Another conducting robot...yeah, right.

Posted at 3:19 PM on April 24, 2008 (3 Comments)

Honda's robot named ASIMO will conduct the Detroit Symphony on May 13th. That's the headline in "news of the odd" around the world today. Perhaps more aptly: the Detroit Symphony has agreed to have a robot stand on the podium and wave its arms in a pre-programmed set of movements while they play some music.

The reason they've agreed to this entertainingly humiliating demostration? That's not making the headlines, but it should. Honda is giving the Detroit Symphony a million dollars to create "The Power of Dreams Music Education Fund." ASIMO may not do any actual conducting, but a million dollars for music education in Detroit? Thank you, Honda!

ASIMO has been around since 1986, and according to the official Honda ASIMO website:

ASIMO can help the blind and the elderly. He can do things that old people can't do for themselves. ASIMO could help the blind cross the street...He could help the elderly by walking up and down steps with them and keeping them company.

But before you rush out to buy an ASIMO to help you walk up and down steps, check out this video of ASIMO taking a tumble. (ASIMO then burbled "I've fallen and I can't get up.") (He didn't really.)

By the way...ASIMO is not the first conducting robot. In 2004, Sony's QRIO (pronounced curio) conducted the Tokyo Symphony in about 90 seconds of Beethoven's 5th. The first violinist in the Tokyo Philharmonic, Eiji Arai, said "We usually adjust our timing by paying attention to the conductor's breathing, but QRIO doesn't breathe, so it was a bit difficult to communicate with it."

I haven't seen any official admission of ASIMO's pre-programmed conducting movements, but Sony was upfront about QRIO in 2004. A joke was even pre-programmed. Right before the performance, QRIO turned to the audience and said "I'm feeling nervous."

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See an opera, do some yoga

Posted at 10:40 AM on April 18, 2008 (0 Comments)

Everyone's talking about the 20-foot tall puppets that appear in the current Metropolitan Opera production of Philip Glass's 1980 opera, Satyagraha. I haven't heard anyone talk about something that caught my eye on the Met's Satyagraha website.

If you have tickets to see Satyagraha at the Met, hold onto your stub. You can use it to get a discount on "yoga in its purest state."

Now THAT is creative marketing. Just like your ticket stub to a baseball game might have a 10% discount coupon at a sporting goods store, your ticket to an opera about Gandhi gets you a discount on membership at a yoga studio.

I'm sold. I'll even quote the studio's pitch.

Pure Yoga is committed to the evolution of your practice in a modern, accessible way. We are devoted to offering the best yoga experience possible: ever-evolving teachers, luminous and grounding practice spaces, restful and transformative lounging areas, inspired programming, never-ending education, and an energizing community.

Pure Yoga offers classes in styles ranging from Ashtanga to Yin Yoga, from Hot to Vinyasa Flow, Anusara and more. This is yoga in its purest state. No hype...simply pure yoga.

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Is that all there is to it?

Posted at 7:18 PM on April 14, 2008 (0 Comments)

Several concert halls around the country this season are trying out a kind of conducting video game.

In theory, the "UBS Virtual Maestro" allows you to use a motion-sensitive wii controller in a way roughly analogous to how a conductor uses a baton: move it faster and the orchestra on the 42-inch screen in front of you plays faster, use bigger gestures and the orchestra plays louder, beat a steady rhythm and the orchestra keeps time with you.

The computer programming was done by a team led by Teresa Nakra, who seems ideally suited to the task: she is a violinist and conductor, and teaches music technology and game design at the College of New Jersey in Ewing.

She also runs the non-profit Immersion music, which has an ambitious mission statement:

Immersion Music develops and presents new musical experiences that bridge the gap between traditional forms and new technologies.

We build multimedia enhancements to classical music: live performances, museum exhibits, public installations, and educational laboratories.

Our projects expand and transform the skills of trained musicians and define a new set of possibilities for musical expression in the performing arts of the future.

I haven't had a chance to try it, but reports make the Virtual Maestro sound more like a fun early experiment than something that defines "a new set of possibilities for musical expression in the performing arts of the future."

I was struck by comments from a real maestra who played the Virtual Maestro. The Minnesota Orchestra's Assistant Conductor Sarah Hatsuko Hicks said it was "very un-nerving" to have the orchestra be SO responsive to her movements. That in real life, orchestras have a heavy momentum that doesn't instantly react because you're waving your baton a bit faster.

Still...I don't want to let my inner curmudgeon take over this blog posting...if I stumbled across this in the lobby during intermission, I'm sure my inner conductor would have a blast!

This five-minute video gives you an idea how it works, has some nice footage of folks playing the game, and has interviews with the developers.

The Virtual Maestro will be at Benaroya Hall in Seattle through April 28th, at Severance Hall in Cleveland May 2-26, and at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago June 23-August 18.

Want more info? Chris Newmarker wrote a detailed story for AP. Sean Michaels did a fluffy piece for the Guardian. The Virtual Maestro was in the lobby at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis earlier this season, Minnesota Public Radio's Karl Gehrke did a nice audio story, with some good photos. (Karl's story has those comments from Maestra Hicks.)

None of those stories, however, mention that this idea isn't new. A little browsing turned up a similar project that appears to be from a different set of developers, and appears to have originated earlier. The "Personal Orchestra," or "Virtual Conductor" was developed by a German/Austrian team, and documented in a 2001 story in the New York Times. Unfortunately, most of the links on their home page are dead...so at the moment, I have no follow-up for you on that angle...more to come.

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Two Toys Short of a Symphony

Posted at 9:38 AM on April 11, 2008 (0 Comments)

The Hitchin Symphony Orchestra, northwest of London, has plans for a concert next weekend. The local paper, The Comet, has an urgent request on behalf of the orchestra. Read on.

The Hitchin Symphony Orchestra is desperately seeking toy instruments to perform the Toy Symphonies by Leopold Mozart and Sir Malcolm Arnold at St Mary's Church in Hitchin on Saturday, April 19.

Conductor Paul Adrian Rooke was hoping to entertain the audience with the pieces composed for toy instruments but has found it very difficult to track down all the correct ones.

Mr Rooke said: "The orchestra is short of toy trumpets in G, C and F, a whistle in C sharp minor and a rattle. The trumpets in G and C are simple instruments which can play only one note. The trumpet in F is a bit more complicated and plays three different notes. The whistle is even more complicated and plays a three note chord. It sounds just like the whistles on the old American trains. Lastly, the rattle is a good old-fashioned rattle which you used to see at football matches.

"If any of the readers of The Comet know where I can get hold of any of these instruments, I should be most grateful. Otherwise I shall have to go to the gardening centre and do something drastic with a hosepipe!"

The concert begins at 7.30pm and will also include Beethoven's Symphony No 2 and Robert Simpson's Symphony No 2, on real sized instruments. Tickets are available by calling 01462 458614.

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A guitar revolution

Posted at 2:57 PM on April 10, 2008 (2 Comments)

Let's face it: playing guitar is bad for you.

Most guitarists play in a way that twists the spine, lifts a shoulder, skews the hips, and tenses the forearms.

Even some of the common wisdom about playing guitar makes it sound like a chiropractic nightmare. This is from Guitar for Dummies:

Because of the strength your left hand exerts while fretting, other parts of your body may tense up to compensate. At periodic intervals, make sure that you relax your left shoulder. Make sure as well that your left elbow doesn't stick out to the side, like that of some rude dinner guest. You want to keep your upper arm and forearm parallel to the side of your body. Relax your elbow so that it stays at your side.

Paul Galbraith has devolped a much more relaxed posture for guitar. He holds it as if it were a cello, the body cradled between his knees, the neck straight up by his left ear. He even props the guitar on an end-pin, which serves two ends: it holds the guitar at the perfect height for both hands, and it transmits sound into a resonating box on the floor, which gives his guitar a wonderfully rich acoustic bass sound.

Galbraith has spent 20 years developing this posture, and a new set of techniques adapted to this posture. He tells the entire story on his website, which has lots of great pictures, as well.

And most importantly...this is ALL in the service of a keen and expressive musical mind -- Galbraith's playing is beautiful and evocative.

And check out his two-day visit to Performance Today on our features page.

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If you happen to see a violin...

Posted at 10:48 AM on April 9, 2008 (0 Comments)

Not again!

In 1999, Yo Ma left his 2.6 million dollar cello in the back of a New York City taxi. In 2004, Gidon Kremer left his 3 million dollar violin on an Amtrak train in Baltimore.

Now...Jim Wallenberg, a member of the Toronto Symphony, left his violin behind when he got on a bus. From the report in report in The National Post:

"It's like losing a limb or a family member," he said. Mr. Wallenberg added he's hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst. "As each day goes on, I become a little less hopeful. But a colleague of mine left her viola at the airport, it went missing and it turned up five months later by a police officer," he said. Mr. Wallenberg has been to the Toronto Transit Commission's lost articles office, but said a violin hasn't come up yet. "I'm going to head down to the pawn shops in case it got into bad hands," Mr. Wallenberg said.

Wallenberg will pay $1,000, no questions asked, to anyone who returns the violin.

And while we're on this topic, I gotta share this clip from the Daily Show. John Stewart in his first year as host, talking about Yo-Yo Ma and his lost cello. (Language advisory)

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Wouldn't you know it -- as I'm about to post, this update from the Toronto Star. Wallenberg's violin has been safely returned. But from what I see in the Star's story, I suspect there is more yet to unfold:

The $1,000 reward offered by Jim Wallenberg will not be paid to the bag lady who found the violin, but to the couple who paid the woman $35 and a ring to give them the violin.

According to the Star, the couple, Wayne and Karen Wulff, plan to spend their $1,000 on a trip to Las Vegas.

Read the full story, then ponder: are the Wulffs good capitalists, or heartless robber barons? I leave it to you, dear readers.

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Dude-a-mania

Posted at 2:42 PM on April 8, 2008 (1 Comments)

Thanks to KUSC's Gail Eichenthal for inviting me to co-host a live broadcast of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sunday afternoon. (Thanks, Gail!)

I sat in the house Saturday night, and watched the same program on back-stage monitors during the Sunday broadcast. Gustavo Dudamel was conducting, first time I've had the chance to see the 27 year-old phenom in person. From what I could glean during a single weekend, the hype isn't hyperbolic. He had the audience in the palm of his hand for more than two and a half hours. The usually cool professionals of the Philharmonic were rapt, following every flick of his baton, every leap and jab and slice, every finger-flutter, every flourish and flex of his (remarkably expressive) eyebrows. Mark Swed made special mention of the orchestra's response to Dudamel in his L.A. Times review of Friday night's concert.

Dudamel returns the love. In an on-stage interview Friday, he said of the Philharmonic "When they are working, they open their souls." A sentiment to be expected, perhaps, from a conductor who has a five year contract as Music Director of this orchestra beginning in 2009. But still, I wish the same could be said honestly of more orchestras. I felt it at Disney Hall this past weekend. I haven't felt that during concerts very often recently, and less frequently at classical concerts than from singer-songwriters.

The OC Register review of a concert the weekend before picked up on that openness and honesty:

There doesn't seem to be an ounce of cynicism in the dimpled Dudamel. He conducts with a smile on his face, soaking it all in, enjoying it to the maximum.

How big is Dudamel in Los Angeles? I've never seen anything remotely approaching SoCal's Dude-a-mania. It brings to mind the 25 year-old Leonard Bernstein in 1943, when Bernstein made the front page of the New York Times after his debut with the NY Philharmonic. Dudamel made the front page of the L.A. Times on Sunday.

But even the young Bernstein didn't get the kind of front-page write-up Dudamel and his wife got after she came to Friday's concert wearing "a rhinestone-studded Lakers shirt under her chic black blazer."

...one wondered whether Victoria and David Beckham might soon be eclipsed by a new Los Angeles "it" couple, especially since the English soccer player's knee problems in his first year with the Los Angeles Galaxy proved that no one can sprain it like Beckham.

And in the ultimate L.A. tribute, Pink's hot dog stand on La Brea Avenue has created a "Dudamel Dog," which was offered to brave Philharmonic members earlier in the week at a catered luncheon at Pancho's Place -- that is, Disney Hall. The Dude Dog ($6.75) is a stretch hot dog topped with American and Swiss cheese, "fajita mix" grilled veggies, jalapenos and tortilla chips. Philharmonic associate principal cellist Daniel Rothmuller said Dudamel consumed two.

No archived video of the L.A. Phil concerts of the past couple of weeks, but this clip from last summer at the BBC Proms in London gives you an idea of the energy when Dudamel conducts. (Keep in mind, that's a Venezuelan youth orchestra he's conducting in that clip...but still!)

Oh, and this tidbit from the L.A. Philharmonic's President and CEO, Deborah Borda: the Philharmonic's press office got so many requests for interviews with Dudamel, they had to turn down Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and...Al Jazeera, among others.

More L.A. Philharmonic concert performances from Disney Hall on the way all week on Performance Today. Wednesday: Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting a colorful highlight from Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, and guest conductors leading Gustav Holst's "The Planets" and a Strauss Wind Serenade. Thursday: Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun from the concert this past Sunday. And highlights from Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherezade, featuring concertmaster Martin Chalifour talking about the lyrical solo violin part. Friday: a guided tour of Disney Hall from LA Phil President Deborah Borda, and also from this past Sunday afternoon, Leila Josefowicz soloing in the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2.

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Serious Whimsy

Posted at 5:21 PM on April 4, 2008 (1 Comments)

Arrived in L.A. last night, and this afternoon walked up Bunker Hill (always surprisingly steep for non-Angelinos) to Walt Disney Concert Hall.

It's been close to five years since I first saw the hall on opening night. (Before you read any further...you MUST see some images of the place, if you haven't already.)

I contributed to NPR's coverage of the 2003 opening, and was overwhelmed by something a journalist isn't supposed to feel: ecstatic child-like glee. Ambling outside Frank Gehry's curving, sloping, swooping stainless steel panels, wandering inside through the twisting passageways, where curves arch and fly, bend and bow, up and out and away...I was elated. Disney Hall felt like the realization of something I'd taken to be impossible, but had always hoped for: a seamless combination of serious artistic purpose with sheer whimsy.

I presume that every bend and flutter was carefully planned, but where most structures impose an awareness of the deliberation behind their design, Disney Hall gave me a feeling of...play.

I *love* to play, but often feel I *ought* to be working. Frank Gehry (and the many others behind the creation of Disney Hall) gave me the perfect cure for my self-inflicted guilt. The feeling of limitless possibility that comes with childish play...while I was at work.

With those memories, I was almost afraid to go back today. Was it just opening night excitement? Had my perspective been bent by the intense (and expensive) hype for the hall?

Well, I was there moments ago. And although I was able to walk calmly and quietly, my feeling was...Yippee! Yah yah yah YAH! WHOOPIE! Ha-ha-ha-HAA!

Ahem.

Gotta rein that in enough to do a show from Disney Hall on Sunday. I'll be joining KUSC's Gail Eichenthal to co-host a live broadcast of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sunday afternoon, April 6. (2pm Pacific time on KUSC, 91.5 in Los Angeles, and if you're not in LA you can listen live at kusc.org. Gustavo Dudamel conducting Debussy and Ravel, Leila Josefowicz soloing in Bartok's Violin Concerto No. 2.)

And we'll be featuring the L.A. Phil in concert at Disney Hall all week on Performance Today, April 7-11. Interviews with Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director-in-waiting Gustavo Dudamel (he takes over in the fall of 2009), and several principal players from the LA Philharmonic.

If you listen on Sunday afternoon, or anytime next week, I'll likely sound calm and professional. But I'll be feeling...YIPPEE!

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Violin Hickeys

Posted at 4:42 PM on April 1, 2008 (1 Comments)

I don't know how closely you've looked at a violinist's neck lately. But almost all professional fiddlers have a deep bruise on the left side, just where the violin chinrest tucks in beneath the jaw. Friction and irritation over hours of daily practicing, year after year...makes a nice hickey.

Violinists talk about hickeys with each other, but it's rare for fiddlers to go public about their musical bruises. I think reporters are generally too embarrassed to ask, but hats off to Elizabeth Withey for raising the question when she profiled violinist Dianne New, a member of the Edmonton Symphony, in the Edmonton Journal.

Also visible, up close, is the distinct dark red mark on New's neck that makes some strangers stare or whisper. But don't blame her husband, principal trombonist John McPherson. He's great with his lips, but New's love bite comes from her instrument.

"Everyone refers to them as their violin hickey," she said, touching the rough callus underneath her chin. New has had a pressure cyst removed from her neck in the past, but says the scar tissue and other bodily wear and tear is "the nature of the beast" when playing the violin.

When a gorgeous 1729 violin made by Stradivarius was auctioned by Christie's in New York last year, prospective buyers were allowed to play the fiddle. But they had to get the green light from Benjamin Hebbert from Christie's. According to the New York Times, Hebbert admitted to checking for "the telltale bruise under the jaw."

In other words: no hickey, no Strad!

Some products claim to limit or eliminate the violin hickey. But at least one fiddler was, at one point, unhappy that she DIDN'T have one. When Michael Church interviewed Janine Jansen for andante.com, he asked about her pristine neck.

...when I ask how she's avoided the unsightly scar that most violinists collect under the left side of their jaw, she confesses to having done some touching-up of her own. 'I can laugh about it now, but when I was 10 all the other young violinists around me had huge brown bruises, and I had none. So I got out my mum's makeup and painted on brown eyeshadow to show I was like the others. My mum went mad, but it did look impressive.'

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Kid-friendly classical space: Koncerthalle I Lego

Posted at 4:18 PM on April 1, 2008 (4 Comments)

I promised more musings on the recording from 1860, but today's special report on Performance Today will bump those musings into tomorrow's blog. If you missed Tuesday's broadcast, listen to the story, first up in our features list on the right side of the page.

Here's the blurb...

How can we attract younger listeners to classical concerts? An innovative new performance space in Copenhagen has created a colorful kid-friendly environment. Join Fred Child for an audio tour of the new Koncerthalle I Lego . 80% of the construction material is oversize ABS plastic blocks, the same material used in Legos. Violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Lang Lang played at Lego Hall on opening weekend, we'll get their impressions of the look and the acoustics. And we'll hear from Danish children who were there.

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