Why don't people like Classical music?!
Question: I know this is a generalization but why is there such a dearth of classical music being produced (in comparison to the prolific amounts of rock and pop and rap, etc), admired, listened to and performed? Classical music really has to struggle, especially here in America. Orchestras are disappearing into oblivion, ticket prices for any 'classical' performance are outrageous. Most youngsters think Fur Elise is the greatest piece every written. Everyone wants Canon in D played at their weddings. It really tears me up. Someone told me once that it was a rich, white guy kind of thing which I think is absolutely untrue.
What can we do to spread the love of the classical genre of music? Opera, orchestral music, string quartets...you name it!
Answers: I know this is a generalization but why is there such a dearth of classical music being produced (in comparison to the prolific amounts of rock and pop and rap, etc), admired, listened to and performed? Classical music really has to struggle, especially here in America. Orchestras are disappearing into oblivion, ticket prices for any 'classical' performance are outrageous. Most youngsters think Fur Elise is the greatest piece every written. Everyone wants Canon in D played at their weddings. It really tears me up. Someone told me once that it was a rich, white guy kind of thing which I think is absolutely untrue.
What can we do to spread the love of the classical genre of music? Opera, orchestral music, string quartets...you name it!
The hard part with classical music is that to appreciate it, you have to know something about it.
If you've never taken a music lesson, you have no way of knowing what's special about it. Popular music though is easy for people to understand and relate to because it's pretty simple. You can tell what the feeling behind the song if by just listening to the words.
The best way to spread classical music is to teach it to children so they understand what makes it work.
I took 15 years of piano lessons and can appreciate classical music, though, I still enjoy my pop music..
Classical music comes from a different time period.
People do like it actually. Mostly younger people shove it away because they want to be listening to what is new and cool. I know because I'm a high school freshman. But this new and cool music will disappear, but classical music is always still there because it's real quality music. Usually these young people get older, they grow out of their ignorance and begin to appreciate other forms of music besides pop and rap.
Ravelinsky
First . . . to quell the stereotype that classical music is boring! I once saw this show that really annoyed me because it was about this girl who wanted to take fiddle lessons, but instead her mother made her take classical violin lessons. And wouldn't you know it . . . the teacher was some old, stuffy lady with an English accent that thought classical was the only way to play. Ugh! These people who think opera is for nerds and old people have obviously never heard of opera singers like Anna Netrebko. If there were more classical music festivals in the US then that would also turn down the whole 'white-rich-guy' stereotype as well.
Music is a lot like literature. When we're children we read simple books and listen to songs like Baa Baa Black Sheep. When we get older we listen to pop groups and read teeny bopper books We're supposed to go beyond that when we reach adulthood, but people seem to prefer staying with their pop music, and most newspapers are at a 3rd grade reading level. I enjoy classical music (more accurately "art" music as Classical music was all written in the Classical era between 1750 and 1820) but there is music that is too complex for me and I studied music for 5 years in college. Jazz is another type that requires a lot of musical aptitude to enjoy, and there are types that are too confusing for my brain as well. Hope this has been helpful.
Few teenagers go to classical concerts and operas. Teenagers prefer to go to teenage concerts. But what happens when these teenagers are no longer teenagers? They no longer go to teenage concerts. The rising generation fill the gaps they left, bringing with them their 'new' music. What happens to the former teenagers?
Young people listen to maybe ten 3-4 minute 'pop' songs which are soon replaced and forgotten, and this half-hour 'repertoire' places few demands on them. Also, study, work, sport and the opposite sex leave little time for serious music. By contrast, listening to even to one symphony requires time and effort. Thus, few young people know classical music, either having never heard any, or can't be bothered, or have not lived long enough to have heard more than a few scraps. So why would they want to go to concerts?
A more practical reason is that as people get older some become familiar with classical music and it is then that they go to concerts. Audiences, therefore, tend to increase in size because of these middle-aged newcomers but remain fairly static because of the old ones that die out. That's the way it's always been.
However, if at present there is actually an increase in grey-heads and a decline in youth there are non-musical reasons for the change: At the end of WW2 the post-war baby-boom began. Simply because of their sheer number, those baby-boomers, now around retirement, have swelled concert audiences. Also, they are affluent with spare money which they are prepared to spend without concern for economy and so concert prices have escalated and naturally that shuts out young people who can't afford the luxury.
Here is another non-musical reason: In the old days, 50 years ago, I would feel sad if I DIDN'T see some grey-headed person in the audience. Reason? He would be dead! Now, we have an aging population and so there are additional grey-headed music-lovers sitting in concert halls rather than lying in their coffins. So, if the audience looks a bit on the grey side, just think how wonderful that is :)
Broadcast classical music for free instead of all those stupid commercials they show on tv
I agree with the poster above me. If we made more classical music education free and access to it easier there would be more exposure.
I grew up loving rock and roll. But about 1980 I started getting bored with rock and roll music. It was the age of disco and punk. There were a few new artists out there I liked, like Bob Marley and Elvis Costello. But in general the energy and fun had gone out of the music. Since I love music, I look around and tried jazz on for size. Unfortunately a lot of modern jazz didn't appeal to my ears. Then I stuck my toe into the water of classical music. I started listening to a few pieces now and then. One of the things that helped me was that I grew with movies that used classical scores. A lot of the cartoons had some classical music in them. And, of course, one of the best of the bunch was Fantasia. The big obstacle to classical music enjoyment for me was the classical music audience. They were off-putting. If you didn't know such and such did the very best recording of what's his name you must not be someone who would be welcomed into the community of classical music.Much of that has changed and the classical community has come to realize that if the music is to survive, it must be inviting to a larger non-classically-educated audience. But there are still many snobs out there. One of the things that has helped me is that I just opened my ears and listened and discovered that you don't have to like all classical music. Just like I liked the Beatles but didn't care for Jimi Hendrix, that I liked Otis Redding but didn't care much for Aretha Franklin, I might like Beethoven and not care for Bach, especially his organ music. To this day, I'm not particularly fond of Mozart but I love Chopin and Schubert. I like Puccini but don't care for Verdi. I'm not a fan of Handel's Messiah but I love his Water Music. I like Sibelius' Finlandia but find Mahler long, boring and dull. And I haven't heard a Strauss waltz I care for though I love Richard Strauss' music. (Figure that one out.) It's all personal preference. The way I look at it is that it is all rock and roll. Mozart was the Elvis Presley of his day and Liszt was the Jerry Lee Lewis and Chopin was the Elton John. If you just share your music with others without putting up an intellectual fence between them and the music, others will learn not just to appreciate it but to love it. And just so you'll know I listen to contemporary composers too. Two recent pieces I have come to be moved by are John Adams' "On the Transmigration of Souls" (honoring the 9/11 dead) and John Tavener's "Lamentations and Praises." One of the things I have noticed among recent composers is the movement toward spiritual themes.
I personally believe a deep appreciation for classical music generally comes from either playing a classical type instrument, learning a more formal type of singing, or just being a avid student/listener of music.
This is because people growing up now have many more distractions in their live (Mtv, video games, myspace, etc.) and now are a lot less talented than people use to be a few generations ago. Consequentially most popular music now it all synthetic and very basic rhythmically and mostly only musician have trained their ears to hear more than just that.
Classical type music is a very high level and sophisticated type of music that is difficult to fully appreciate with an untrained ear.
I love it, but I think the problem is it's not very assessable. The very name puts people off. I had a music teacher who started by playing bits and pieces of music we were familiar with from cartoons, commericals, once he had our attention, he would then give us the history behind the piece and play the whole thing. That's how I learned to explore and appreciate classical music. How we can spread the love of classical is to teach our children. Make the music a part of their world as soon as possible. Teach our children? Sounds like a song lyric to me, but still true.