The Future of Classical Music - Is It Doomed?

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The Future of Classical Music - Is It Doomed?

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1jjneill
gen. 20, 2007, 9:58 am

Greg Sandow has been writing a very provacative series of posts on the future of classical music (http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2007/01/where_we_stand_1.html). He comes to the conclusion that "the era of classical music is going to end. Not this year, not next year, maybe not in 10 years (though surely by then we'll see decisive signs of where we're going). But sometime reasonably soon, the era of classical music will be over….organized classical concerts, as we know them now, won't be very numerous, or at least won't be as numerous as they are now."

Read his articles. Agree or disagree?

2peripatetic
març 1, 2007, 12:55 am

Sandow has a lot of experience in "the industry"--I have none. So bear that in mind--but I think he's wrong on the nature of the problem, and therefore the solution.

Classical music, and particularly the symphony, has subsisted to a significant degree on charity. Funding by local governments and rich donors. However, it's no longer seen as particularly important by residents of major cities, let alone mid-sized ones, to have a symphony to be proud of. (Arguments that it's part of a wider anti-welfarist trend are wrong--look at the lengths that cities will go to in order to keep a football team in town.)

So there are two possible solutions:

1) Change the culture so that having a vibrant classical music life in a city is a source of civic pride. Not bloody likely, particularly in the short term.

2) Classical music finds a way to adapt for success in a niche role. (As opposed to the failed attempt to coopt other genres that various crossover disasters represent.) Perhaps classical music will continue in vibrancy, but more through performances of chamber groups like the Kronos Quartet and eighth blackbird.

3StanShebs
març 5, 2007, 11:58 am

You mean I'm taking flute lessons for nothing? :-)

I've been reading Classical music in America : a history of its rise and fall, acquired cheaply as part of Tower closing down a store, how ironic. Got a ways to go in it, but I think part of his thesis is that at least in the US, the emphasis on performance over composers sent things down a sterile path. Certainly there is lots of good new music that people aren't hearing about, and it's not all freaky academic stuff either.

4lilithcat
març 5, 2007, 12:36 pm

Judging from the full houses at the symphony and the opera this weekend, the answer, at least where I live, is a resounding "no".

5grunin
març 7, 2007, 2:55 am

Sandow is a professional bomb-thrower, and has a vested interest in being alarmist.

That said: 'classical' music is in the same position as all the non-amplified performing arts. If you can't entertain thousands (or millions) at a time, you're at an economic disadvantage. The more adventurous of the amplified music-makers are the one conduit between the masses and the European classics.

The larger cities still have orchestras and operas the way New York has Broadway: a mix of the Cheap and the Better, with an audience made up more and more of non-locals.

6coasterb
març 22, 2007, 11:46 pm

I'm a little different, a college student that enjoys classical music. But I grew up learning to enjoy it. Grandma plays Organ and Accordian, Mom the Piano, French Horn and Hand Bells, I play the Euphonium/Baritone and a little Piano.

So one solution is making sure the children get introduced to this music. Our local symphony puts on a special kids concert once or twice a year and invites local schools 3rd-5th grade classes. The symphony also does a family concert once a year which is very well themed with a story line and great props. Tickets are 1/2 price for the family concert!

Two years ago, the family concert was space themed and included a short planets combined piece and starwars music. In the exhibit hall there were telescopes pointing at small cardboard planets, actual moon rocks and space suits from the local air and space museum, and some robots.

So in my generation, I'm in the extreme minority, but we can still pull through by making classical music more appealing, and less expensive to our youth. Put "Mars" or Beethovens 5th on their video games! Can you see a kid on a dance game called "Dance Dance Revolution" to the beat of "Flight of the Bumblebee"?!!

There's my two cents :)

7silouan92
jul. 13, 2007, 8:27 am

Most cultures with a classical and/or traditional form of music endure similar struggles. The story is pretty much the same the world over. Many composers used to have royal patrons and the same was true of classical musicians in India. As the influence of royalty has waned in the world, patronage of the arts has shifted to a combination of the private sector (corporations), governmental arts programs, community foundations and individual patrons.

I spent 4-5 years working in concert promotion (mostly western classical, but I also promoted jazz, bluegrass, various forms of Eastern classical/traditional music) and the enthusiasm of the local community is what's going to determine success or failure locally.

I was living in a city of 2 million people and the orchestra there wasn't very good, the concerts were poorly attended, the hall was terrible and they put on very few programs. That thing was barely keeping its head above water. I'm currently living in a small state of about four million that has orchestras in four different cities.

The orchestra in the largest city is seemingly thriving given the amount of concerts they perform, the fact that they're in a new hall (some of the other cities have new halls too), the attendance is at least holding steady and their programming is adventurous enough that it leads me to believe that they aren't worried about scaring off audiences by being willing to perform works by Eliot Carter, John Tavener, Alfred Schnittke, etc.

8clong Primer missatge
des. 30, 2007, 7:11 am

I've followed Greg's commentary off and on over the past couple years.

You can read stories in the newspapers from a hundred years ago lamenting the impending demise of classical music; you can read stories from fifty years ago lamenting the impending demise of classical music; you can read stories today lamenting the impending demise of classical music. These stories generally say something like "the audience is all old; in a few years, they'll all be dead and there won't be anyone left to come to concerts."

The reality though, is that there is about to be more old people than there's ever been before. The most important issue facing orchestras is "will the baby boomers come to concerts in anything like the participation rates of prior generations?" It the answer is yes, orchestras should do well. If the answer is no, we're all in trouble. I think the answer is a qualified yes, although we will need to be more flexible in how we market and present the music.

The trend that I see is that orchestras are reaching many more people than we used to, but on average we're touching them less often. The era when a substantial portion of the audience would sign up for the complete season is past (partly this is due to increased competition for people's time and money and attention, partly it is due to people's unwillingness to commit specific dates months in advance). Most people are going to buy single tickets, and in many cases they're going to wait until the last 48 hours to decide what they want to attend.

9Mr.Durick
des. 31, 2007, 1:42 am

The newspaper of record offers hope.

Robert

10Catgwinn
ag. 10, 2009, 5:42 pm

To revitlize this thread....

Judging by the talented young musicians performing each week on the "From The Top"
radio show, the future of classical music is in good hands. In addition to being talented, confident performers, these young people are very down-to-earth.

11Mr.Durick
ag. 10, 2009, 6:52 pm

I have bought a season ticket for the full coming season of our symphony.

I have noted that I want to go to all the operas live in high definition that the Metropolitan Opera is streaming in the coming season.

Now, if I could just find the money and the will to go to a couple of chamber music series.

Robert

12richardbsmith
Editat: ag. 10, 2009, 8:00 pm

This question was discussed Sunday with some artists on to the Best of Our Knowledge. I especially liked Jade Simmons, segment 2 starting around minute 13. Very good program.

13elimatta
nov. 13, 2009, 3:12 am

It's certainly not dead in Sydney, where the opera house is usually full for concerts by Ashkenazy's Sydney Symphony Orchestra. But I'm well below the average age of the audience, and I just turned 60...

14bumblesby
gen. 1, 2010, 11:11 am

I am 52. I have always loved classical music. A question:

Is classical music something you are drawn to at an early age?

Do people later in life develop a desire to listen to it? Most people that I know, if they did not like it when they were young, they still don't when they get older. I have noticed as many people in my generation age, their musical taste changes somewhat, but not usually dramatic say from rock to classical.

I was not "exposed" to classical music at all by my parents or any family member that I can think of. I do remember (when FM radio was just dawning) that there was a public radio station and I liked to hear the music that they played - I was drawn to it.

15Barton
gen. 2, 2010, 6:50 am

14> I copy your sentiments. I was alone in my enthusiasm for Classical music throughout my childhood. None of sbilings liked classical music. In high school I was alone in my taste for classical music and even now I am somewhat alone still, friends of mine did not like classical music when they were younger and still don't. When the CBC nuked their classical music programmes about two years ago I started to search for alternatives. I now listen to classical music stations on my internet radio. (e.g BBC Radio 3, VPR, WETA, WGBH ect...) I know the quality of sound can be seen as not the greatest but they still introduce me to work I otherwise would not know.

16bumblesby
gen. 2, 2010, 11:48 am

I live in northern Ohio, and many times tuned into CBC Radio 2 out of Windsor. I just tried the internet site for CBC Radio 2 - still has a lot of classical. So if you can get CBC Radio 2 in your area you should be all set.

A couple years ago I got Sirius satellite radio (now Sirius XM). Three good classical stations. Symphony Hall, Pops and Met Opera. I love it since I can switch to different genres if I want or listen to Book Radio ;)

17Barton
gen. 2, 2010, 1:49 pm

I live in Northern Ontario and so am isolated from classical radio on the radio airwaves. The thing is Radio two was so much better in the last few years before the "authorities" decided to make Radio two more contemporary and to "improve" it. I do enjoy the PBS classical music stations more than what I hear on Radio two.

18elenchus
gen. 9, 2010, 3:23 pm

The Warner Bros cartoons certainly helped me develop a taste for classical music, though I wasn't thinking about it this way. I still love Daffy, and I still love classical music.

Of course cartoons weren't the only influence, and music is important to me generally. But if there are ways for classical music to play a part in our everyday lives, it can help. The "more adventurous" pop musicians are one way, cartoons are another, and hopefully still others will develop. Video game soundtracks? Whatever.

19Barton
Editat: gen. 9, 2010, 9:18 pm

18>Your comment brings to mind the fact that as a tgeacher I hear my students (ages 11-14) humming pieces of classical music,. When asked the students will tell me that the music in question comes from a particular video game, I suppose one way or another classical music seeds will be planted in various ways.
(edited for typos)

20aviddiva
gen. 9, 2010, 9:05 pm

Your students may say they don't like classical music, but if you ask them about scores from films such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings they all know them and don't think of them as "classical."

21Barton
gen. 9, 2010, 9:17 pm

I also play classical music in the classroom, when appropriate, and the students as a whole usually start to listen to it as opposed to complaining. I usually start with those pieces that they already are familiar with. Granted most will not go any further but as stated above some seeds planted more bear fruit later on.

22bumblesby
gen. 12, 2010, 8:42 pm

23Sendiri
set. 15, 2013, 8:27 pm

Classical music, as someone else noted, has always been a minority taste. It will always be a minority taste. It is doubtful it will disappear because there will always be a group of people,however small in number, who appreciate its complexity and depth. And I am not referring to the "pop" classics that appear often in film. That is classical music that the producers know will appeal to the less sophisticated ears and minds in the audience. So I will prophesy the opposite. I say that the great classical works will survive and almost all of the pop music will disappear in the future. Those that survive and become "folk" music will somehow be swallowed up by classical composers in their works. That has been the pattern for some time now.

24aviddiva
nov. 22, 2013, 6:33 pm

Carmina Burana, at least, will never die. It's everywhere.

25alaudacorax
Editat: nov. 23, 2013, 7:27 am

#23 - A couple of points:

Thinking of the move, already long-finished, from people producing their own music to having it provided for them, I see no reason to believe that, in olden times, the broad mass of the people were producing good music. Most was probably quite rough and simplistic stuff that has long since faded into oblivion - but the appetite for what we might call 'pop' was always there - it was just that people were self-sufficient in it. The swing from community to individual and from largely self-sufficient to consumer would seem to be irreversible by anything but a total breakdown of modern civilization. Failing that, I can't see the demand for pop ever going away, nor the suppliers of that profitable demand.

On classical music, I'd tend to agree with you there will always be a demand for it and that it will probably always be a minority demand; but, will it be economical to produce it - especially full-orchestra works? I fear that the time will come when all classical fans will be listening only to what will then be historical recordings - rather than particular pieces of music being 'recycled', as they are now, only long-extant recordings being recycled - continually being remastered and repackaged and re-marketed down through the generations.

26theabbottsmusick
març 20, 2014, 4:10 pm

Last Sunday I bought a good ticket on the day for a concert in London's Royal Festival Hall - Mahler's 3rd Symphony played by the splendid San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas. The front stalls were full but there were a lot of empty seats in the rear stalls. This doesn't prove anything but it was disappointing that a top class visiting orchestra didn't draw a nearly full house.

It's not all bad news though. You need to book early for Dudamel and his Simon Bolivar band and Simon Rattle and the Berlin Phil. both of whom reliably fill halls. I regularly attend the Royal Opera House and there are rarely any empty seats: streamed cinema performances from the ROH and the Met attract good audiences. The BBC Promenade Concerts are usually well attended - full houses for Barenboim's Ring among others last year - and have large radio audiences.