information you need for the concerts is HERE. We need volunteers to sell tickets and usher for the Saturday evening concert. Please contact Donna Gerhold at gerhold@insight.rr.com to find out what you can do. Breaking news: Now you can buy tickets at MCSO Concerts, the musician concerts website.
Several folks have inquired regarding details of this weekend’s concerts by musicians of the Columbus Symphony. If you don’t have time to read my passionate philosophical explorations 
on the implications of the phrase “musicians concerts”, all the information you need for the concerts is HERE. Also, we need volunteers to sell tickets and usher for the Saturday evening concert. Please contact Donna Gerhold at gerhold@insight.rr.com to find out what you can do. Breaking news: Now you can buy tickets at MCSO Concerts, the musician concerts website.
Now for my philosophical entreaty on the value of live classical music:
I can’t help but notice the playful redundancy of the phrase “musicians concert”; yet there it is, in all it’s ironic nakedness. It sounds so honest and real, as opposed to the “such and such symphony orchestra”, which already sounds corporate. (although the word corporate, beyond its business use, also means “united or combined into one”, an ideal for a group of musicians from a musical point of view)
When did the “musicians’ get replaced by an “institution” or an “organization”? As if they didn’t exist in the flesh, but only in terms of something else!
Has the time come when all sides will band together, no pun intended, to make the music happen?
Judging from the recent event here in Columbus and also the longterm history of professional music making, the question arises; How do we traverse this sludge of tradition and habit to attain the pure goal embodied in the phrase musicians concert? We don’t want to throw the good out with the bad. Yet, isn’t that part of the American spirit, to look unflinchingly with fresh eyes and see, or attempt to see, what is of real value and what is dead weight?
Another question; Are these upcoming concerts just a “job” for us, the musicians? After all, we have to make a living at what we do to continue to do it. Then there’s the aching question, what constitutes “making a living”? But we won’t go there just now. Let us assume the concept of “free market” thinking will fumble it’s way to some real truth, if we continue to ask the right questions. Such as, what is the value of the music we play? Can a dollar sign really be placed on the complex emotions aroused by great classical music?
The quality of the music is certainly an important factor. Any “product” (I hate to use the word here) has a “value”. But what system, or organization, determines that value? Are fads valuable because they sell well for awhile?
Continuing with the idea of fads, why is it that many, many people gravitate toward classical music as they age? Shouldn’t their wisdom and experience count as a meaningful indication of the “value” of the music they wish to hear?
Bear with me, I need to work this through.
A few weeks ago, I drove the seven hours trip to Bethesda, MD, where I grew up, to visit with my mother and sister for a few days. I always listen to music on the trip. Since classical music has trouble cutting through the substantial hum of the highway, I picked a half dozen pop/world pop CDs from the library to play during the driving time.
I didn’t listen to more than 5 minutes of any of those CDs. These CD’s were so insipid, all of them, Shafqat Ali Khan, pseudo Indian music (I grew up in India, and heard numerous “classical” Indian concerts), Jolie Holland (get a composer), Astor Piazzolla (a real classical composer) remixed (huh???!), even Steely Dan, whom I used to listen to, seemed washed out, stale. Am I getting old? At least “rock” music didn’t try to impress anyone, and won over hearts and minds with that idea!
Back to the subject: musicians concerts! I could go on with the yadayadayada of how dedicated we are, how much time we spend practicing, how much money we spend on our equipment. Even though it’s all true, we made those choices, after all. So what is all our effort worth? Is it up to the public to decide? You’re darn right? People with whom we share all our passion and dedication, the process and the outcome, the suffering and the joy, the growing pains and the growth spurts, will be like family to us, and us to them. They will love us for what we do, not the product we make.
That’s the real value of music, and especially classical music, which is by FAR the most difficult AND rewarding type of music there is, both for members of the audience and the musicians. (except for really great jazz)
OK, I’ve had my say. Now for some details about this weekend’s concerts. Friday’s concert is for kids of all ages. David Tanner, whose untiring efforts to produce the most complete web site about and for musicians and their supporters, has put all the information you could possibly need, including a big satellite photo with big red arrows pointing to parking, and red warnings of problems you might have getting there, plus really nice, big photos of the venue, HERE. (Hint: You will need to bring your own chairs/blankets)
Saturday’s 7:30 PM concert is at Vets Memorial, 300 West Broad St. Columbus, OH 43215. We need VOLUNTEERS for Saturday’s concert, at least 20, to help out with ticket sales and seating and other very important details to make this concert work for all of us! Please contact Donna Gerhold (gerhold@insight.rr.com) for how you can help.
Please forgive us all (the musicians as a group) for any glitches in this process. We are on a steep, steep learning curve. But don’t worry, we learn fast, but we can’t do it without you. We may be experts at the unbelievably complex details of phrasing Brahms, but need all of you to stay the course with us as we begin to make Brahms’ music, and all classical music, YOURS!
I met Valerie and John Gibbs at my home recital in May. They have shown a great deal of passion and determination to help the musicians of the Columbus Symphony continue to make music. And they have sought to keep an even keel in public perception of the ongoing saga of the Symphony, its history and outcome. To that end, Valerie and others composed this wonderful letter to the members of the Women’s Association of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (WACSO).
Dear fellow WACSO member, July 4. 2008
We all know that we are at a critical moment in the life of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra that we love so much.
We have very few constructive options that could lead to the continuing life of the symphony—and very little time.
While we are not, nor can we be, part of the negotiations, we can do three things—get accurate information about the past and present situation; write to civic leaders like Mayor Coleman, Governor Strickland, President Gee of The Ohio State University; and publicize, attend and support upcoming musicians’ concerts—and urge our friends to do these three things.
The time to act on behalf of keeping our symphony alive is now. We have our four Youth orchestras and all the students and schools they represent hanging in the balance as well.
We may not all be aware that as of the beginning of June the musicians pay has been ended; moreover, their insurance, including their health benefits, have been cut off as of July first. One way we can support them right now is to go to a website that features upcoming concerts. By our attendance, and donations, we can give them our direct support. Their new website is The Musicians of the Columbus Symphony.
If our symphony orchestra is silenced, look at what our capital city is about to lose:
-The cultural, educational and musical life-blood of our city that brings an unparalled joy into our lives, and into the lives of future generations.
-An attraction to keep and to draw high-quality businesses in and to our area.
-Some of the finest orchestra musicians anywhere—some of whom have already left their local students as well as this ensemble behind in search of more secure employment—who have spent years together building up our symphony to its emerging world class status.
-The reason to stay involved in Columbus for Junichi Hirokami, an outstanding young conductor, musician and advocate for the highest and best of music.
We have faced crises like these before. In 1969 we women were behind the successful effort to save the Ohio Theatre when it was on the very brink of destruction, when the chandeliers and other Ohio Theatre cultural treasures had all been sold. During that crisis we helped raise the money to renovate the Ohio Theatre so our symphony could have a home.
For almost 60 years we have stood whole-heartedly behind the orchestra musicians of Columbus, supporting our Symphony’s mission “to develop and foster the art of orchestral music at the highest possible artistic level,” attending concerts, purchasing series’ tickets, and throwing our full weight into fundraising and other vital community work for the Symphony.
As we celebrate the courage and sacrificial efforts of those few but faithful 56 signers of our Declaration of Independence this July 4, those who paved the way for our lives here today, let us commit ourselves anew to what we believe in, for generations to come: Live Symphonic Music for Columbus.
Sincerely,
Valerie Gibbs, (Lyric), Encore/Caprice Lifetime member
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of one symphony musician, Julia Rose, Associate Principal/Third Horn, we now have a terrific website where supporters of The Musicians of the Columbus Symphony can find their way to us directly.
The site is brand, spanking new. Features will be added soon, so keep checking back. While you’re at it, “favorite” it, so you can come back often.
My friend Jan Ryan keeps the heat on Robert “Buzz” Trafford. Her questions need to be asked, or perhaps demanded, of the entire Board of Trustees.
I’ve heard more people say to me, “How embarrassing for Columbus that this board couldn’t get their act together!”
To: Robert Trafford
Porter, Wright, Morris & ArthurDear Mr. Trafford:
I have enclosed a letter I wrote to the president of National City Bank.
On several occasions you have been quoted as saying that the corporations of Columbus are tired of donating money to an organization that is not solvent.
I believe you have an onus to tell the public just which corporations you have contacted before the demise of the Symphony.
Anticipating your prompt reply,
Sincerely,
Jan RyanTo: Peter Raskind
President National City BankDear Mr. Raskind:
As a resident of Columbus, Ohio for over 40 years, I have been impressed with the many donations National City Bank has made to the Arts.
However, I am puzzled that you have not come forward, as far as I know, to assist the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at a time when its very survival is a stake.
The musicians and the board are at odds over why the symphony is in this difficult position. The former have asked for a mediator but nothing has been forth coming from the board. The board has stated that all decisions will be made by June 16, 2008.
Any assistance you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Yours truly,
Jan Ryan
CC: Buzz Trafford
Tonight, for the first time in 18 years, I brought my clarinet stand home from the Ohio Theater. After 18 years of being thrown around and used, it’s still solid and sturdy.
My grandfather made this double clarinet stand for me in the early 1980’s. He passed away in 1986. He loved making things in his retirement, having been an engineer and fine tool designer for much of his career.
He made things to last a lifetime. I also have several lamps around my house which were made by him. It seems that the knack for making things with that kind of quality has gotten lost, somehow, in the shuffle to make things cheap, and by extension, disposable.
My grandfather, William, also loved music. He was Welsh and sang in choirs all his life, though he didn’t read a musical note. He sang and harmonized by ear.
Up to the end of his life, he attended yearly gatherings of Welsh Gymanf Ganu, grand choirs of thousands who came together for a few days annually simply to sing hymns. Can you imagine being in a choir of thousands?
After bringing home the clarinet stand he made, I wondered what William would have to say about the attitude from “on high” in this city about the Columbus Symphony, about the surreal silence Columbus is experiencing from those who should know better about the importance of the Arts?
Tonight we played what may be that last concert as the Columbus Symphony. We couldn’t have had a better person to experience such a poignant and wistful event: Marvin Hamlisch.
Marvin not only put forth his usual wit, humor and beloved music making, but he took the time, he took lots of time, to put forth the argument for sustaining the arts in any city, and especially Columbus, a large and vigorous city which hardly knows it’s own potential.
Before the final number, he stalled and stalled, not wanting to end. He said, (and I paraphrase) “I wish we could stop the clock now, so we wouldn’t have to end; but I promise, I hope, this will not be the end, but only a hiatus.” He said, in the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger, “We’ll be back!” He said, “Sometimes, you have to lose, or almost lose, what you have to appreciate it.”
He also said, “If and when this crisis is over, I will come back and play a concert here as a fund raiser, and I’ll donate my services. There’s one condition, however; that I will get for my services a pint of Graeter’s black raspberry chip ice cream, with one spoon, not two, because that ice cream is a taste of heaven.”
Appropriately, the encore featured two esteemed senior members in the orchestra, Steve Secan and Randy Hester, who have been playing music with the CSO since the mid 1970’s. Also fitting was the song we played, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.
Our audience gave us a standing ovation several times, showing their appreciation for us as people and for the Columbus Symphony as a valuable asset to the city.
After the concert, there were teary goodbyes between colleagues who have worked and grown together as human beings.
I didn’t participate much in that ritual. I don’t like goodbyes. Call me superstitious. I believe the people I meet and part from will always be in my life.
I also believe “We’ll Be Back!” Like my grandfather’s clarinet stand, the Columbus Symphony was made to last.
A message from Pam Conley, loud and clear.
The only way to resurrect our wonderful Symphony is to eliminate the “Buzz” and the “Beadle”.
We need NEW leadership. I have no doubt that the current administration is not up to the challenge of raising the money our musicians deserve. They just can’t do it with their antiquated marketing techniques, and I use the word loosely.
If a few people from Symphony Strong can make $25,000 in several weeks, a competent administrator and board should easily be able to not only meet the basic needs, but to electrify the community to launch the CSO into the 21st century with innovative ideas and a lot of hard work. We need a complete restructuring of the “way” the CSO does business.
No longer can we wait with cup in hand for the corporations to give us a hand out. We need to actively get them on our side so they WANT to contribute.
Many times the musicians have gone to Tony or Susan and offered to go to Battelle or Nationwide or many others to “play” (for free) for corporate functions or special dinners, only to be turned down flat. We need a RELATIONSHIP with the corporations. And the same is true of the public.
Since our musicians have participated in the “Meet the Musicians” Cafe Concerts, popularity has soared! By making the musicians accessible, the audience feels like they are a part of the Symphony family. They are proud to be a part of this wonderful organization and they will show it by donating.
This is not rocket science.
I know the title is intense, but you’ll understand when you read it.
Suggestions for CSO Board from “Down-Bow Man”.
The difference between the musicians’ latest contract concession and that of CSO Board Chairman, Robert “Buzz†Trafford, is a mere $1 million. $900,000 to be exact. The musician recent proposal fits within the $9.5 million prescribed by Robert “Buzz†Trafford, but differs in the way the funds are allocated within that arbitrary constraint. The musician plan even includes a 6% rollback in musician compensation, a give-back of $500,000. This plan has been rejected by the CSO Board Chairman, Robert “Buzz†Trafford.
I have a neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran, a real, live piece of American history. He receives a partial military pension due to disabilities resulting from shrapnel wounds, and for diabetes resulting from exposure to Agent Orange. He’s a big burly man.
About ten years ago I was doing repair work on my garage, sistering rotten beams with new wood to keep the structure from falling down. (It must have worked, the garage is still standing.) Much of the repair job involved driving nails in an upward direction. This is considerably harder than nailing downward, where gravity is your best friend. My neighbor, we’ll call him Bob, liked coming over to offer advice and tell tall tales. I welcomed it; it cut the tedium. When he saw that I was unable to drive the nails up, he had some choice words for me. He said, drill-sergeant style, “PUT SOME ASS INTO IT, MAN.†Out of frustration, he finally took the hammer from me and drove the nails home in short order, the unspoken editorial being, “What’s wrong with you, didn’t your father teach you anything?â€
Similar advice is warranted in the case of Robert “Buzz†Trafford. Are we to believe he is so lacking in resources, contacts, know how, business associates, leadership, charisma, or community good will, as to be unable to raise an additional $1 million for the CSO, an organization for which he is supposed to be an advocate? How could $1 million be so hard to find in a city as prosperous as Columbus, Ohio, the 15th largest metropolitan area in the United States? What would Bob say?
The CSO is, in reality, well on its way to not achieving a $9.5 million budget. Picnic with the Pops, the biggest money maker of the year, is canceled. Tickets for next season are not being sold, depleting funds which would be used to mount Summer and Fall events. Individuals and corporate donors are withholding contributions, waiting to see if the organization has any hope of continuing. GCAC and Thrive in Five funding, to which the CSO is entitled, hang in limbo. Corporations as far away as Tokyo, home of Music Director Junichi Hirokami, are withholding millions, having assessed the management and board of the CSO as incompetent.
Meanwhile, in Central Ohio, public support for live, classical music of professional caliber is stronger than ever. Grassroots organizations have sprung up in defiance of Robert “Buzz†Trafford’s narrow prognostications. Contingency plans are in effect to seize the all-important CSO music library and other critical assets in the event of a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Benefit concerts and events to raise public awareness are occurring all over.
Therefore, as a community, let us all shout in unison, to Robert “Buzz†Trafford,
“PUT SOME ASS INTO IT, MAN.â€
Down-Bow Man
May 22, 2008
To the Dispatch Editor:
Although I am trained as a scientist, I write to argue that our community, indeed our society, can best be served by devoting more energy and funding to the arts. It is a point of view that merits serious consideration in light of the CSO board’s recent decision to pull the plug on the orchestra.
Modern science now provides abundant and convincing evidence that music is a biological imperative that is encoded in our genes. We know, for instance, that music is a kind of intelligence for which aptitude is inborn. Infants clearly respond to music, even in utero, and show preferences for specific sounds and rhythms as early as four months of age. All human cultures, even prehistoric ones, have music suggesting that music is simply a part of being human.
A multitude of scientific studies show the salutary effects of music-listening on human physiology. For instance, cardiac care and angina patients require fewer drugs if they listen to music. Comatose patients who cannot communicate still respond to music. Music can be used to teach deaf children to read and autistic kids with language deficiencies.
We also know that processing of music by the brain is an activity that requires integrated action of the right and left hemispheres. Although there is no “music center†in the brain as there is for language, when the brain processes melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre and other elements of music, it does so by distributing the activity all over the brain. In this sense, music is very close to “mental swimming†in that it exercises so much of the brain through a single activity. It is, perhaps, no surprise that music improves memory, increases processes of complex ideas and the retention of that information. In fact, evidence shows that if we want to increase math scores in K-12 education, we should consider doing it by teaching music.
Music is a gift that a civilized society gives to its children. Music enriches and ennobles lives. It is a foil for the ugliness and depravity of the world. To allow the world-class Columbus Symphony Orchestra to be silenced for fiscal problems that can be surmounted with a little creative thinking is unforgiveable. Or as Oscar Wilde so eloquently put it: “they understand the price of everything and the value of nothingâ€.
Sincerely,
Susan W. Fisher
Professor and Chair, Department of Entomology
Leader, Faculty Working Group in Music and Biology
Ohio State University
