Tag: 04.05.19

New Violin Design (Only Somewhat Unorthodox) Gets First Major Demo

The “Santa Cecilia” violin — so named because it was developed in the instrument-making program at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome — makes its debut on Thursday at a conference in Lisbon. Its main differences from a standard violin are an asymmetrical shape at the top of the body (to provide more room for fingering) and additional harmonic holes and soundpost (better acoustic projection). – The Strad

Opera-Ballet-Concert House Flooded By Sprinkler System, Closed Indefinitely

The municipal theater in Duisburg, a city in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley, saw 80,000 liters of water pour over the stage, the floors, and crucial building infrastructure following a mishap during sprinkler system testing. (No answer yet as to whether the cause was mechanical or human.) The venue is home to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Ballett am Rhein, the Schauspiel (spoken theater) and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. (in German; for Google Translate version, click here) – WDR (Cologne)

Dan Robbins, Inventor Of Paint-By-Number Kits, Dead At 93

“Mr. Robbins, whose creations adorned millions of American homes in their heyday, was a self-described ‘right guy at the right time in the right place.’ The time was the prosperous lull after World War II, when Americans had newfound time for recreation. The place was Detroit, birthplace of the assembly line, where Mr. Robbins, then in his 20s, worked for Palmer Paint.” – The Washington Post

Contemporary Poetry Has Devolved Into Banality And Navel-Gazing

Brooke Clark: “Much of contemporary poetry has become something of an assembly line, turning out verbal representations of minor occurrences in the poet’s daily life. Most formulaic are the lyric poets, who often come across like oversensitive souls wandering the world logging every detail of every impression that strikes them … The lyric is, in a sense, the selfie of the poetry world: it provides a perfectly contrived snapshot of the poet at a moment in time.” – The Walrus

The Music Genre Wars: Does It Matter How You Label It?

In the 1920s, with the creation of the record industry that followed the development of recording technology and the pre-Depression economic boom, genre began to shift from function to demographics of consumption. Genre became, in music industry parlance, format: defined by who was buying and listening to the record. Immediately, this demographic slotting took on explicitly racial dimensions.  – Pacific Standard

What Teaching Dance In Prisons Accomplishes

Dance to Be Free offers classes in women’s prisons in 13 states, and it even trains them to be dance teachers after they get out. But it’s not just because dance is nice or because teaching could be a career. Instead, says its founder, “Almost every single woman in prison is suffering from some sort of trauma. I knew that the physical movement would help them heal.” – Dance Magazine