Are you tone deaf?

Through the years I have met several people who say they are tone deaf. I have always been skeptical of such comments. Usually what the person means is that they can't sing. There is a difference between not being able to distinguish between the relative highness or lowness of a musical pitch (tone deafness) and being unable to produce the pitch via the vocal chords. I HAVE met several people who cannot sing. (The worst thing is when they THINK they can sing, but they cannot.) Anyway, thanks to my friend, Mark Van Patten, at the Bowling Green Daily News, I am now aware of a tool that determines if one is, in fact, tone deaf.

Click on http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/. At the site you will find a test in which you, the listener, will be asked to determine if two musical phrases (played one after the other) are the same or different. I found the test to be pretty difficult. Sometimes my mind wanted to supply differences that were not there. Before I began, I was hesitant to even take the test. What if I, the maestro, scored at the bottom level? I finally decided that if I did fail, I had the option of pretending that it never occurred. In that case, I would definitely NOT bring it to the attention of anyone else. That was an easy decision. However, what if I didn't do that bad, but didn't score at the top? I decided to put my ego aside (not an easy thing for a conductor) and take the test.

I am happy to report that I did score at the top level....barely. I got a 91.7%. Go take the test and tell me how you did. And if you did better than me, please keep it to yourself.

Economic Impact of the Arts

I'm tired. I'm physically tired, true, but I'm most tired of hearing people say that the BGCO provides entertainment. Of course that's a big part of what we do, but we do much more than that. Rather than get into all the ways our orchestra contributes to the community, I want to focus on one: the BGCO's economic impact on Bowling Green.

Americans for the Arts conducted a national survey on the economic impact of the arts on 156 communities. (Visit www.AmericansForTheArts.org/EconomicImpact for more information.) They took the averages of the data they collected from the study and created an economic impact calculator where an organization can enter their figures and find out the impact the organization has on its community. I entered the information for the BGCO and learned the following:

Last season our organization supported the equivalent of 13.9 jobs in our community. Next season we are on track to support 17.1 jobs.

The City of Bowling Green received $14,608 (license fees, taxes, etc.) as a result of the BGCO. Next year will be about $18,065.

Audiences spent about $706,500 as a result of our events last year.

The BGCO’s total economic impact last year was $1,201,336. Next year will be closer to $1,318,463.

Not bad for a group that entertains.