A contemporary phrase about flamboyant jewelry? An overused hip-hop reference?  Further proof that language is in a constant state of flux?  Yes, to all of the above, and also the title of composer Michael Daugherty’s most recent piece entitled Bling Bling for Full Orchestra and Break Dancers.  You can catch a short video excerpt of this work at www.thecereallist.com

Special Guest, Courtney Perkins and Angela Golden in a dialogue about Million Dollar Quartet.

CP:  One of the benefits of running a blog, or having a co-worker/friend that does, is that you get invited to events with the comical name "blogger night" offering free tickets to an otherwise pricey show that I've wanted to see for some time.  Advertised on cabs and local buses everywhere, Million Dollar Quartet.

AG: I may have ignored those cabby signs, but I paid attention when I got an opportunity to get free tickets. 

CP: Blogger Night became our mantra leading up to the performance --it had a certain ring to it.

AG: But we bloggers didn't get any special recognition which was sort of disappointing.

The Los Angeles Times recently published a great article by Chloe Veitman about female conductors.  This seems especially relevant to me because the Chicago Sinfonietta has recently begun search to find a successor to our Founder and Music Director, Paul Freeman.  While I won’t go into any details about our search process, we have definitely become aware of some extremely talented female candidates, two of whom – Mei-Ann Chen and Alondra de la Parra - will be guest conducting our orchestra next season.

In the spirit of the holidays, I am delighted to share a link with you that will get you free music downloads from one of the greatest orchestras in the world. 

These are outstanding recordings of recent performances by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra are absolutely free! The offer expires at the end of December. Grab 'em now!

Franz Schubert - Symphony no. 8 'Unfinished'
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony no. 2
Felix Mendelssohn - Symphony no. 4 'Italian'
César Franck - Symphony in D minor
Gustav Mahler - Symphony no. 1
Antonin Dvorák - Symphony no. 8
Camille Saint-Saëns - Symphony no. 3 'Organ'
Jean Sibelius - Symphony no. 2
Anton Bruckner - Symphony no. 8
Johannes Brahms - Symphony no. 2

Click here and enjoy.

Thanks to Sinfonietta violinist and webmaster Dave Belden for passing this on to me.

I have just finished reading Daniel J. Levitin’s interesting book, This Is Your Brain on Music.  There are chapters on the physiology of how our brains work (or in my case, don’t), what sections of our brains are involved when we listen to, or perform music, and a bit about the evolutionary evidence of whether music was a survival trait or not.

The section that caught my interest was about whether musical talent is genetically-based or developed.  It’s the old nature versus nurture discussion. Levitin cites research that suggests that to do anything – music, sports, writing, etc. – at an advanced level one needs to invest 10,000 hours of practice. 

I have put in at least 20,000 hours on the practice tee and the golf course over the last 15 years, and this summer’s results have proven that Tiger Woods has absolutely nothing to worry about from me (unless he’s on the fairway next to me and I am teeing off).  On the other hand, as a young guitarist, I made significant strides as a musician with far less than the suggested number of practice hours logged. 

As a music teacher for many years, it was always my opinion that musical ability was innate to certain people.  I could usually tell after 5-10 minutes if someone was going to be a good player or not.  True, lots of practice could make anyone better than they were.  But no amount of practice could make certain people play at my level or above.

We have a good number of musicians who visit this site.  What are your thoughts about musical ability?