Sunday, December 20, 2015
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Monday, December 14, 2015
Sunday, December 06, 2015
STEPHEN HOUGH MASTER CLASS AT NORTHWESTERN’S GALVIN HALL:
A GENIUS POLYMATH'S INSIGHTS INTO SCHUMANN, LISZT, CHOPIN, MEDTNER
A relative few days following “Paris (November 13)”, "Mali (November 20)," “Colorado Springs (November 27), ” and now it was “San Bernardino (December 2).” My faith in humanity was at a very low ebb, I was physically beat after a long, hard string of days. I had a toothache, and, all in all, I surely didn’t feel like going out on that dark, cold night, not even for a master class by the world renown Stephen Hough in the brand-new and striking Galvin Hall on the banks of Lake Michigan on the Northwestern University campus.
I looked for one last excuse, e.g. repertory that didn’t
interest. Turns out, the pieces to be
presented were among my very favorites.
And so I pushed myself out the door. I
joined another 100 or so of the musically curious in this metropolitan area of
nearly 10 million who filled up about one-fourth of the new, intimate hall to
hear an internationally-celebrated master hold forth on things artistic in a very unartistic, and unappealing world that is today the status quo.
And I’m glad I did. I
got a recharge. I would guess most
everyone did. We surely needed it.
According to one bio sketch, British-born Stephen Hough is
not just a piano giant. His is one of
just some 20 genuine polymaths on planet earth.
(The other “19”
weren’t named, btw). In any case, it is a
fact that he was recipient of the MacArthur Grant (2001), a.k.a. the “Genius
Grant” and inventor of an iPad app (on the Liszt Sonata). On his own time, off the concert stage, he
writes (The Bible As Prayer -- he converted to Roman Catholicism at 19,
a move that vexed his Protestant grandmother), paints and exhibits, composes,
conducts, tweets and blogs.
“Crossroads at 6.30pm, then Emmerdale Farm, Coronation Street, World in Action, Love thy Neighbour, The Nine O’Clock News, Horizon...” he recites lovingly, running through the TV listings from the Eighties as if they were the names of old friends. “For about four years all I did was watch television. I suppose my parents should have stopped me.”)
It may be just this childhood lifestyle -- normal -- that
allowed him the space to develop into genius-level interpreter vis-à-vis the
roboplayers that Tiger Moms produce. His
style of playing may be described as insightful, free, and eminently creative. In that, he is a bit of a throwback to an
earlier generation -- the opposite of today’s crop of ‘machine learning’ and indistinguishable
keyboardists.
It was just this style and concept of music that he was trying to share with the
three NU acolytes, a rather uneven trio.
To take what at least one of them was presenting -- a tangled and mushy
mass of notes and sound -- and make it articulate, with breath (“how long can
you wait here before pressing on?”), and inflection, humanity, art, and musical
meaning. And, in the case of the other
two students, to take some real, bonafide heroic romantic pianism and elevate
it to a yet higher level. Something that
Hough was well familiar with, as his pianism flies at that level continuously.
The works: Schumann’s
Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (two movements), Liszt’s La Leggierezza from Three Concert Etudes, Chopin
Ballade No. 3, and Medtner’s “Sonata Tragica.”
The stage was set with two pianos. Hough sat next to his students, played and
illustrated right on his own keyboard.
(Not all clinicians do, but all should.)
Some bon mots tossed out and some gauntlets thrown down along the way,
amidst the technical talk of the eight shades of pedaling, melodic delineation,
harmony and counterpoint:
- PHRASING. We can learn more from the phrasing of Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle than any classical player.
- DEDICATION. Josef Lhévinne practiced for 10 years on a particular double note etude before presenting it in public. Would you be willing to do that on this piece?
- EXPRESSION. How much time can you take there? Be vulgar. Be in terrible taste. Exaggerate.
- FREEDOM. Liszt was always improvising. These notes on the page he was probably writing while on horseback or in a carriage. They are an approximation. Be free with it.
- SOUND. More shimmer here, more half-light there.
- RUBATO. Godowsky (profiled in Obscure Composers 2; once the world’s greatest pianist, now obscure to all but a few like Hough, who has recorded some of his work) was asked how can you make two voices sound different? He answered: can’t play them at the same time, you must use rubato.
- IMPROVISATION. Chopin wrote four ballades, but improvised another 10. People who heard him said the improvised ones were even more powerful, but they are lost to us now. But we should retain a bit of the spirit of improvisation in all our playing.
- Churchill would ask for his favorite, the Chopin Ballade No. 3, calling it the “one with the rocking horse in the middle.”
 | |
| The next night Hough returned to Galvin for his own performance. |
It had been a dark day, now it was a dark night, but Hough
infused the hall for more than two hours with a countermeasure charge of
oxygen, light, learning, humanity. The
jihadists had taken the day, but now art was taking back some of the night.
Postscript. In the
aftermath of the master class, we have been listening to Stephen Hough on Spotify. His recording of
the Hummel pianos concertos is not to be missed. Johann Nepomuk Hummel is profiled along with 99 or so other little known composers in our new book, Obscure Composers 2.
__________________________________________________________________________
John A. Sarkett is the author of Obscure Composers, Obscure Composers 2, Bach and Heaven: The Promise of Afterlife in the Text of the Cantatas, Death in classical music: making friends with the unfriendly, Extraordinary Comebacks: 201 Inspiring Stories of Courage, Triumph and Success, and a number of other titles to be found here and at Amazon.
Thursday, December 03, 2015
Because inquity shall abound
 |
| San Bernadino, Colorado Springs, Paris....who is next......? |
Friday, November 27, 2015
The Russia/Turkey Clash———Some Relevant History | David Stockman's Contra Corner
The Russia/Turkey Clash———Some Relevant History | David Stockman's Contra Corner
"Turkey is point-man for the odd coalition of stealthy ISIS backers that
includes the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, France and Britain.
ISIS is their weapon of choice against Shia Iran and its Syrian and
Lebanese allies and, very soon, Taliban in Afghanistan. Problem is,
they back ISIS but can’t control its youthful members. The rabid dog
they helped breed is now running around biting people."f
This explains why Obama does not forge a united effort to eradicate ISIS......
"Turkey is point-man for the odd coalition of stealthy ISIS backers that
includes the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, France and Britain.
ISIS is their weapon of choice against Shia Iran and its Syrian and
Lebanese allies and, very soon, Taliban in Afghanistan. Problem is,
they back ISIS but can’t control its youthful members. The rabid dog
they helped breed is now running around biting people."f
This explains why Obama does not forge a united effort to eradicate ISIS......
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
How World War III became possible - Vox
How World War III became possible - Vox
I almost expect to read about the assassination of an Archdule Ferdinand some morning soon...... or was today's news "it"......and we just don't know it yet?
I almost expect to read about the assassination of an Archdule Ferdinand some morning soon...... or was today's news "it"......and we just don't know it yet?
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Monday, October 12, 2015
Friday, October 02, 2015
Thursday, October 01, 2015
Sunday, September 27, 2015
"Sila" by John Adams recalls Solo Tuba Ichigo Ichie
This solitary figure was going against the grain in so many ways:
- on the lawn versus in a practice room
- playing a big silver tuba, the unheralded member of the brass family vs. a piercing trumpet or stately french horn
- waging its own war against the dying of the light, which could not be won, but not yielding to it nonetheless
- and most dramatically: utterly, completely alone, versus in a classical ensemble, where we would ordinarily find a tuba
The mental picture stuck with me. It was equal parts serendipity, magic, and
ichigo ichie -- (Japanese for one time, one meeting, i.e. an unrecurring
encounter, an unrepeatable miracle). I
have never walked across a scene quite like it -- before, or since. (Though while a student at Ohio
State University
I once came across a bagpiper playing underneath a bridge, but that's another
story.)
But just now I have had an experience that put me in
remembrance. This past Friday night, Northwestern
U. dedicated its new $117 million
Patrick G. and Shirley W.
Ryan Center
for the Musical Arts, eight years in the making.
It is a remarkable edifice, trapezoidal, leaning in,
seemingly rushing forward into Lake Michigan as though some sort of musical
starship that was utilizing the campus as a runway. You can still get a lot for $117 million --
even today. It features a 400-seat
concert hall with a 50 ft. glass wall behind the stage, through which loom
stunning views of Lake Michigan and Chicago
city lights as backdrop. Another
150-seat hall is for opera workshops.
The building adds some 55 practice rooms, and countless other analog and
digital treasures to the music program of NU.
To 'consecrate' the house, on Sept. 25 and 26, 2015, 80 some
musicians from the Bienen School of Music gave a Midwest
premiere of Sila: The Breath of the World by John Adams (noted critic Alex Ross calls him "one of
the most original musical thinkers of the new century"). It took place on the lawn between the new
concert hall and the lake.
Adams writes of it: "The piece traverses sixteen harmonic
clouds, grounded on the first 16 harmonics of a low B-flat. All the other tones in the music fall
"between the cracks" of the piano keyboard -- off the grid of 12-tone
equal temperament."
There is no conductor.
Additionally, there is no melody, no rhythm, just these strange
harmonics wafting ever skyward, for some 70 minutes, a more than ample 70
minutes, my guest said.
A work egalitarian to the core, audience members were encouraged via the printed program to
walk around the players who were widely spread throughout the near football
field size field and hear the presentation from different viewpoints.
How times have changed.
From one somewhat renegade tuba on the grass of his own taking to 80
highly organized musicians, strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, marimbas,
vocalists etc. Each one had a single
black earbud. Though there were no
"conductors," something was being communicated and/or controlled from somewhere. Or so it seemed.
Famous philanthropists, big buildings, knock-your-socks off,
impressive-as-all-get-out architecture.
Such is the way of the world.
Things get bigger and bigger. In
my own neighborhood, right-sized beautiful family homes are torn down,
seemingly every day, so that new family 'hotels' can take their place at a cost
of three to four times. This is
progress, of course. Of course, the deformation (to use David Stockman's term) of ZIRP helps enormously.
Nevertheless, Dr. Pangloss surely would have approved this best of all
possible worlds, where everything
happens out of absolute necessity, and that everything happens for the best. So, too, here.
We get it. This is
progress.
Yet in a world of declining interest in classical music, (see Slate feature) the
geriatrification of the classical audience, when 500 musicians routinely try
out for a single orchestral post, one has to wonder how many gigs it will take
to pay for a Northwestern music degree, which at this writing runs as follows,
straight off the web site: Full-time
Tuition; Tuition is billed on the first
invoice for each quarter;
$16,208/quarter (3 – 5 courses).
(That's nearly $200,000, just for tuition, for an NU music school
degree.) Then there's the minor matters
of text books, lodging, --- food.
So.....times 1.5, 2, x? Whatever
the case, the number is pretty staggering.
How about the payback?
Ay, there's the rub.
Teaching a master class at Ravinia Steans Institute several
years ago, Kiri Te Kanawa said the lack of potential for the payback was a
serious moral issue, this business of training the next generation of musicians
for jobs that simply don't exist.
She has cited the fabulously successful Met Opera HD Live!
broadcasts, for example, for being not that helpful to the opera world in
general. Why patronize the local opera
company when you can attend "The Met," "live" for a
fraction of the cost?
From the UK Observor (she lives a good part of the time
in London), we have this: "There is
little chance of building up a truly elite tradition of singing outside Europe,
she (Ms. Te Kanawa) argues, because the opera houses in New Zealand and Australia mount only a
few performances a year and are bedevilled with cash crises. "There are
great, dedicated young singers coming up all over the world, and yet there is
no space. No jobs, because there are only so many places at the top
table," she said.
No jobs.
No jobs.
Instead of jobs we have free classical: Spotify, Pandora, streaming and all the
rest. Is it any wonder that classical
record sales are so small (sometimes measured in the scores or hundreds for
major artists) when you have the entire catalog of recorded classical sound
available to you at a mouse click -- for free!?! Not just one recording of Fischer-Dieskau and
Winterreise, all seven that he made through his lifetime. Tons and tons of works, and renditions, impossible to consume in whole, by composers both immortal and obscure. A cosmological and ever-expanding miracle.
This is the blessing and the curse. This is the elephant in the room, the
unspeakable taboo which cannot be named or spoken of: the futility of it all. Classical lovers used to spend thousands on
recordings. Now, those few that are
left, spend ----- next to nothing.
No jobs for newcomers.
No jobs for newcomers.
That same air of futility was evident in Adams'
music; Sila: The Breath of the World, without rhythm,
without melody. Just floating harmonies. Not really going anywhere, like to the tonic, in Haydn or Mozart or Beethoven. Just.....being......there.....up........in.......the......................air........................
As the performance ended, the prodigious and somber concentration
on the part of the players gave way to smiles as they were approached by
family members, friends, and well wishers. The performance art piece thus ended, it was time for all to exhale.
Meanwhile, the suit-and-tie and high heel set who were
moments before wobbling through the grass, through whose largesse this was all
possible, retired through a side door into their magnificent namesake edifice
for a private dinner while the players packed up their instruments to do it all
over again the next night.
Postscript: I
played tennis yesterday with a good friend and noted physician.
His daughter, a talented musician, earned a M.M. in viola at the
prestigious Indiana University
School of Music. I learned she just recently gave up the music
business to re-tool as a journalist via the Georgetown
Journalism school. She is now a reporter
for the Baltimore
Sun.
Her musician husband is now attending engineering school.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Thursday, September 03, 2015
Monday, August 31, 2015
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
We often wondered: How much does the Met make from HD Live! ?
Answer: $60 million
It nets an annual profit of $17 million to $18 million (roughly 12% of the Met’s total revenue). The series is seen in 2,000 theaters in 70 countries in 11 time zones.
More:
Met: Live in HD Celebrates 10 Years | Variety
It nets an annual profit of $17 million to $18 million (roughly 12% of the Met’s total revenue). The series is seen in 2,000 theaters in 70 countries in 11 time zones.
More:
Met: Live in HD Celebrates 10 Years | Variety
Friday, August 21, 2015
Monday, August 17, 2015
Tuesday, August 04, 2015
Digging Deeper poses the question: Why is James Conlon leaving Ravinia?
Superb explanation by Chicago Tribune music critic.
James Conlon moves beyond Ravinia for new beginning - Chicago Tribune
James Conlon moves beyond Ravinia for new beginning - Chicago Tribune
Monday, August 03, 2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Some meanings hidden behind the notes on the page:
To not give up is all we can do
 | |
| Beethoven suffered from deafness and lead poisoning. |
"Did you really like it?" my companion asked after it was over. "I didn't hear anything, just notes."
I have had that experience, too, very recently, and it is frustrating. Nothing is worse than being ensconsed in a concert hall, with glorious sounds pouring forth, but unable to receive or decode any of them because one is tired, or distracted or depressed or whatever.
Yesterday, however, on closing day as it were, I was able. I didn't hear notes, per se, or even the melody-harmony-rhythm that makes up music, per se, but rather I experienced each personage behind their pen.
Perhaps it had been because I had earlier come across this quote from Virginia Woolf, and it was rolling around my subsconscious: "How Shakespeare loathed humanity -- the putting on of clothes, the getting of children, the sordidity of the mouth and the belly! This was now revealed to Septimus; the message hidden in the beauty of words. The secret signal which one generation passes, under disguise, to the next is loathing, hatred, despair.” From Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf
What did these three composers think of humanity, I wondered.
In Mozart, we have the quintessential Opera Man (in business centuries before Adam Sandler created the comical character). We have the creator of both Figaro, and Don Giovanni, the admirable, and the reprobate. Mozart takes it all in, and says with a wry smile and perhaps a scatological invective (he was famous for that), 'for better or worse, this is humanity, God save us all.'
Bartók, the severely intellectual Hungarian, seems on the surface, not so optimistic about things. In fact, his SQ No. 2, has a wonderful caprice in the middle movement, but movements one and three are dour, pessismistic, depressed. For many, this is life, not television life, but the real life. Bartók doesn't recoil from it, or whitewash it over. Life as pain, suffering, tragedy unspeakable. Much of his music takes this straight on (though his final and major work, Concerto for Orchestra, affirms life nonetheless. In his own words: “except for the amusing second movement, the general character of the work represents a gradual transition from the harshness of the first movement and the solemnity of the death song in the third movement towards the affirmation of life in the final movement.”)
Beethoven, however, writing in his Op. 131, in his penultimate year, seemingly never wavers in his embrace for all that God is and has for us, at least in his music, and all that humanity is or isn't and ever shall be. Beethoven is the will, the volition, the comeback, the never give up that each one of us must have to some degree just to start the next day after getting knocked flat on our back the day before by things great and things small.
The mighty Beethoven, knocking on God's door, speaking for like-minded humanity, saying in effect, "Don't forget us, don't give up on us, because we don't give up on life. We don't give up on you, Lord, even though you are hidden from us today, some day we shall see you face to face."
Beethoven once wrote that apart from music, everything in his life he had done had been done stupidly or badly. Mighty Beethoven, deaf, wracked by lead poisoning, miserable from that condition much of his life, would not give up on his music, (thank God) and so left a legacy and blueprint and trust of the human will for every human who came after him.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Tiger Woods -- a comeback in the making?
".....if he were to lift the Claret jug at St Andrews on Sunday afternoon it would represent one of the most extraordinary comebacks in sporting history."
Tiger Woods back on the prowl as he talks up The Open | The Week UK
Tiger Woods back on the prowl as he talks up The Open | The Week UK
Friday, July 03, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Beatrayed by Dre? - Bloomberg Business
Beatrayed by Dre? - Bloomberg Business
A remarkably complex and truly operatic business story. A must read for students of human behavior.
My favorite line from the feature as reading through it I felt this was coming all along: 'The legal provisions at issue aren’t terribly esoteric, and Monster might have a stronger case against its own contract lawyers than it does
against Beats/Apple."
Unfortunately, bad lawyering can be nearly as painful as bad doctoring. Choose your support team wisely, would be a message here, and maintain active control vs. passive disinterest and "trust."
Stuff happens. Oh yeah.
I remember my high school law teacher told us: "if there's ever anything you don't like in a contract, just cross it out...." If the principal in this story had thought ahead, and done just that, this suit wouldn't exist.
Who wins here? I'm pretty sure the lawyers will do pretty well......
My favorite line from the feature as reading through it I felt this was coming all along: 'The legal provisions at issue aren’t terribly esoteric, and Monster might have a stronger case against its own contract lawyers than it does
against Beats/Apple."
Unfortunately, bad lawyering can be nearly as painful as bad doctoring. Choose your support team wisely, would be a message here, and maintain active control vs. passive disinterest and "trust."
Stuff happens. Oh yeah.
I remember my high school law teacher told us: "if there's ever anything you don't like in a contract, just cross it out...." If the principal in this story had thought ahead, and done just that, this suit wouldn't exist.
Who wins here? I'm pretty sure the lawyers will do pretty well......
Friday, June 26, 2015
Master class from a master: Leon Fleischer
Last night in tennis, my opponent, 47, estimated my age at 55. That was eight years to the complimentary side. Was he flattering me? I don't know him well enough to be sure. But what matters for me is that the needle moved in the right direction. For that moment I was "beating the system." Then it was back to reality as he dusted me off 6-1, 6-2, so that would have to be a main consolation of the evening. That, and the fact that I won three games. He is a terrific player; I was lucky to get three.
My little age bump was nothing compared to yesterday's ingenue who presented a master class at Ravinia (June 25, 2015): Leon Fleisher, who had the look and bearing of a man of 70 or 75, when in fact, he clocks in at 85. He noted casually his first appearance at Ravinia was some 70 years earlier, when he appeared with an up-and-coming conductor by the name of Leonard Bernstein (who was an old hand as he had already been there once before).
Attending master classes has been a "strange hobby" of mine for years. It's been a year since I wrote about one when I panned an equally famous soloist for her "master class in how not to give a master class."
This had everything the former didn't: passion, wisdom, wit, a warm and humane engagement with both the student and audience, weight, gravity, insight and real how-to technique (versus the cop-out 'play it more beautifully', or 'play a more beautiful line,' yes, last year's clinician actually said that. You can't make this stuff up.)
To get there, he gave myriad "inside piano" tips, e.g. pedal first here, create a different sound there, lighten the arms here, slide onto the key vs. attack there. And so on and so on and so on it went.
From the micro to the macro, he discussed the meat of the piano repertory ("I am not a vegetarian"), i.e. French (sensual), Russian (subjective), and German (metaphysical). (While we were developing the Obscure Composers Index™, we calculated 42% of all recorded music is German, in fact.)
The latter is music of contemplation, meditation, he said, militated against by our current absorption with smart phones. ""Got your little thing here," as he went into a spot-on mime, touch, touch, swipe, swipe. Knowing laughter ensued. Guilty, your honor, the audience seemed to aver.
Most thought-provoking of all: his explication of the philosophical underpinnings of the fugue of the Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 31, Ab, Op. 110. It begins with utter desolation, and somehow makes its way, on elbows and knees as it were, by sheer act of will, to a vision of what Fleischer called "the while light of heaven."
It does not appear that Fleischer is ready for any such fate just yet. His passion for the music, for teaching, and for entertaining an adoring audience remains undimmed, as though he is preparing to embark on his next 70 years on the classical music circuit. For him, the pursuit of artistic expression never ends, demands one's all, and in the case of the remarkable Leon Fleischer, keeps him perpetually youthful.
Postscript: There are limits to these things after all. After two intense hours of teaching, unbroken, he was given a microphone to take "questions and answers." Growing ruminative, he demurred, instead saying he would leave the audience with three words from his recently (December 27, 2014) departed colleague "Klaus Frank," i.e., pianist Claude Frank.
"Procrastination saves time."
A bit of a Zen koan, as it were, for the audience to take with and solve on their own time. What is a class, after all, even a master class, without "homework?"
John A. Sarkett is the author of Obscure Composers and Bach and Heaven: The Promise of Afterlife in the Text of the Cantatas.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
Truth Matters
Errors and Lies - NYTimes.com
On Memorial Day, an essay: "we were lied into war...." So many dead, so many maimed. The writer's conclusion: "a crime."
On Memorial Day, an essay: "we were lied into war...." So many dead, so many maimed. The writer's conclusion: "a crime."
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Real Facts about the Real Economy
Chop, Chop, Choppin’ At The Fed’s Front Door | David Stockman's Contra Corner
Nobody puts it together like David Stockman.......
Nobody puts it together like David Stockman.......
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Just a phase
‘Disaster Was My God,’ by Bruce Duffy - Review - NYTimes.com
................artistic ambition may sometimes be, as the guidance counselors say, just a phase that troubled teens — even geniuses — go through.
On the strange life of the poet Artur Rimbaud.
................artistic ambition may sometimes be, as the guidance counselors say, just a phase that troubled teens — even geniuses — go through.
On the strange life of the poet Artur Rimbaud.
A Yale Graduate Leaves a Trail of Ventures and Debts - NYTimes.com
A Yale Graduate Leaves a Trail of Ventures and Debts - NYTimes.com
Several investors, some of whom declined to speak on the record because
of continuing litigation, said they had been reassured by Mr. Newman’s
background and by favorable media coverage, including several articles
in The New York Times. Due diligence can be an afterthought for
investors in start-ups and independent movies, businesses in which
failure is not uncommon. And indeed few said they had looked into Mr.
Newman’s past by checking court records or lien filings before investing
in his projects...............
Several investors, some of whom declined to speak on the record because
of continuing litigation, said they had been reassured by Mr. Newman’s
background and by favorable media coverage, including several articles
in The New York Times. Due diligence can be an afterthought for
investors in start-ups and independent movies, businesses in which
failure is not uncommon. And indeed few said they had looked into Mr.
Newman’s past by checking court records or lien filings before investing
in his projects...............
Friday, April 17, 2015
10 Steps to Make Each Day Exceptionally Productive
BY JEFF HADEN
No matter what your job, in one way everyone's day is basically the same: We all have the same amount of time at our disposal.
That's why how you use your time makes all the difference -- whether you're bootstrapping a startup or running a billion-dollar company like Jim Whitehurst, the president and CEO of Red Hat, one of the largest and most successful providers of open-source software.
Here are Jim's tips for maximizing your time and improving your personal productivity:
1. Every Sunday night, map out your week. Sunday evenings, I sit down with my list of important objectives for the year and for each month. Those goals inform every week and help keep me on track. While long-range goals may not be urgent, they are definitely important. If you aren't careful, it's easy for "important" to get pushed aside by "urgent." Then I look at my calendar for the week. I know what times are blocked out by meetings, etc. Then I look at what I want to accomplish and slot those tasks onto my to-do list.
The key is to create structure and discipline for your week--otherwise you'll just let things come to you...and urgent will push aside important.
2. Actively block out task time. Everyone schedules meetings and appointments. Go a step further and block out time to complete specific tasks. Slot periods for "Write new proposal," or "Craft presentation," or "Review and approve marketing materials."
If you don't proactively block out that time, those tasks will slip. Or get interrupted. Or you'll lose focus. And important tasks won't actually get done.
3. Follow a realistic to-do list. I used to create to-do lists, but I didn't assign times to each task. What happened? I always had more items on my to-do list than I could accomplish, and that turned it into a wish list, not a to-do list. If you have six hours of meetings scheduled today and eight hours worth of tasks, then those tasks won't get done.
Assigning realistic times forces you to prioritize. (I like Toodledo, but there are plenty of other tools you can use.) Assigning realistic times also helps you stay focused. When you know a task should only take 30 minutes, you'll be more aggressive in weeding out or ignoring distractions.
4. Default to 30-minute meetings. Whoever invented the one-hour default in calendar software wasted millions of people-hours. Most subjects can be handled in 30 minutes. Many can be handled in 15 minutes--especially if everyone who attends knows the meeting is only going to last 15 minutes.
Don't be a slave to calendar tool defaults. Only schedule an hour if you absolutely know you need it.
5. Stop multitasking. During a meeting--especially an hour-long meeting--it's tempting to take care of a few mindless tasks. (Who hasn't cleaned up their inbox during a meeting?) The problem is that such split focus makes those meetings less productive. Even though you're only doing mindless stuff, still--you're distracted. And that makes you less productive.
Multitasking is a personal-productivity killer. Don't try to do two things partly well. Do one thing really well.
6. Obsess over leveraging edge time. My biggest downtimes during the workday come when I drive to work, when I drive home, and when I'm in airports. So I focus really hard on how to use that time. I almost always schedule calls for my drive to work. It's easy: I take the kids to school and drop them off at a specific time; then I can do an 8:00 to 8:30 call. I typically don't schedule calls for the drive home so I can return calls, especially to people on the West Coast.
At the airport, I use Pocket, a browser plug-in that downloads articles. Loading up 10 articles ahead of time ensures I have plenty to read--plenty I want to read--while I'm waiting in the security line.
Look at your day. Identify the downtimes. Then schedule things you can do during that time. Call it edge time--because it really can build a productive edge.
7. Track your time. Once you start tracking your time (I use Toggl), you'll be amazed by how much time you spend doing stuff that isn't productive. You don't have to get hyper-specific. The info you log can be directional, not precise.
Tracking my time is something I just started to do recently. It's been an eye-opening experience--and one that has really helped me focus.
8. Be thoughtful about lunch. Your lunch can take an hour. Or 30 minutes. Or 10 minutes.
Whatever time it takes, be thoughtful about what you do. If you like to eat at your desk and keep chugging, fine. But if you benefit from using the break to recharge, lunch is one time where multitasking can be great: You can network, socialize, and help build your company's culture--but not if you're going out to lunch with the same people every day.
Pick two days a week to go out with people you don't know well. Or take a walk. Or do something personally productive. Say you take an hour for lunch each day; that's five hours a week. Be thoughtful about how you spend that time. You don't have to work, but you should make it work for you.
9. Protect your family time. Like you, I'm a bit of a workaholic. So I'm very thoughtful about my evenings. When I get home from work, it's family time: We have dinner as a family, we help our kids with their homework. I completely shut down. No phone, no email.
Generally speaking, we have two hours before the kids have to get ready for bed. During that time, I'm there. Then I can switch back on. I'm comfortable leaving work at 5 or 5:30 p.m. because at 8 or 9 o'clock, I know I will be able to re-engage with work.
Every family has peak times when they can best interact. If you don't proactively free up that time, you'll slip back into work stuff. Either be working or be home with your family. That means no phones at the table, no texts. Don't just be there, be with your family.
10. Start every day right. I exercise first thing in the morning because exercise is energizing. (Research also shows that moderate aerobic exercise can improve your mood for up to 12 hours, too.)
I get up early and run. Then I cool off while I read the newspaper and am downstairs before my kids so I can eat breakfast with them. Not only will you get an energy boost, efficiency in the morning sets the stage for the rest of your day. Start your day productively and your entire day will be more productive, too.
No matter what your job, in one way everyone's day is basically the same: We all have the same amount of time at our disposal.
That's why how you use your time makes all the difference -- whether you're bootstrapping a startup or running a billion-dollar company like Jim Whitehurst, the president and CEO of Red Hat, one of the largest and most successful providers of open-source software.
Here are Jim's tips for maximizing your time and improving your personal productivity:
1. Every Sunday night, map out your week. Sunday evenings, I sit down with my list of important objectives for the year and for each month. Those goals inform every week and help keep me on track. While long-range goals may not be urgent, they are definitely important. If you aren't careful, it's easy for "important" to get pushed aside by "urgent." Then I look at my calendar for the week. I know what times are blocked out by meetings, etc. Then I look at what I want to accomplish and slot those tasks onto my to-do list.
The key is to create structure and discipline for your week--otherwise you'll just let things come to you...and urgent will push aside important.
2. Actively block out task time. Everyone schedules meetings and appointments. Go a step further and block out time to complete specific tasks. Slot periods for "Write new proposal," or "Craft presentation," or "Review and approve marketing materials."
If you don't proactively block out that time, those tasks will slip. Or get interrupted. Or you'll lose focus. And important tasks won't actually get done.
3. Follow a realistic to-do list. I used to create to-do lists, but I didn't assign times to each task. What happened? I always had more items on my to-do list than I could accomplish, and that turned it into a wish list, not a to-do list. If you have six hours of meetings scheduled today and eight hours worth of tasks, then those tasks won't get done.
Assigning realistic times forces you to prioritize. (I like Toodledo, but there are plenty of other tools you can use.) Assigning realistic times also helps you stay focused. When you know a task should only take 30 minutes, you'll be more aggressive in weeding out or ignoring distractions.
4. Default to 30-minute meetings. Whoever invented the one-hour default in calendar software wasted millions of people-hours. Most subjects can be handled in 30 minutes. Many can be handled in 15 minutes--especially if everyone who attends knows the meeting is only going to last 15 minutes.
Don't be a slave to calendar tool defaults. Only schedule an hour if you absolutely know you need it.
5. Stop multitasking. During a meeting--especially an hour-long meeting--it's tempting to take care of a few mindless tasks. (Who hasn't cleaned up their inbox during a meeting?) The problem is that such split focus makes those meetings less productive. Even though you're only doing mindless stuff, still--you're distracted. And that makes you less productive.
Multitasking is a personal-productivity killer. Don't try to do two things partly well. Do one thing really well.
6. Obsess over leveraging edge time. My biggest downtimes during the workday come when I drive to work, when I drive home, and when I'm in airports. So I focus really hard on how to use that time. I almost always schedule calls for my drive to work. It's easy: I take the kids to school and drop them off at a specific time; then I can do an 8:00 to 8:30 call. I typically don't schedule calls for the drive home so I can return calls, especially to people on the West Coast.
At the airport, I use Pocket, a browser plug-in that downloads articles. Loading up 10 articles ahead of time ensures I have plenty to read--plenty I want to read--while I'm waiting in the security line.
Look at your day. Identify the downtimes. Then schedule things you can do during that time. Call it edge time--because it really can build a productive edge.
7. Track your time. Once you start tracking your time (I use Toggl), you'll be amazed by how much time you spend doing stuff that isn't productive. You don't have to get hyper-specific. The info you log can be directional, not precise.
Tracking my time is something I just started to do recently. It's been an eye-opening experience--and one that has really helped me focus.
8. Be thoughtful about lunch. Your lunch can take an hour. Or 30 minutes. Or 10 minutes.
Whatever time it takes, be thoughtful about what you do. If you like to eat at your desk and keep chugging, fine. But if you benefit from using the break to recharge, lunch is one time where multitasking can be great: You can network, socialize, and help build your company's culture--but not if you're going out to lunch with the same people every day.
Pick two days a week to go out with people you don't know well. Or take a walk. Or do something personally productive. Say you take an hour for lunch each day; that's five hours a week. Be thoughtful about how you spend that time. You don't have to work, but you should make it work for you.
9. Protect your family time. Like you, I'm a bit of a workaholic. So I'm very thoughtful about my evenings. When I get home from work, it's family time: We have dinner as a family, we help our kids with their homework. I completely shut down. No phone, no email.
Generally speaking, we have two hours before the kids have to get ready for bed. During that time, I'm there. Then I can switch back on. I'm comfortable leaving work at 5 or 5:30 p.m. because at 8 or 9 o'clock, I know I will be able to re-engage with work.
Every family has peak times when they can best interact. If you don't proactively free up that time, you'll slip back into work stuff. Either be working or be home with your family. That means no phones at the table, no texts. Don't just be there, be with your family.
10. Start every day right. I exercise first thing in the morning because exercise is energizing. (Research also shows that moderate aerobic exercise can improve your mood for up to 12 hours, too.)
I get up early and run. Then I cool off while I read the newspaper and am downstairs before my kids so I can eat breakfast with them. Not only will you get an energy boost, efficiency in the morning sets the stage for the rest of your day. Start your day productively and your entire day will be more productive, too.
Thursday, April 09, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
His wife got him out of a Turkish prison
I once read a pithy description of a prospective ideal spouse: "I would like to marry someone," the interviewee said, "who could get me out of a Turkish prison, if need be."
Not sexy, stylish, hot, funny, cute and all the other Hollywoodisms that may come to mind. Just: "get me out of a Turkish prison."
The thought was superb. It stuck in my mind as a great metaphor.
Turns out it can be more than a figure of speech: for this couple, profiled in the Chicago Tribune, it was real life. Must read.
Not sexy, stylish, hot, funny, cute and all the other Hollywoodisms that may come to mind. Just: "get me out of a Turkish prison."
The thought was superb. It stuck in my mind as a great metaphor.
Turns out it can be more than a figure of speech: for this couple, profiled in the Chicago Tribune, it was real life. Must read.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
He was the king's favorite
Now Bach has surpassed Handel (see The Obscure Composers Index™), but today is G.F.'s birthday, and worth reconsidering his story and extreme creative powers....he was a real force of nature, but quite human, just the same.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
A Really Bad Week For The Supplements Industry
A Really Bad Week For The Supplements Industry
Ground houseplant?
Thanks to Raika C. Sarkett for this pointer....
Ground houseplant?
Thanks to Raika C. Sarkett for this pointer....
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Smoke-Free Carmen
by Denis Dutton
Auckland Opera has taken a step in the right direction of providing a more wholesome, nonsexist Carmen. It is regrettable, however, that other productions continue to promote inappropriate role models and behavioral messages regarding gender relations, animal rights issues, and tobacco consumption. Admittedly, some of these problems are incorrectly dealt with in Prosper Mérimée’s original story. Yet a few minor changes would enable audiences to enjoy the beautiful music of the opera without being exposed to offensive and outdated stereotypes.
Herewith, a Carmen for our time:
The first scene takes place in a square in Seville. Young factory workers spill into the street for their morning break of fresh fruit. One of them, the dark Gypsy Carmen, sings a lovely habanera, reminding us that love occurs between all genders, races, and body types. Before returning to the factory, Carmen throws a rose to the Basque soldier, Don José. A fight breaks out between two of the young persons in the factory, and while trying to instruct them on the futility of violence, Carmen is arrested. Don José is ordered to guard her, but she convinces him to allow her to escape, explaining that they are all victims of patriarchal oppression.
The second act opens in the smoke-free environment of a vegetarian restaurant. Carmen and ethnically-diverse friends are enjoying whole-meal buns and spring water when they are interrupted by the wicked Escamillo, a rich and famous bullfighter. Escamillo sings an aria in praise of wine, cigars, thick steaks, and women. This disgusts the young people, although Carmen is strangely attracted to the bullfighter. Don José arrives and, alone at last, he and Carmen vow to live together. They will respect the importance of protected sex and acknowledge each other's unique cultural identity. Don José will do the ironing.
The third act opens in a wild place in the mountains. Carmen, Don José and other members of the Animal Liberation Collective are plotting to end the exploitation of bulls. Don José is enraged when Carmen nobly volunteers to seduce Escamillo, so exhausting him that he will be unable effectively to fight in the bullring. Carmen patiently explains that the lives of many bulls, and the contentedness of cows, is at stake. Escamillo enters and begins a duel with Don José, but the Collective intervenes, insisting that the two men find viable nonviolent means to settle their dispute. The jealous Don José must seek anger-management counseling.
The final scene returns to Seville. Escamillo’s colorful procession enters the bullring. A disheveled Don José confronts Carmen. He is suffering from low self-esteem. Counseling has only made his anger worse, recovering repressed childhood memories of satanic rituals, where he was forced to drink blood, eat babies, and smoke cheap, unfiltered cigarettes. Acknowledging his trauma, Carmen insists he begin the healing process by getting a bath and a shave. The two lovers embrace and sing a lovely aria, detailing plans to offer workshops in cultural identity and empowerment. The bull wins.
******* “The Smoke-Free Carmen” is part of a larger project to update and refresh classic operas for a sophisticated, postmodern audience. Other chapters include “Rigoletto, the Story of a Person with Disabilities” and “The Ring of the Nibelung: Breaking the Cycle of Abuse.”
To which we say: "Bravo" Denis Dutton: www.denisdutton.com, who left us too soon, and thanks to Carl Grapentine, WFMT, for the on air presentation of same, and who thankfully is still with us.....and whose birthday it is today....happy birthday!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Unknown authors don't sell; name brand authors do
When J.K Rowling, the bestselling author of the Harry Potter series, released her new book in 2013, The Cuckoo’s Calling, the book only sold 1,500 copies in its first four months.
Surprising?
Not when you realize that she released it under the unknown pseudonym
of Robert Galbraith. But once Rowling was identified as the true author,
sales of the book skyrocketed, pushing 225,000 copies sold in a single month.
Author branding is critically important in today’s increasingly digital
publishing world. Although new authors face bigger challenges, even
established authors are realizing they must build and mobilize a fan
base with more direct approaches, including giving away books for free.
So what are authors doing to reach new fans and build their brand? It
turns out the list is quite large and really benefits book lovers. But
the two biggest benefits are direct access and cost savings.
Direct Access to Authors
Many authors maintain blogs, email lists, Facebook pages, and Twitter
accounts for loyal followers to keep up with their latest news and
releases. Using these channels, authors communicate with fans, listen to
feedback, and even offer special contests.
In addition to authors’ own social pages, readers are connecting through third party
social sites. Goodreads, the largest reading community, recently
launched an “Ask the Author” feature where readers can ask questions
online.
Joe Finder, one of the participating authors, said,
“The Internet has made writers incredibly accessible to readers
directly, and Goodreads members are a particularly passionate and
engaged group of readers. ‘Ask the Author’ seems to be a good way to
bring authors in contact with readers.”
Flash Sales Save Readers Money
Limited-time book deals have become a go-to tactic, even for bestselling authors. Our daily email alert has featured free and discounted ebooks from authors such as Dan Brown, Stephen King, and Nora Roberts.
In a recent Forbes.com article, branding expert David Vinjamuri called flash sales a “powerful tool” for authors looking to build a following. Many
authors, for example, will discount the first book in a series to get
readers hooked. Additionally, authors may discount older bestselling
titles to prime the pump for a new release.
“I think limited-time price promotions — mine are often 24 hours — are a
fabulous way to help gain visibility for my books,” Bella Andre, an
independent, bestselling romance author who has used BookBub’s service a
half dozen times over the past year, said in a recent interview.
BookBub subscriber Mona Estrada from Stockton, CA, regularly takes advantage of
flash sales from her favorite authors. “I actually download several
books a week,” said Estrada. “I’ve saved approximately $40 or more each
month using BookBub.”
Readers Take Advantage
Years ago, shopping for books meant going into your local bookstore, speaking
with an employee, and getting recommendations for books on the shelves.
But it’s a different world now. The rise of ebooks and digital
marketing has given people more power than ever, and smart readers know
how to take advantage.
Source.
Surprising?
Not when you realize that she released it under the unknown pseudonym
of Robert Galbraith. But once Rowling was identified as the true author,
sales of the book skyrocketed, pushing 225,000 copies sold in a single month.
Author branding is critically important in today’s increasingly digital
publishing world. Although new authors face bigger challenges, even
established authors are realizing they must build and mobilize a fan
base with more direct approaches, including giving away books for free.
So what are authors doing to reach new fans and build their brand? It
turns out the list is quite large and really benefits book lovers. But
the two biggest benefits are direct access and cost savings.
Direct Access to Authors
Many authors maintain blogs, email lists, Facebook pages, and Twitter
accounts for loyal followers to keep up with their latest news and
releases. Using these channels, authors communicate with fans, listen to
feedback, and even offer special contests.
In addition to authors’ own social pages, readers are connecting through third party
social sites. Goodreads, the largest reading community, recently
launched an “Ask the Author” feature where readers can ask questions
online.
Joe Finder, one of the participating authors, said,
“The Internet has made writers incredibly accessible to readers
directly, and Goodreads members are a particularly passionate and
engaged group of readers. ‘Ask the Author’ seems to be a good way to
bring authors in contact with readers.”
Flash Sales Save Readers Money
Limited-time book deals have become a go-to tactic, even for bestselling authors. Our daily email alert has featured free and discounted ebooks from authors such as Dan Brown, Stephen King, and Nora Roberts.
In a recent Forbes.com article, branding expert David Vinjamuri called flash sales a “powerful tool” for authors looking to build a following. Many
authors, for example, will discount the first book in a series to get
readers hooked. Additionally, authors may discount older bestselling
titles to prime the pump for a new release.
“I think limited-time price promotions — mine are often 24 hours — are a
fabulous way to help gain visibility for my books,” Bella Andre, an
independent, bestselling romance author who has used BookBub’s service a
half dozen times over the past year, said in a recent interview.
BookBub subscriber Mona Estrada from Stockton, CA, regularly takes advantage of
flash sales from her favorite authors. “I actually download several
books a week,” said Estrada. “I’ve saved approximately $40 or more each
month using BookBub.”
Readers Take Advantage
Years ago, shopping for books meant going into your local bookstore, speaking
with an employee, and getting recommendations for books on the shelves.
But it’s a different world now. The rise of ebooks and digital
marketing has given people more power than ever, and smart readers know
how to take advantage.
Source.
Sunday, February 08, 2015
Classical: more data mining, record execs take 20-year view
Classical artists such as Hilary Hahn chart big on Billboard with little sales
Most classical sales outside U.S.
Most classical sales outside U.S.
Then we dug a little deeper, per the name of this blog.....
Classical music is blowing up (blogger note: in a good way) - NY Daily News
Executive summary: "crossover" and "popera"
Executive summary: "crossover" and "popera"
Thursday, February 05, 2015
Monday, February 02, 2015
Sunday, February 01, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
From their own numbers: Verify Fidelity mutual fund return? I couldn’t and neither could Fidelity phone staff
The impetus?
The numbers in my personal spreadsheet didn’t add up, so I
thought I’d “dig a little deeper.” To
put it mildly, I was surprised that Fidelity customer assistance couldn’t do it
either.
Here are the numbers:
TICKER
|
FWWFX
|
Close 10/31/2013
|
25.41
|
Close 10/31/2014
|
24.93
|
Dividends
|
0.087
|
Capital
gaine
|
1.979
|
2.066
|
|
Total
return
|
26.996
|
%age
return, i.e. 2014 close + dist/2013 close, or (24.93+2.066)/25.41
|
6.242%
|
Reported
return in Fidelity lit.
|
6.640%
|
Discrepancy
|
-0.40%
|
Obviously, there was something wrong in my math, and surely
Fidelity could easily straighten me out, and “reconcile” the account.
Turns out not. I was
gobsmacked. While we are sorting this
out, (and the possibility exists that I am still just “missing something” that
I should be able to spot but can’t; if you can see it, please post a response) here is the full transcript of our “talk”:
==================================================
System: Thank you for contacting Fidelity Investments. All
interactions are subject to recordkeeping and monitoring. Chat representatives
of Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC are unable to accept any
trading requests to buy, sell or exchange securities, nor do they provide
legal, tax or investment advice.
ME: Initial Question/Comment: Question: reading your current
shareholder update. For FWWFX, stating a gain of 6.64% from Oct 31 2103 to same date 2014. I
reviewed, got decline in those dates from 25.41 to 24.93. Loss of 1.9% or so.
Please advise.
System: FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE has joined this session!
System: Connected. Your Reference Number
for this chat is 5750466.
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: Hello, thank you for contacting us,
John. How are you today?
ME: Good, thanks.
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: I'm glad to hear you're well. I've
not reviewed that fund, but are your calculations taking into account capital
gains distributions and dividends paid out during that time?
ME: Prices taken straight off yahoo. Are distributions
:"separate"?
ME: I guess they might be.
ME: How much were dist. in that period, then, we'll re do
the math.
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: Yes. The historical prices reported
do not include any distributions, which are subtracted from the value of the
fund upon distribution, so it's possible that the value of the fund may be
lower while still technically calculated with a gain.
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: You can review the distribution
history here:
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fees-and-prices/315910505?type=o-NavBar
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: The performance figures reported on
Fidelity.com account for all distributions in addition to market movement
during the periods listed.
ME: OK
ME: I now get 6.2%
ME: Still off by .44%. Can you resolve?
ME: I added 24.93 + .087+ 1.979 to get 26.996
ME: Div by 24.93 Oct
31 2014 price
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: I'm afraid I cannot. I'm not an
analyst and I'm not familiar with the exactly calculations are figured. It's
possible that the fund's expenses are being figured as well.
ME: k tx
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: I can assure you that the data
presented on Fidelity.com is provided by properly licensed analysts and is
correct.
ME: Can you have someone email me the manner in which the
6.64% FWWFX return was calc, e.g. an analyst?
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: Our analysts are not able to
communicate directly with clients.
ME: A shareholder should be able to see how the return was
calculated.
ME: You are asking me to take this on faith.
ME: We are .44% off.
ME: No one there can tell me?
ME: How you figured the return on one of your major funds?
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: You are welcome to review the
fund's prospectus online if you like.
ME: I have your report in my hand.
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: The figures presented on
Fidelity.com are regularly reviewed and re-calculated with new data and are
correct.
ME: Lots of words, not much clear explanation on the return.
ME: If they are correct, should be easy to verify.
ME: You have heard the phrase, "trust, but
verify?"
ME: Can I talk to a super?
FIDELITY REPRESENTATIVE: Certainly. Just a moment.
System: NAME WITHHELD
has joined this session!
System: FIDELITY
REPRESENTATIVE has left this session!
ME: Hi: Seeking explanation of FWWFX return ---- price, div
and cap gains on how FIDELITY figured 6.64% return FWWFX. Price Oct 31 2013 was 25.41, Oct 31 2014 was 24.93, plus div .087
plus cap gain 1.979 gives me 6.2% , not 6.64% as published. Put me straight....
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Hello, my is (withheld) and I am a
supervisor in the Electronic Response department. Would you mind if I take a
moment to review your chat so far?
ME: No problem, take your time...
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Thank you for your patience. I am happy
to help to the best of my ability. We do not have all of the details of everything
that is factored into that calculation, but I can see if I am able to duplicate
that figure.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Give me a few minutes to run through
the historical data for FWWFX.
ME: thanks
ME: Appreciated
ME: brb in 5 min ok?
ME: Don't hang up on me ok?
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: That's fine. I will post my findings
and wait until you return.
ME: Thank you, brb.
ME: Back.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I am still reviewing the performance
figures. It may be just a few minutes longer.
ME: Take your time, I appreciate your assistance.
ME: Would like to get this right.
ME: Prob. I am just missing something.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I have been running a few different
figures to try to replicate that return %. I was looking at the change between 10/31/13 and 10/31/14 and also 11/1/13 to 10/31/14.
The numbers are close, but I am not able to get that exact number.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: The report mentions that those figures
are based on the fiscal year ending on 10/14/14,
but it never mentions the specific dates that are used in the calculation.
ME: In your booklet, it says "periods ended Oct 31, 2014. I don't see Oct. 14
ME: In your booklet, it says "periods ended Oct 31, 2014." I don't see Oct.
14
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I'm sorry, that was a typo.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I meant to write 10/31/14.
ME: No problem.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I am assuming this would be 11/1/13 through 10/31/14, but that part is not made clear in the
Investor's report. Going on that assumption, I took the difference between the
prices on those dates, which would be -$0.46, and factored in the total
distributions for the year ($2.066), to get a total difference of $1.606.
ME: OK. Did you figure a return? Or should I?
ME: We are getting the same dist., i.e. 2.066.
ME: Are we agree that we go from Oct 31 to Oct 31, 2013, to 2014/
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Based on the basic calculation for
return, we should just divide $1.606 by the starting price, $25.39 on 11/1/13, which gives us 6.325%.
ME: Are we agree that we go from Oct 31 to Oct 31, 2013, to 2014?
ME: OK, at 6.325% still falls short of the reported 6.64%,
it would appear.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I would imagine it would be 11/1/13 to 10/31/14. I did also run the numbers from 10/31/13 to 10/31/14 and did not find a match with the
6.64%.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: My conclusion is that there is some
other factor that is slightly altering the figure, and that is likely just a
difference in the pricing dates that were used for the fiscal year.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I apologize that I am unable to provide
more information. Our analysts do not provide us with anything outside of the
same documents that are presented to our clients.
ME: So, for a "civilian" like myself, there is no
relatively easy way to verify Fidelity returns?
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Unfortunately we do not have any
further access to all of the variables that were used in the calculation. The
numbers go through a long process of cross-checking by different internal
groups for accuracy.
ME: And no one at Fidelity who can provide same?
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: There are individuals in the fund
management group who have access to all of the details, but they have not made
them publicly available and the group is not accessible to front line
representatives.
ME: Thanks for trying, I do appreciate the effort, but must
admit I am somewhat disappointed and disconcerted that such a seemingly simple
thing as "fact checking" is not able to be done here.
ME: Bye.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: I am sorry I wasn't able to provide you
with the solution you were looking for. I will submit feedback to our Fund
Management group to suggest adding specific dates for the fiscal year
calculations.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Please let us know if you need any
assistance in the future. Have a good rest of the day.
ME: Yes, if I may say, I think there are many pages of fine
print in the shareholder update, but perhaps, from my vantage, ask mgt. to add
a simple, short explanation, plain to see, on how the annual return was
calculated.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: That is a great suggestion. I will add
that to the feedback that I am entering now.
ME: e.g. X + Y + Z DIVIDED BY A = RETURN. Just real simple.
ME: Then footnote as necessary until the cows come home.
ME: There is presently no easy, online way to verify your
returns.
ME: Have a nice week.
FIDELITY SUPERVISOR: Thank you. You too!
System: NAME WITHHELD has left this session!
System: The session has ended!
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