In Reply to: RE: The classical music continuing struggle and the 800-pound gorilla in the room: posted by frogman on April 18, 2014 at 07:51:25:
I think comparing a culture/population that's pretty homogenous with one as diverse as ours may not provide much help. There's certainly a vast difference in that regard between California and Japan.
I'm not so sure the youth of Japan has a greater appreciation for "classical" music than young people in the U.S. anyway, regardless of their educational system and culture. As you can read in what I linked, things aren't so peachy for orchestras in Japan. I doubt their own old indigenous music attracts many Japanese youth either.
Its 2014, the age of rock/pop/world, show over substance, video, downloads and earphones, and Twitter. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any country in the world where its youth attend many classical concerts or have much appreciation for Western Art music.
Really nothing that strange about it, and as you said, no surprise. Musical preferences change with the times, along with everything else. Plenty of families here and in other countries do have appreciation for music, just not "classical" music (or jazz, for that matter). In Mozart's day I seriously doubt concerts of Gregorian chants or Dunstable were magnets for Viennese youth.
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Follow Ups
- What makes you think attendance at classical concerts in Japan isn't declining? - Rick W 14:20:19 04/19/14 (0)