on 5/9/98 Martha wrote:
 
>Martha
>
>My goal is to get people to concerts and have themselves enjoy them.  Right
>now, I feel required to take a more vocal stand because that 415 vs. 440
>routine is stale and negative to everyone.
 
Hear, Hear!  Are we in this business because we love music or because we
want/need to belong to some clacque?
 
Anyway, here in Beantown the audience is graying and, seemingly, thinning
as well.  But the latter condition may well be accounted for by the
plethora of HIPster groups in the area.  The groupies may be content to go
out to hear small cutting-edge (i.e., not on CD & underpaid to boot)
ensembles twice a week, but the many other adventurous, cultured folk who
are candidates for enjoying well-played early music have to divide their
time amongst a host of other activities as well.  And then, of course, the
market-oriented culture especially appreciates the concepts encompassed by
the phrases "big", "well paid" and "well-known".  We live in the brand-name
era - unfortunate but true.  Welcome to Planet Market.
 
Hendrik Broekman