Day: November 17, 2014
33 Things That Belong In Every Music Lover’s Home
1. A piano bookshelf.
But please, only gut this work of art if it’s irreparable.
3. Or this bass shelf.
4. A harp-infused chair.
5. A vinyl cupcake stand.
This can be used for trinkets and jewelry as well.
6. This gramophone chair.
7. A piano bar.
8. This record-player clock.
10. An album art side table.
11. This iPod coffee table.
12. Or this turntable coffee table.
13. A piano desk / table.
14. Or this acoustic table you can actually play.
15. This organ pipe bed frame.
16. An album art headboard.
17. This equalizer clothing rack.
18. This steel drum light fixture.
19. Or this trumpet-inspired light fixture.
20. A custom YouTube channel shower curtain.
21. An accordion storage cabinet.
22. This soundproof practice cube.
GENIUS.
23. This outdoor seating unit complete with LED lights and speaker system.
24. A cozy nook to listen to your favorite albums.
25. This keyboard sofa.
26. A guitar sink.
27. This violin cutting board complete with a bow knife.
28. A piano staircase.
29. This staff-shaped candle holder.
30. A personalized sound wave print.
31. A customized music canvas.
32. A record mirror.
33. These horn speakers.
10 Havits of Successful Musicians
American cellist David Finckel embarks on a series of seminars – entitled Being a Musician – at Stony Brook University, New York on 3 February. Here, he identifies the important habits of those musicians who have built and maintained successful careers
All musicians, especially those soon to emerge from formal education, wonder what path their careers will take and whether they can control their artistic destinies. While there are no proven methods for career control, it is possible to identify the traits common among those who enjoy successful lives in music. These 10 habits of successful musicians are drawn from my course at Stony Brook University entitled Being a Musician. While they can’t guarantee a successful career, at the very least they identify what a hopeful musician should not be without.
1. Know thyself
Being a musician begins with you. Knowing and being able to articulate why you love music, and why you must make a life of it, are the first steps to convincing the world that you are in the business to stay. Understanding how you stack up in the music world, and knowing what you have yet to learn, is equally important. If you are tougher on yourself than others, you’ll be ready for anything.
2. Be an artist
There are many musicians, but few real artists. True artists remake and replenish themselves perpetually, and are the ones followed by a loyal public. Decide what you need in order to honestly call yourself an artist and go get it. Study the people you consider to be great artists and emulate them. You can’t go wrong by spending a day as Mendelssohn, Picasso or Charlie Chaplin. Put yourselves in their heads and you’ll see the world differently.
3. Keep learning
Artists never stop absorbing knowledge and ideas that enrich their minds. Read, listen, watch, ask questions and surround yourself with interesting people. Don’t discount unconventional sources of knowledge. People who are constantly learning are the most interesting, always changing and always growing. Be one of them.
4. Work on your performance
Don’t be afraid to compare your performance to your own ideal. Be relentless in your determination to improve. Tape yourself on your mobile phone. Ask your friends for honest opinions. Listen and watch those musicians you admire most. Ask to play for the best musicians you know. You will only show yourself to be more dedicated than others.
5. Make friends
Careers are not made in isolation. Your friends, colleagues, mentors and industry contact list should be large, ever-growing and well-maintained. It will likely be one of these people who opens opportunities for you, recommends you, or shares a new idea that changes your life. A large musical family is not a bad thing to have.
6. Visualise possible lives
Keep an open mind as to the variety of ways you could be a musician. There are many.
7. Ask not what the industry can do for you…
Everyone who works in the arts industry faces enormous challenges on a day-to-day basis. The best thing a musician can do for them is to offer solutions, not present problems. These people appreciate all your ideas about programming, creative ways to appeal to the public, and help you can offer to run their organisations more powerfully. Ask what you can do for them.
8. Lead by example
The ideas and ideals of an artist are often beyond the comprehension of most around them. As a rule, the most effective way to stand out in the field from the rest is to live the life you believe in. Inspire others through your own work, and opportunities will surely come your way.
9. Give back
It is never too soon to begin sharing your experience, knowledge and inspiration with those poised to become classical music listeners, supporters and practitioners in the near and far futures. As an artist and a musician, you always have something to share. That you are perceived as thoughtful, generous and forward-thinking is completely in your favour.
10. Stay the course
Commitment to your art – respecting your initial reasons for becoming a musician and rejecting all unprincipled derivations from the course of integrity – is essential for ultimately commanding the respect of your colleagues, public, supporters and the entire industry. Today there are numerous temptations in the music world to stray from the highest standards of a pure course of study and practice of great music. Musicians, educators and administrators desperately employ short-lived ideas for getting engagements, creating opportunities for students and selling tickets. At the end of the day, not being among those who doubt the staying power of our art is the only safe way to ensure that you will be trusted and taken seriously.
David Finckel was cellist for the Emerson String Quartet from 1979 to 2013. He is currently the co-artistic director of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, founder and co-artistic director of Music@Menlo, co-artistic director of Chamber Music Today and The Mendelssohn Fellowship in Korea, professor of cello at The Juilliard School, and visiting professor of music at Stony Brook University
Everyone Has Music in Their Hearts
“The Francesca” Violin, Antonio Stradivari (ca. 1644–1737), Cremona, 1694.
My first grade student Abby loving her violin lesson
Peekskill Rotary Club Fontana Scholarship
NYSSMA Conference All State
More Students Selected to Participate in ALL State Music Festival Than Ever Before!
Every year, Hendrick Hudson High School is proud to have 1-3 students achieve one of the highest accolades a High School musician can achieve. This year four young musicians are attending the NYSSMA All State Music Festival and two alternates have been selected as well. Lily Evans, Woman’s Choir, Jodi Scharf, Symphonic Band, Phillip Solomon, Symphony Orchestra, and Caitlyn Torres, Mixed Choir, achieved this honor. Sam Cooperman, Violin, and Michael Migliore, Jazz Bass, were selected as alternates. This is also a grand achievement as very few alternates are selected. Many High School musicians prepare all year to be adjudicated on their NYSSMA Solo. If the student receives a perfect score on a Level 6 NYSSMA Solo (that’s the highest level), they are then recommended by the judge for NYSSMA All State Conference. In December, our four extremely talented kids will travel to Rochester, New York to play and sing together with the best players and singers from New York State. They will rehearse day and night under the direction of renowned conductors, and then they perform a concert in one of the most exquisite performances spaces – The Eastman Kodak Theater at the University of Rochester. Mrs. Denler says, “It’s exciting every year to bring our amazingly talented Hen Hud students to All State. This year it is especially exciting to be bringing four students – including instrumentalists for the first time in a while! This will be the 5th year in a row I’ve gone to the NYSSMA Conference and every year, as I watch our students up on that beautiful stage at The Eastman School of Music, making music with the best of the best, and working under the talented hands of renowned conductors, I am always moved to tears. This is a “once in a lifetime” experience that these young men and woman will carry with them forever! I am so pleased to teach in a district that fully supports the arts and happily provides our students with these incredible opportunities.” |
Sam Cooperman's Music Education Portfolio 