Monthly Archives: July 2011

A Love Letter to OL 5090

I’m awash in childhood audio nostalgia. I suppose it was the Nutcracker Suite that did it, as I came across my very first grown-up record tucked away in the dining room closet and discovered that with a bit of software … Continue reading

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Hello world!

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Shellac Romance

Of late my work has mandated that I become reasonably adept at transcribing 78 RPM records into digital format. That’s just peachy; I relish acquiring a new skill set, no matter how arcane. But 78s aren’t arcane. They are what … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: F

F. I hate flunking students—well, most of the time I hate it. Sometimes I don’t feel one way or the other about it, especially if the student in question has been conspicuous in his/her absence for most of the semester. … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: E

Educator. Something I’m not, never have been, never will be. Educators are people who talk a good game but can’t teach their way out of a paper bag. They write screeds about teaching and speak in hypersyllabic educationese. But they … Continue reading

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The Years of Listening Badly

Observe the timeline in the graphic below. Along its axis, from 1925 to roughly the present, are arrayed the five critical changeover years in audio history. Each of those particular dates carries with it a warning to the discerning listener, … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: D

Davies Symphony Hall. Increasingly a home away from home. I perform solo on the stage regularly throughout the season in my capacity as pre-concert lecturer and I also enjoy excellent seats during weeks in which I’m either lecturing or have … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: C

Camelot. I suffered from a nasty case of mononucleosis over the summer of 1965, when I was eleven years old. Our family doctor had misdiagnosed the ailment and was worried that I had something a lot more exotic—just what, he … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: B

Bach. My musical culture is broad, to say the least. I know a lot of music and my sphere keeps expanding all the time. But I always come home to Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer who defines a league of … Continue reading

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A Lexicon of Mine Own: A

A. Grade inflation is a fact of academic life these days, exacerbated by a generation of students who have been raised to think that they are unfailingly extraordinary. Everybody wins, and even when they don’t it’s spun into a good … Continue reading

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