REAL. LIVE. MUSIC: Blog Updates and Michael Jackson

Hi everyone, I hope the summer’s been fun and relaxing for you so far. The blog’s on a summer hiatus, but recently Patty Thayer and I attended a “webinar” (isn’t that a great word – means web seminar) on blogging called “Is Blogging Yesterday's News? No Way!: The Why and How of Blogging.” We were pleased to learn that a lot of what we should be doing, we’re already doing. What can I say, we rock. Nevertheless, we did pick up a few tips.

We’ve added a few features to the blog. You see to the left that you can now subscribe via email. Just click the link, follow the instructions, and you’ll have new blog entries delivered right to your email inbox. (Don’t worry about clutter – as you know, I only write about 2-3 blogs per month). At the bottom of the page, there are other options: adding the blog to Google Reader, following, etc. Also I’ve updated with links to a few other blogs of note (if you know of any others that would be good to link to, let me know).

In terms of content, I’ll keep writing about A-Z in the orchestra plus anything else that comes up. We’d also like to have some guest bloggers – perhaps we can encourage our soloists to write a bit, and if you would like to write something, that would be great. The more the merrier! If you have any ideas for the blog, please let me know.

As must be known by now, I have a serious YouTube addiction. Here are a few videos I’ve found recently that I thought you might enjoy. In honor of summer, here’s “Summer Nights” from Grease.

Following up on the webinar, I did some checking on the SLO Symphony’s online

presence and found this gem: our own Peggy Whitson, violist, teacher, TV star.

While I’m writing, I can’t not mention the biggest news in the music world we’ve had for some time: the death of Michael Jackson. You’re probably tired of the non-stop media coverage, so I won’t add more commentary. Except for a few things: when the video for “Thriller” premiered in 1983, I was 12. Even at that age I was aware that it was event television. I knew kids in junior high who wore the red jacket and one sequined glove to school. I was never a huge MJ fan: never bought his albums or attended a concert, but his music was all around, inescapable. I was talking about him with my 20-something viola student, whom I suspected of not remembering him in his prime, but she replied, “My older sister had a fan club! We would dance to his music at slumber parties.”

People have spoken at length of MJ as groundbreaking, a trailblazer, crossing boundaries. Here are a few videos that speak to his influence on young classically trained musicians. First is a violinist.