Barry Douglas
Chance encounters can change your life. That’s what happened to me when I encountered Barry Douglas, almost by accident.
Barry Douglas is a world-class pianist from Ireland, who skyrocketed to fame in 1986 when he captured the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky piano competition. Continue reading
Filed under Inspiration, Musicians of Note, Personal Journey
There’s an important difference when you come back to music in midlife compared to when you were in school. The point now is to do it for fun. At this point in our lives, it should not be a competition. Continue reading
Filed under Opportunities to Play, Returning to Music
The Motor City Brass Band distributed a news release today about an upcoming Festival of Bands. This event does two things I think are important. It helps facilitate communication and coordination between different organizations, and it pulls the Detroit Symphony into a leadership role with community and amateur music groups.
Here are the details: Continue reading
Filed under Events and Calendar, Musicians of Note
Kudo’s to the Baltimore Symphony and Music Director Marin Alsop! The Orchestra invited amateur musicians — what they called “Rusty Musicians” to join them. They were so overwhelmed with requests that they ended up scheduling a second concert to handle the 400 volunteers. By all accounts, the experiment was a resounding success. See the story in The Washington Post or this blog entry from The Baltimore Sun. Continue reading
Filed under Inspiration, Opportunities to Play
Had an opportunity this afternoon to attend the finals of the Sphinx Competition. It’s my second year at the finals concert of this amazing program, which hopes to change the face — and expand the repertoire — of American orchestras by including more people of color and more music written by African American and Latino composers. Continue reading
Filed under Inspiration, Musicians of Note
The last several weeks have seen a large number of community music groups holding concerts. Continue reading
Filed under Personal Journey
More than anything else in our lives, we seek encouragement and support. A little encouragement is often all that’ s needed to take a risk, try something new, or pick up an instrument again when you left it behind years earlier. Encouragement can be a very powerful motivator. Continue reading
Filed under Inspiration, Personal Journey
Midlife Musicians 