tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post3597568535834791039..comments2024-03-23T11:40:13.092-05:00Comments on Musical Assumptions: Something Old, Something NewElaine Finehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-36514672208035887612012-02-23T12:51:23.245-06:002012-02-23T12:51:23.245-06:00Thanks for weighing in on this issue, Michael. I d...Thanks for weighing in on this issue, Michael. I did read the globe article when it first came out, and I do agree that Ben Zander did exercise poor judgement (easy to do in such an unusually-confusing situation).Elaine Finehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14248422399226824168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10680113.post-269501513284827622012-02-23T11:10:43.783-06:002012-02-23T11:10:43.783-06:00I don't know if I'd agree with this: "...I don't know if I'd agree with this: "It is clear to everybody who follows the story that his firing was an injustice at best, and, more likely, it was a personal vendetta." It's not clear to me - either way.<br /><br />Maybe I haven't followed this as closely as you, and I don't know Zander as well as you (although I've accompanied students under him several times and seen him in action in rehearsal and classes many times), but I suspect it's more complex than you suggest. Certainly Norman Lebrecht's loose cannon approach (to just about anything) is hardly the clearest lens through which to view this.<br /><br />I don't know if you read <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/02/05/fired-from-new-england-conservatory-benjamin-zander-considers-what-happened-and-what-future-holds/GEIQ12lziXY8jdoq3WLmNI/story.html" rel="nofollow">this article</a> (unfortunately only available to Globe subscribers and no longer available to me) in which Zander admits that he showed poor judgment and was wrong to have been so defensive initially. His lawyer brother was apparently among those counseling him to be more contrite.<br /><br />Whether his mistakes should have led to termination is another matter, but it's certainly possible that the administration could have had other reasons beyond just "personal vendetta" to decide it was time to move on. <br /><br />I respect Zander a great deal, and would affirm that he's had a remarkable career and been an inspiration to countless students, etc. At his best, he's a wonderful teacher (I love his Mahler lectures on his recordings of the symphonies), but there's a lot of showmanship (I've seen his famous TED talk and a videotape of one of his corporate motivational speeches) that can be tiresome; sometimes the musical output doesn't match all the fancy talk. Like just about anyone with his kind of success, he has also a big ego and his own way of doing things, and I can imagine reasons that this might not always make him a great team player (even if he markets himself as a teacher of team-playing).<br /><br />I am sad that all this has happened, and I'm sad about some other recent personnel decisions at NEC - and I especially agree with you that the small internet world can easily create all manner of distortions. To me, accusations about a "personal vendetta" could easily lead to more distortions.MICHAEL MONROEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16392848296427560715noreply@blogger.com