Issue: April 2024
Just prior to the 2023 ICSOM Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, my predecessor, Peter de Boor, and I made a visit to Colonial Quality Printing (CQP) where we got to tour the facility that does the printing of Senza Sordino and the ICSOM Directory. Printing represents the final step for an issue of Senza Sordino, and before I discuss what goes on in the shop, I want to describe the process of … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
As all of ICSOM knows, the musicians of the San Antonio Symphony have been on an unfair labor practice strike since September 27, following management’s unilateral declaration of impasse and imposition of intolerable terms on September 26. During the summer of 2020, the musicians met with our management and board to negotiate drastic, pandemic-related modifications to our CBA for the 2020-2021 … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
On October 29 I had the opportunity to attend a rally in support of the San Antonio Symphony musicians on behalf of ICSOM. It was a chance for me to pass on the support of all ICSOM members for the SAS musicians, and to hear from those musicians directly. The energy in the crowd was palpable, especially given that management had announced the cancellation of the musician’s health insurance the … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
Issue: Chairperson's Reports
We are just a few months shy of two years since the March 2020 pandemic shutdown. The SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants are still with us but our orchestras have shown remarkable agility and resilience in the face of what could have been an industry-wide catastrophe. The closures of our performance spaces were often mandated by state and county decree, but by mid-March of 2020, our orchestras … [Read more...]
Issue: Counsel's Columns
Update (January 13, 2022): On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to prevent implementation of the ETS, overruling the Sixth Circuit. The Biden administration has subsequently withdrawn the rule. Previous Update (December 17, 2021): On December 17, 2021, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to lift the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
As ICSOM approaches its 60th anniversary, it was enlightening for me to review the role that women have played in our organization. Upon reading the minutes of our early conferences in the 1960s, it was noticeable that almost no women were mentioned. Of course this would be reflective of the small number of women in ICSOM orchestras at that time, but it was good to see that there was a female … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
After a lot of consideration, I decided to title this column with a mute joke, since my predecessor, Peter de Boor titled his column Dropping the Mute, and since I really appreciate puns. In the end, as a bassoonist, mutes are an unfamiliar and generally unwanted hindrance—why do with a mute what you could do with a reed? Still, although I share Peter’s reluctance to speak about myself, I'd like … [Read more...]
Issue: December 2021
During the 2021 ICSOM Conference in Pittsburgh, a few topics raised in our American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) report appeared to be of particular interest. The first was the Pension Estimator, which can be found on the AFM-EPF website at www.afm-epf.org. The second involved information about participants who are divorced when applying for their pension benefit. … [Read more...]
Issue: October 2021
The pandemic shutdowns across ICSOM orchestras became a time of thoughtful reflection for musicians across the country as they considered what to do next. Personally, having briefly considered a career change in my mid-thirties (enough to enroll in a pre-med course at the University of Utah), I recognized quickly that the pandemic break would have an impact on the creative, intelligent, and … [Read more...]
