NEWS & VIEWS

Remembering His Father.  Daniel Shorr, the much-honored Senior News Analyst of National Public Radio, was five years old when his father, an immigrant from Belarus, died.  When Schorr, who is in his early 90s, was asked about his father, he replied, “I have one clear memory of him.”  Schorr recalled how his father, Louie, walked through the living room playing the violin while the five-year-old lay on the floor on his stomach, chin on his hands, listening. Although Schorr has forgotten “an awful lot” about his father, he said, “I can remember to this day what he played. It was Dvorak’s Humoresque.”

J.K. and Me.  Last week during my repeat visit to a public school in Queens, a fifth-grade girl asked if I owned a limousine.  As I see it, that’s the Harry Potter syndrome.  Judging from my recent school visits, students seem to know about the gobs of money the Potter series throw off.  In trying to correct the misperception about writers, I told my questioner that not only do I not have a limousine but I arrived at the school by subway.  I was careful not to throw in an “Alas.”  On the other hand, I hope Ms. Rowling gets as much enjoyment out of reading in the schools as I do.

A Profile of America’s Artists.  Almost 2 million Americans describe their primary occupation as “artist,” reports the National Endowment for the Arts. That’s a larger group than those in the legal profession, medical doctors or agricultural workers.  Here’s how the artist occupations break down: designers-39%; performing artists-17%; fine artists, art directors and animators-11%; architects-10%; writers and authors-9%; producers and directors-7%; and photographers-7%.  The report, “Artists in the Workplace,“ supervised by the endowment’s director of research and analysis, Sunil Iyengar, is filled with fascinating glimpses of this sphere.  For example, among artists, dancers have the lowest median annual income — $15,000.  As for musicians, some 40% of them work in the non-profit sector — far more than any other artist group.  There’s lots more interesting information in the report, which you can find at www.arts.gov.  I especially like the endowment’s slogan: “A great nation deserves great art.”

Applause Between Movements?  When Lawrence P. Goldman, the President and CEO of the wonderful New Jersey Performing Arts Center, was presented with the James Madison Award at Princeton University, he spoke of an unfortunate tendency of the performing arts to place “themselves on a pedestal.... to be approached only in black tie.”  He discussed what he called the eleventh commandment: “Thou shall not applaud between movements.”  Goldman told of the Center's first season and the appearance of a quartet of Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Jamie Laredo.  The audience, perhaps 50% new to classical music, broke into spontaneous and heartfelt applause after the first movement.  Goldman rushed backstage at intermission and he described what happened: “There, outside his dressing room, was Yo-Yo Ma, perhaps the nicest celebrity on the planet.  I said, ‘Yo-Yo, I hope it didn’t upset you....’  ‘Larry,’ he said looking me dead in the eye, ‘The next time I play here, you can put in the program, in capital letters, that it’s okay for people to applaud during movements.’”  Goldman added: “I wanted to hug him.”

Music and the Brain. From Musicophilia, a new book by Oliver Sacks: "Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician - but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment's hesitation. … [Researchers]…have recorded striking changes in the left hemisphere of children who have had only a single year of violin training, compared to children with no training." From This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin: "As adults, the music we tend to be nostalgic for, the music that feels like it is 'our' music, corresponds to the music we heard during [the ages of around ten or eleven]."

Montessori School. Usually, when I visit classrooms, two or three children raise their hands when I ask the students if any of them play the violin. But when I read at the Sea Pines Montessori Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina, all the hands went up. That's because the Suzuki Violin Program is offered to all the students beginning at age three. The program was launched by an anonymous grant of $300,000 to the school, which started in 1968, and which offers toddler, primary and elementary programs with plans to extend through middle school. Both students and teachers participated in a lively, fun discussion after my reading. Since then, I've received wonderful notes from the students, and one teacher wrote me: "I saw myself in Molly's story." I still get warm feelings when I think about the visit.

Children's Concert With an Extra. When the renowned cellist Steven Isserlis was asked to perform a children's concert of Carnival of the Animals at the 92nd Street Y in New York, he came up with an inspired concept. The British-born Isserlis has performed with major orchestras throughout the world and is also well known for his recordings, articles and children's books. Isserlis's idea for his Y concert, where he was joined by the members of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, was to invite the Bob Brown Puppets to participate. Although the concert was promoted for ages 6 and older, I saw many younger children in the audience. The mesmerizing concert was a huge success for all ages. In a Q&A after the concert, the children's questions seemed to be directed equally to the musicians and the puppeteers. Side note: Isserlis has been named president of the European String Teachers Association.

China. There's a fascinating series of three long articles on Western classical music in China in the New York Times, on April 3, April 4 and April 8, 2007 by Joseph Kahn and Daniel J. Wakin. One interesting item: China has "an estimated 30 million piano students and 10 million violin students."

Molly and orchestras. Aside from bookstores, music stores, museums and lots of websites, Molly is available at a growing number of orchestra — and opera-related gift shops. Examples:

New Orleans. With Louisiana Symphony winding up its season, I sent copies of Molly for the volunteers' Symphony Book Fair scheduled for June 3-5, 2007 (at the Jewish Community Center, Saint Charles & Jefferson Ave., 9 am to 9 pm). Post-Katrina, after urgent e-mails and phone calls, I was relieved to find that the librarians, musicians, bookstore owners and symphony volunteers, whom I knew because they were fans of Molly, had come through the storm safely. I was on hand in Lincoln Center at a benefit concert when the New York and Louisiana Philharmonics shared the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman and other leading figures in the world of music. What I remember most was the pride I felt in my fellow New Yorkers when the Louisiana musicians were introduced and received a stormy ovation from the audience. By the way, one of my daughters went to New Orleans as a volunteer to rescue animals in the aftermath of Katrina.

Canada. Alas, I still haven't established new distribution links in Canada after the bankruptcy of my distributor in Toronto. That's especially sad because I've had such wonderful feedback from Canadians. (More about that soon - especially an exchange of letters, which I'll post soon, with a 10-year-old Canadian girl who raised some fascinating questions about Molly.)

Schools. The best part of this book adventure has been the opportunity to visit with school children. I've been reading to third- fourth- and fifth-graders. The students have been very responsive. In fact, they're plain terrific! It looks as if I'll have another school visit when I visit my daughter (an archeologist) in the next few weeks in South Carolina. I'll report back after the visit takes place. I never charge for the visits and there's no obligation for the school or the students to buy anything.

Suggested Reading Lists. Thus far, in addition to recommendations from magazines, schools and lots of individuals (see "Readers' Letters," section) Molly has appeared on the suggested reading lists of Delaware's Diamond State Reading Association, Creative Kids Education Foundation and Classical KUSC in Cincinnati, the Atlanta Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra.