The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The 17th annual Percussion Extravaganza by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will be held this Saturday afternoon. It features many guest artists including Chinese dancers and steel pan player Liam Teague
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
Drum roll, please!
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Percussion Ensemble will host its 17th annual Percussion Extravaganza on this Saturday, March 24, at 1:30 p.m. in Mills Concert Hall of the UW-Madison Humanities Building.
The concert is scheduled to last 90 minutes.
General admission is $10; $5 for 18 and under. Tickets are available at the door and at the website: https://www.wysomusic.org/event-registration/?ee=11
The WYSO Percussion Ensemble, which consists of 14 student musicians from local communities, will host this signature percussion benefit to help others.
For the second consecutive year, Ronald McDonald House Charities will partner with WYSO in the collection of tangible items needed for the Ronald McDonald House in Madison.
Nearly 60 performers, including Liam Teague (below), one of the world’s greatest steel pan virtuosos, will present eclectic, global music dedicated to “Healing the Nations.” (Sorry, no word on specific composers or pieces on the program. But you can see and hear a sample of last year’s concert in the YouTube video below.)
Other Percussion Extravaganza artists include Drum Power; UW Chinese Dance Department; flamenco dancer Tania Tandias (below top); Zhong Yi Kung Fu Association; UW-Madison World Percussion Ensemble; and the WYSO Brass Choir (below bottom).
For more information, visit www.wysomusic.org or contact the WYSO office at (608) 263-3320.
Parking is available at State Street Campus, Helen C. White, and Grainger Hall parking facilities.
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Classical music: Can playing classical music quiet rowdy or drunken customers? Some McDonald’s restaurants say it works
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is some short good news on the classic music front.
Some McDonald’s restaurants are using classical music to calm late-night customers who are rowdy or drunk and prone to fighting as they wait for their fast food.
The international phenomenon started in Glasgow, Scotland. Then it apparently spread to Stockport, Liverpool and Gloucester in the United Kingdom. Finally, it ended up at several restaurants in Australia.
Several news stories specifically mention the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (portrayed below as Ronald McDonald Mozart).
Here is a link to one of the stories, published in The New York Post:
http://nypost.com/2017/07/05/mcdonalds-is-fighting-drunk-customers-with-mozart-and-bach/
The Ear wonders if any McDonald’s restaurants in Madison or the surrounding area, or in the state of Wisconsin or even anywhere in the U.S. have tried the same strategy and had the same experience, which seems grounded in neuroscience and the effect of classical music on releasing dopamine and other stress-lessening hormones.
If you hear of any or know of any, let The Ear now.
But maybe there is also a downside. The news reminds The Ear of Muzak, the motto of which used to be, “Not just a melody but a management tool.”
Oh well. If it fosters peace, who cares what came first – the chicken or the Egg McMuffin?
What do you think about all this?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Australia, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Chamber music, chicken, chien, Classical music, Compact Disc, customer, dopamine, drunk, drunken, Egg McMuffin, England, experience, fast food, fight, Glasgow, global, Gloucester, hormone, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Liverpool, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, management, McDonald's, melody, Music, Muzak, neuroscience, New York City, New York Post, news, Orchestra, peace, Piano, Ronald McDonald, rowdy, Scotland, Stockport, strategy, stress, symphony, tool, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music education: Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Percussion Ensemble holds a benefit concert this Saturday afternoon for Ronald McDonald House Charities
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ALERT: Radio host Rich Samuels of WORT-FM 89.9, who recorded all of “Bach Around the Clock” this year, writes: “At 7:08 a.m. this Thursday morning, I’ll be airing Saturday’s “Bach Around the Clock” performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. This was a collaboration of Trevor Stephenson, Kangwon Kim. Nathan and Gillian Giglierano, Micah Behr, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Illana Schroeder, Martha Schroeder, Martha Vallon, Eric Miller and Mark Bridges.”
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has been asked by Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) to post something about a worthy cause and a worthy event:
Drum roll, please!
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Percussion Ensemble (below) will host its 16th annual PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZA!! on this Saturday, March 25, at 1:30 p.m. in Mills Concert Hall of the UW George L. Mosse Humanities Building. (A video sampler of profiles and music of WYSO’s 13th Annual Percussion Ensemble in 2014 can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth under 18, and are available at the door 45 minutes before the concert begins.
The WYSO Percussion Ensemble (below top) — 14 student musicians from 10 communities playing under Vicki Jenks (below bottom) — hosts this signature percussion benefit to help others. Previous PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZAS! have benefitted Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and the local American Red Cross.
This year—for the first time ever—Ronald McDonald House Charities will partner with WYSO in the collection of tangible items need for the Ronald McDonald House in Madison. The concert will also feature Ronald McDonald himself in person.
Nearly 60 performers—featuring Mannheim Steamroller drummer, Tom Sharpe (below) —will present eclectic, global music dedicated to PEACE. The theme of the event is “Lifting the World to Peace.”
Other EXTRAVAGANZA artists include Madison’s own Black Star Drum Line Percussion Group, led by Joey B. Banks; the UW-Madison Pan-Global Percussion Ensemble, Todd Hammes, instructor; and the WYSO Chamber Strings, led by its director Karl Lavine (below), principal cellist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
For more information and details about the performers and the complete program as well as a video and a list of related activities and needed items you can bring and donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, go to:
http://www.wysomusic.org/events/concerts-recitals/percussionextravaganza/
Parking is available at State Street Campus, Helen C. White, and Grainger Hall parking facilities.
For more information, please contact the WYSO office at (608) 263-3320.
The WYSO Percussion Ensemble and PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZA! are supported by the Eric D. Batterman Memorial Fund, the Theodore W. Batterman Family Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: American Red Cross, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, bass, Black Star, Brandenburg Concerto, Cello, Chamber music, charity, Classical music, drum, drummer, drums, ensemble, extravaganza, foodbank, global, Jacob Stockinger, Kangwon Kim, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Marika Fischer Hoyt, marimba, McDonald's, Music education, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, peace, percussion, Red Cross, Rich Samuels, Ronald McDonald, Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Second Harvest, State of Wisconsin, strings, Tom Sharpe, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WORT-FM 89.9, WYSO, YouTube
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