Tim Smith: “Today, you tend to hear more talk about what orchestras are playing, not how; more about what operas are being staged, not how they are being sung. I don’t think there’s nearly enough attention paid by current musicians and audiences to the many ways that music used to be played and felt, how differently it communicated – and how much more grippingly it could be performed today.”
Tag: 08.05.14
Misty Copeland Has The “Wrong” Body For Ballet? Then We Need More “Wrong”
George Balanchine “had a very particular aesthetic. … As a result, great ballerinas in the American tradition (just like their Russian counterparts) are slender and taut. They have small heads, long limbs, and downward-sloping shoulders. They have tiny waists, narrow hips, and often a visible sternum. They are porcelain white. Then there’s Misty Copeland.”
Abu Dhabi’s Glorious Culture District – A Louvre And Guggenheim! (But Behind The Facade, Dark Problems)
“The most simplistic accusation against Abu Dhabi is that by building branches of the Louvre or Guggenheim, the city is buying culture. This logic pretends that Cleopatra’s Needle ended up in Paris through the goodness of Egyptian hearts, or that Lord Elgin didn’t just pillage the marbles that bear his name. Those accusations also perpetuate another myth: The UAE has no culture of its own.”
Neuroscientists Find Differences In Brains Of Heroes
“There were 16 heroes, including 11 women, who rescued the trapped man. Nineteen others, including 12 women, passed by without helping. The remaining 8 tried to help but gave up – they were omitted from the subsequent brain analysis because they were so few in number.”
How Our Kids’ Brains Are Being Rewired By Technology
“Almost from day one, the allotment of neurons in those brains (and therefore the way they function) is different today from the way it was even one generation ago. Every second of your lived experience represents new connections among the roughly 86 billion neurons packed inside your brain. Children, then, can become literally incapable of thinking and feeling the way their grandparents did. A slower, less harried way of thinking may be on the verge of extinction.”
Taking Children To See Art Is A Waste Of Time? That’s Stupid Talk
“Exploring the message behind artistic works is a valid enterprise. Telling people not to help their children experience art is detrimental and irresponsible.”
Study: Minority Roles In Hollywood Are Scarce
“On Tuesday, USC’s Annenberg school released a study that found just 26% of speaking roles in film went to minorities last year. The study, which analyzed 3,932 characters, revealed that Latinos had only 4.9% of those parts, even though they represent 16.3% of the population.”
Study: People Believe That True Stories Are More Compelling Than Fiction
“In a series of experiments, it finds people incorrectly believe they will have a stronger emotional reaction to stories that are based on fact, or ones that are set in the recent rather than the distant past.”
Soprano Dislocates Knee Onstage, Finishes Opera Anyway (With No Painkillers!)
“Opera singer Christiane Karg soldiered on until the end of a performance at Glyndebourne despite dislocating her knee during the show. The German star fell on stage during the first act and received swift medical treatment. But she declined painkillers and performed the rest of her role in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera seated.”
Calling Its Tactics “Extortion”, Judge Orders Conan Doyle Estate To Pay Legal Fees
“The US Court of Appeal described the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd’s efforts to charge licence fees to for which there is ‘no legal basis’ as ‘a disreputable business practice’.” Judge Richard Posner ordered the estate to reimburse plaintiff Leslie Klinger more than $30,000.