Play Like a Pro: How to Turn Stage Fright Into Magnetism with special guest teacher Holly Shaw Find yourself sabotaging live performances with nervousness or freezing up up when you step into a recording booth? Are you frustrated because you can totally kill it in when you rehearse alone, but for some reason choke right […]
El Sistema Founder Dies by Josephine Gray
Categories BlogPosted on
El Sistema Founder Dies by Josephine Gray Changing the trajectory of children’s lives: Music education and its benefits. I want to pay tribute to a personal hero, a dreamer, a visionary, an economist and most importantly a music teacher and conductor. José Abreu, the award-winning founder of a project that saved thousands of Venezuelan children […]
If It Sounds Too Good To Be True…
Categories BlogPosted on
If It Sounds Too Good To Be True… by Alex Walsh A few days ago I received an email saying that I had been invited to play at a Blues and Jazz festival in England. One of the headliners had mysteriously cancelled and I was selected to fill in and I could bring a band. […]
Star Spangled Controversies
Categories BlogPosted on
Star Spangled Controversies By Beth Zare, Local 6 Secretary-Treasurer September and October are the months that most of our Bay Area regional orchestras start their seasons. Many of those orchestras play the Star Spangled Banner (SSB) at the beginning of their first concerts. While both the Oakland Symphony and Sacramento Philharmonic chose to omit the […]
Remembering Randy Keith
Categories BlogPosted on
By Jo Gray, Board of Directors February 12 1958 – August 25 2017 It’s with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of our dear friend and colleague Randy Keith. Such a goofy, lanky, soft spoken, gentle giant, a fine musician, teacher, mentor, friend, husband, uncle,brother and son. I’ve been reflecting on his life and […]
ROPA Conference 2017 Report
Categories BlogPosted on
Report on ROPA conference Westin Phoenix Downtown Hotel Phoenix, AZ August 1-3, 2017 By Gigi Dang, Delegate for Symphony Silicon Valley and the Monterey Symphony David Granger, Substitute Delegate for the Oakland Symphony Laurien Jones, Delegate for the California Symphony Andrew Lewis, Delegate for the Santa Rosa Symphony The ROPA conference ran from August 1-3 […]
We Are All Cookie Monsters Now by Alex Walsh
Categories BlogPosted on
We Are All Cookie Monsters Now by Alex Walsh Victory is a cookie. Yes, Sesame Street was saved from the Congressional budget axe. Whew! That was close. Thank you everyone who wrote in, signed the petition, and continued eating your cookies. It worked. But only through September. What? Here’s a letter from AFM President Ray […]
How Did You Pick Your Instrument? by Alex Walsh
Categories BlogPosted on
How Did You Pick Your Instrument? by Alex Walsh Every musician has a story on how they picked their instrument. Some people get their’s handed to them in elementary school and never change. Some have to fight for it. For me, I received a harmonica as a present. I was thirteen and living in Ocean […]
Long Tail Blues by Alex Walsh
Categories BlogPosted on
Long Tail Blues by Alex Walsh When I first started playing gigs in my 20s I did not want to be one of those “50 year old white guys playing the blues in bars.” Well, I turned 50 last month and there I was, onstage in a bar, playing the blues. I have to say […]
My Life As A Digital Immigrant by Alex Walsh
Categories BlogPosted on
My Life As A Digital Immigrant by Alex Walsh Someone told me recently that I am a digital immigrant. Young people are digital natives. This made total sense to me. I’ve always felt like I’ve been playing catch-up with the latest technology. I eventually do catch up but then things change again and I fall […]