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In Reply to: Yes, there is a lot of noise. posted by sser2 on April 11, 2007 at 12:45:28:
I've got no proof. I can only watch for the next few decades to see what happens. The kicker will be the aging of the boomers, who have built up the current state of Classical music through their concert attendance, preferences, record purchases...and neglect of new composers. The answer will lie in response to the question, "Who will CARE about Classical music in 30 years, and what will they care about?" My guess is that the second part of the question is moot. The answer to the first part must be "the young folks", otherwise it's game, set, match. I have NO IDEA how many people under the age of 25 listen to Classical music. Does anyone know?...
Follow Ups:
classical music is not for everyone. It newer was the art of the masses, never it will be, and never it was intended to be. That 95% of teenagers (as well as adults) don't care about classical music is not today's unfortunate tendency, it has been like this all the time.The focus audience is the remaining 5%. I am prety sure that this level will remain stable in the forseeable future, without any proselyting effort. Moreover,trying to affect things that occur naturally is like trying to influence the course of change of day and night.
Boomers? This is a local phenomenon of no significance to classical music, which is a world affair. BTW, a typical boomer prefers classic rock and classic cars of all things classic.
For a long while, it was the "favored" genre for patrons and the intellectual strivers. It was supported and nurtured by well-educated musicians and MANY composers bringing out new "product". The "patronage and government funding model" was supplemented by a broad-scale PAYING audience that also PAYED for recordings during the past 75-100 years, making the viability of the genre live, perhaps, longer than it would have. To deny the generational cycle and the economic impact upon Classical music as being nothing than "more of the same" is like saying one shouldn't be concerned with the art of the clock-maker, or hand-carved furniture or even the availability of high-end, non-mass-produced audio equipment.The CRAFT of Classical music is laborious, requires considerable focus and concentration (to complete a major work) and cannot be performed by folks who have other things to do simply to put food on the table. Boomers drove the economic cycle that supported this art for a half-century, and the support net is fading. Specific attention will need to be applied by those who care through their support of living artists (NOT just "performers" of the art, but creators). Otherwise, it will become EXACTLY like the "Mona Lisa": the relic of a bygone day.
Joshua Bell felt it in the Washington subway recently, where the international star violinist went virtually unnoticed by a mass of people "too unaware to know, and too busy to notice". It shocked a lot of people...but not the ones who didn't care. It's funny/sad. A lot of the folks in this forum are exactly the ones who claim to care the most, but seem prepared to do the least -- complacent, happy people. Who knows? Maybe that's nirvana?:-/
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