Age-Old Question About Classical Music Still Worth Asking
Carol Reynolds
“How do we bring Classical Music to a wider audience?” How many times have you heard that question? If there were a magic answer, music executives would have struggled their way to it long ago. Instead, CEOs of orchestras and opera companies, critics, performers, and concerned lovers of music stand around, shaking their heads, as if examining an expiring patient. What’s really at stake in this issue? Is it merely safeguarding the ongoing enjoyment of a body of historic music?
In fact, it’s far more significant. A carefully crafted artistic heritage is being gobbled up by our hyper-driven insta-culture. We no longer train young ears and minds to hear and understand music, nor do we make certain that young people are exposed to music that challenges them. Thus, marvelously crafted music that palpably influenced the course of Western history is threatened with extinction!
Wait! Isn’t that the old buggy whip dilemma? Well-crafted buggy whips were once critical to the operation of society. But they too became extinct. We can agree that buggy whips are not needed in modern society. But what about music from the buggy-whip days? Is it relevant still?
It’s more than relevant. We can discard outmoded technology without discarding the science behind it. But our cultural heritage is a different matter.
Culture is defined by what gets passed from generation to generation. Symphonies, operas, oratorios, sonatas, and other “old” types of music retain their powerful, even life-altering message for us today. Deprived of that message, we are weakened as a society.
So, if we do decide take up the mantle of preserving Western classical music from extinction, how do we do it? Especially if it’s not familiar to us. Most people, after all, listen to music for pleasure. Taking on music that is unfamiliar is not always pleasurable.
In this new series of posts, I’ll explore these issues. No easy answers are promised, but we’ll tear down preconceptions where we can, and open up new ideas. Plus, we’ll take up some of my favorite questions, like: “Who the heck was the 18th-century’s super-star Paisiello, and why did Mozart covet his success?” And we’ll look back at things that seem dusty to us (for example, Medieval music manuscripts), to learn why they were at the cutting edge of technology.
So, join on in, and get ready to comment too! I’ll be starting with the biggest bugaboo itself: that term “Classical Music.” Because those two words cause a lot of the problem.
Carol Reynolds aka Professor Carol, a former music history professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, has launched a new company, Silver Age Music. Her latest product is a multimedia course: “Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Art, History, & Culture.” Prof. Carol now lives on a ranch, raises goats, and writes and lectures on classical music (to humans).
5 comments
Posted 01/06/10 at 1:26 am
Only by the grace of God did I find apreciation in classical music.My older sister took piano for 14 years while I began playing guitar at five.She has a masters in music ,teaches,sings opera,I’m 54 and occasionally perform a mix of country,rock and roll,although I do play Hymns and Praise and Worship at the Episcopal Church I attend.
I don’t nesessarly seek out classical but when I happen upon it ,I listen to it.Botton line~I really don’t see it being a hard sale to get the general public head over heals for classical music because it offers hours of peaceful serine sounds that define reality in a troubled anxiety ridden world.
Posted 01/06/10 at 9:39 am
It is a legitimate question whether people have abandoned classical music, or whether classical music has abandoned its audience. I will go to the Boston Symphony to hear Bach, Mozart or Mahler anytime, but I will never go to hear the cacacphonous racket of the 20th century atonals, etc that Maestro Levine and others insist on abusing us with. As long as Birtwhistle and the rest of these atrocious devastators of music are promoted, I will be at the jazz and bluegrass festivals instead of on Huntington Avenue… those are musics which have had a historic impact as well, and they don’t need artificial subsidies or hand-wringing to keep them alive.
Posted 01/06/10 at 12:18 pm
An auspicious framing of the question. I look forward to the continuing discussion. Thanks!
Posted 01/08/10 at 9:28 pm
I look forward to your thoughts. I have been thinking about this for some time. I don’t have any conclusions, yet. Pragmatism, individualism, and consumerism certainly have contributed to the wide spread apathy, that ever increases towards beauty and all the arts. To accurately diagnose the ill may not necessarily prescribe a cure.
Posted 02/11/10 at 12:28 am
I can’t really define all of the reasons yet, but Los Angeles is certainly buzzing about the vitality of the classical scene here with the recent debut of Maestro Dudamel. While some may write it off to our celebrity culture, I think there is more to it. He brings an excitement and intensity to the whole endeavor that is captivating and makes people outside the usual classical audience curious to find out what he is so passionate about. I saw a similar phenomenon in Minnesota in the 90s when Bobby McFerrin took the helm of the St. Paul Chamber orchestra.
Gustavo’s choice of Mahler and a very challenging, yet approachable, new work by John Adams opened doors in both directions. I, for one, can’t wait to see where he takes us next.
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