Required Reading

Drew McManus at Adaptistration is hosting an interesting serious of posts on Take a Friend to the Orchestra month. The contributors (many of whose blogs are linked to on the left) have interesting points to make. Go there right now and read Kyle Gann's contribution. It is compelling, well-thought out and , well, just right.

I have to admit that since my spouse is not the kind of classical music fan that I am, I often attend alone or with like-minded friends. I now feel properly chastised by Drew's discussion. I should be sharing the experience. The voyage of discovery is one of the great things about the rich body of classical music. I doubt sincerely if I'll ever exhaust the repertoire, since there is so much yet to unearth. Alessandro Scarlatti wrote 114 operas and I can't imagine that I will have the opportunity (or the desire) to hear all of them, it is nice to know that they are there.

In my occasional jadedness, I still enjoy eavesdropping on a fellow concertgoer who is bringing a friend for whom this is a new experience. I always make a point of looking at their reaction after the concert is over and most of the time there is a smile and enthusiasm (ok, only just occasionally, there is a snore too).

How selfish I've been. It is time to share.