The critic’s mind
Have you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a critic? A new report released by Princeton University’s Lawrence McGill allows you to do just that. Called “The Classical Music Critic: A Survey of Music Critics at General-Interest and Specialized News Publications in America,” the document is the result of a collaborative effort between the Music Critics Association of North America and the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University. You can download your copy here. The report is a cornucopia of facts, including demographics, gender, types of stories, publications, approaches to criticism, the contemporary situation of classical music and its coverage, the critic’s relationship with his/her constituencies, the critic’s musical tastes, and the ethical norms of the classical music beat, among other things. Real juicy stuff. While I haven’t had a chance to read it yet and thus register my thoughts, you can be sure that it’s going to create a buzz around the blogosphere and likely well beyond. Klye Gann and Alex Ross have already struck up a conversation about it over at Sequenza21. I guarantee there’s more to come.