New York violinist Philippe Quint headed out into his city to find out for himself—with fascinating, even horrifying, results.
The clip below [he says in his piece introducing the clip] has been called the saddest, most depressing and alarming video research on classical music, but I see it as an invitation to an open conversation and to looking at the situation with a different mindset — in part from the perception of the young people themselves. I also have received an array of letters thanking me for finally exposing what everyone has had on their mind for a long time.
“We need to confront the ignorance surrounding classical music,’ he says—“and fast!”
So here’s two questions for you:
- What music do you listen to?
- What about classical music?
- And if not, why not?
10 comments:
•What music do you listen to?
Everything, apart from TOP40, Boy/Girl Bands & gormless 70's & 80's Bands like Dire Straits, BeeGees etc.
1950-70's Jazz & Blues are my favourites.
•What about classical music?
Yes, especially piano music late at night, & a full blown symphony when feeling boisterous!
-IvanK
What music do you listen to?
Pretty much anything as long as it doesn't involve autotuned pop-tarts (of either sex).
What about classical music?
Absolutely. I like opera, and a lot of the baroque composers like Bach, Handel etc.
I listen to quite a variety, from metal to New Age to bluegrass.
I don't listen to much classical music because the classification doesn't lend itself to exploration. The 1812 Overture is listed under the same heading as "Four Seasons"--and not under any other. Trying to find something similar to something you enjoy is a slog through a lot of irrelevant material. In contrast, I can plug "Van Canto" into Pandora and be reasonably certain that any song I listen to is going to be similar enough to the first that I'll enjoy it. In contrast, if I put "Ode to Joy" in Pandora the next song is almost certainly going to be some piece which I have no interest in. (I use Pandora because I've gotten the best results from that service--YouTube, satellite radio, music stores, and other avenues have performed worse.)
I guess it's a cost of entry thing. In order to find classical music with the qualities I enjoy, I need to have a fairly deep knowledge of classical music. And since there's music I enjoy that doesn't require obtaining a new skillset to find, I simply haven't seen any point to exploring classical in any depth.
Rock, Blues, Jazz, Punk, Funk, Alternative, Alt-Country, some Metal, etc. I'm light on classical but I plan on changing that. How about your top ten list for beginners?
I do a lot of driving. My play list includes all sorts, including classical.
We were recently at La Sagrada Familia when Ave Maria was played. Absolutely stunning.
Asking a lot of Negroes, Spaniards and Chinamen in an ignorant cesspool like New York if they listen to Classical music is like conducting a survey amongst Maoris in Northland asking "Do you have a job?" haha!
This Froggie needs to pick his market a bit better.
Yeah, you're right. What would the likes of Ellington, Rodrigo, or John Chen know about music.
Yeah, that could be fun.
There were a few I recommended in this post, which could be a good start . . .
It would be! I'm jealous.
I was making a wee joke as he was only interviewing the 20 or so dumbest idiots he could find! haha!
But seriously, if you look at the ratings for radio stations in New York it would indicate he clearly wasn't asking the right people.
The Classical music station scores 1.3% (nearly 200,000 listeners), and the Jazz station just behind (160,000 listeners); not bad for a very crowded radio market.
http://ratings.radio-online.com/cgi-bin/rol.exe/arb001
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