Symphony

About: Symphony is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2846 publications have been published within this topic receiving 24848 citations. The topic is also known as: symphonies.

Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians

Abstract: A change in the audition procedures of symphony orchestras--adoption of "blind" auditions with a "screen" to conceal the candidate's identity from the jury--provides a test for sex-biased hiring. Using data from actual auditions, in an individual fixed-effects framework, we find that the screen increases the probability a woman will be advanced and hired. Although some of our estimates have large standard errors and there is one persistent effect in the opposite direction, the weight of the evidence suggests that the blind audition procedure fostered impartiality in hiring and increased the proportion women in symphony orchestras.

Musicking: The Meanings of Performing and Listening

Abstract: Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. This new work outlines a theory of what Small terms "musicking, " a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower. Using Gregory Bateson's philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants explore and celebrate the relationships that constitute their social identity. This trip through the concert hall will have readers rethinking every aspect of their musical worlds.

Orchestrated response: a symphony of transcription factors for gene control.

Abstract: An enormous body of work generated over the past three decades has revealed that eukaryotic gene transcription is a remarkably intricate biochemical process that is tightly regulated at many levels. Biochemical and genetic analysis of various model organisms has identified an astounding number of protein factors responsible for transcriptional control. Although a large assortment of gene-specific DNA-binding regulators was somewhat anticipated, the sheer complexity of the general machinery relative to prokaryotes has been a surprise. Even more unexpected were the numerous and intricate layers of control imposed by the diversification of co-activators and co-repressors, some of which possess enzymatic activities. Many interactions between the identified factors and some of their rate-limiting steps have been discerned. Despite these advances, surprisingly little is known about the detailed mechanisms by which individual genes are turned on or off in a cell. Recent evidence suggests that there is an ordered progression of events leading to RNA synthesis in vivo and that a highly structured eukaryotic nucleus may be important in orchestrating transcription. In this review, we present our interpretation of recent findings and discuss various models that integrate these observations with the emerging elaborate molecular apparatus that has evolved to control gene expression. Eukaryotic cells carry a tremendous amount of genetic information just to encode the 6000 to 100,000 proteins necessary to perpetuate life from yeast to animals. In addition, genomes must also contain vast amounts of cis-regulatory DNA responsible for directing spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression in response to metabolic requirements, developmental programs, and a plethora of external stimuli. To maintain and control such a large genetic load, eukaryotes have organized colinear DNA into discrete chromosomes each packaged into chromatin, the minimal unit of which has been defined as the nucleosome (Kornberg 1974; Luger et al. 1997). Variable degrees of DNA sequence accessibility exist within chromatin throughout the cell cycle to accommodate essential biological processes such as DNA replication, gene expression, and cell division. However, classically held notions of chromatin as merely a passive DNA-packaging vehicle and global repressor of transcription have proven to be inadequate to explain its role in gene expression (Lorch et al. 1987; for review, see Grunstein 1992). Instead, it has become clear that chromatin is a dynamic and active participant in regulating transcription of the eukaryotic genome. Thus, the question of how gene expression is regulated in complex eukaryotic genomes has re-focused on the molecular machines that have evolved to navigate through chromatin and mediate transcriptional control.

When Cymbals Become Symbols: Conflict Over Organizational Identity Within a Symphony Orchestra

Abstract: In this qualitative field study, I explore how the construction of a cultural institution's identity is related to the construction of strategic capabilities and resources. I investigated the 1996 musicians' strike at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), which revealed embedded and latent identity conflicts. The multifaceted and specialized identity of the ASO was reinforced by different professional groups in the organization: the ideologies of musicians and administrators emphasized institutional resource allocations consistent with the legitimating values of their professions, i.e., artistic excellence versus economic utility. These identity claims, made under organizational crisis, accounted for variations in the construction of core competencies. I propose a model that explicates how the construction of core capabilities lies at the intersection of identification and interpretive processes in organizations. Implications are discussed for defining firm capabilities in cultural institutions and for managing organizational forms characterized by competing claims over institutional identity, resources, and core capabilities.

Art, mind, and brain : a cognitive approach to creativity

Abstract: In a provocative discussion of the sources of human creativity, Gardner explores all aspects of the subject, from the young childs ability to learn a new song through Mozarts conceiving a complete symphony.