Impressions From Soundcheck

The train ride back to Baltimore yesterday provided me some ample time to reflect on what happened during the Soundcheck program yesterday with John Schaefer.


One of the strongest impressions I came away with was how broad based the callers were.  I was fully expecting the vast majority of callers to be professional classically trained musicians; but in reality, it was the exact opposite.


That simple fact went a long to way toward reaffirming something I’ve learned since starting Adaptistration almost one year ago; there is a much greater amount of interest among the general population in all that involves classical music than the gives them credit for.


It’s fun and engaging to talk about these issues and those responsible for promoting and sustaining this business should be doing everything they can to encourage it.  There is so much more to classical music than just the music itself and providing people with unrestricted access to all of those fascinating issues can only lead to aiding a recovery for classical music. 


And without exposure to these intriguing facets the experience is only semi-complete and somewhat lacking. I’ll expand on these ideas soon with Adaptistration’s one year birthday review.


In the meantime I would like to thank Soundcheck’s host John Schaefer, their producer, Brian Wise, and the entire crew for inviting me to the show and producing a top notch program that was both informative and entertaining.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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