It's May 1st! Busy week as usual. Budget meetings every day. Yesterday, former MENC staff member Harriet Mogge came into the office to be interviewed for the MENC podcast, Notes from the Clef (should be posted in a few days). Harriet had spoken to the MENC staff at the 100th birthday party we had for MENC on April 12, and her stories about her past connections with MENC were so enjoyable that I asked her to share them with everyone through our podcast. I also enjoyed chatting with Harriet about the olden days (that would be the early 90s when I came to work at MENC) when we worked together in a building down the street from where we are now.
Had an interesting note in the MENC Suggestion Box this morning: "I am a professional musician ... My wife and I recently had our first child and thus are being inducted into that world of baby stuff and early childhood entertainment/education. Amidst all of the tv shows and dvds meant to teach young children about music, I've noticed a disturbing trend. Many of these productions aimed at teaching children to identify musical properties and even the sounds of instruments use synthesized sounds, rather than real brass, wind and string instruments. Although this might seem like a benign trend, these are the sounds shaping the perspectives of the next generation of musicians and music appreciatiors. If their ears are conditioned to accept those as the appropriate sounds of trumpets, violins, saxes and even pianos we are doing a grave disservice to the continuation of live musicians." I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this?
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Happy May! -- EWL
P.S. Here's a picture of the gorgeous, friendly cat I visited last Friday! (See last week's post -- I had a lot of fun with his family, too!)
