tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506514005426983269.post8009940746186645036..comments2023-10-28T08:02:44.565-05:00Comments on illusory tenant: God damn European cantatasillusory tenanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524761974822871419noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506514005426983269.post-27750399138420669212008-04-29T21:41:00.000-05:002008-04-29T21:41:00.000-05:00Howdy, Ontarian. Thanks for the observations.Howdy, Ontarian. Thanks for the observations.illusory tenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08524761974822871419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506514005426983269.post-49596523804082185752008-04-29T20:22:00.000-05:002008-04-29T20:22:00.000-05:00Not that I'm disagreeing with your overall point, ...Not that I'm disagreeing with your overall point, but blind auditions <I>have</I> significantly changed the composition of orchestras, which is something, I suppose. It is empirically true that orchestras, particularly at the high levels, used to be entirely white, male affairs before public pressure to hold blind auditions started. So there at least used to be a significant amount of discrimination in highbrow music. I've heard horror stories from female classical musicians dating from the 1990s that would whiten your hair, but I don't know if that kind of thing is still going on. (My guess is yes; they're just more subtle about it now.)<BR/><BR/>One wonders what the classically-trained musical prodigy Cab Calloway (or, for that matter, his equally classically-trained sister Blanche) would have done if there had been blind auditions in the 1930s. He almost certainly would have been a classical concert pianist, at the very least. (Now isn't <I>that</I> a mind-bending thought?)Interrobanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14073177798747299275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506514005426983269.post-74723459256422681842008-04-28T10:03:00.000-05:002008-04-28T10:03:00.000-05:00I couldn't quite put my finger on what bugged me a...I couldn't quite put my finger on what bugged me about Wright's speech, but I think you nailed it. As a fellow musician, I couldn't agree more.Emilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11393762115493350763noreply@blogger.com