My Opinions on the Decreasing Popularity of Classical Music
As a young composer, trying to learn the game, I have noticed throughout my life that classical music is not super popular amongst my generation or other recent generations. I in no way intend for this post to point fingers at a single root event or ideology in this post. I am simply offering up some ideas I have recently had about the decrease in popularity.
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Potential Causes
When thinking about this, the first thing that comes to mind is time. In our day and age, time is quite precious to people (especially modern generations). The time it takes to sit down and become familiar with one classical piece can be used to become familiar with several pieces of modern music (such as pop or rock and roll). This is not necessarily due to length, it is also due to complexity. It is a lot harder for someone who knows nothing about music to wrap their head around a classical piece than it is for them to do so with a rap song. I have noticed that it helps greatly to read up on a piece before listening to that, especially if you are unfamiliar with the structure and background of the piece. However, this again requires time that people just don't seem to have.
I also think the classical community could have, in a way, played a part in their own downfall. I feel like the recent trend towards avant-garde music, which is only interesting if you have a deep understanding of the theory (ideas and technicalities behind it), has played a role in the depopularization (if that's a word) of classical. Many people are not trained at a level sophisticated enough to understand or appreciate the trend that modern classical has taken. As a result, I feel like those who otherwise were interested dropped out.
Another way that the classical community could have played a role is by not being welcoming towards newcomers in the real world, or the technological world. In our society, if you really want to dive into classical music, you need to learn about it on your own accord. The classical community is not super involved in social media or informative writing, especially in comparison to information sources on pop and rock. I feel like a huge handicap for the community has been its refusal and failure to accept new technological ideas.
One other idea I have had is that the stigma towards classical music could be due to the rebelliousness of millennial(s) (or whatever we're called these days). Classical music is associated with older more conservative ideas, and if I know anything about young people, its that they enjoy rebelling against the ideas of old. So, their reasoning for not listening to classical might literally just be to flip the bird towards their ancestors.
I think the biggest and most blatant cause of the decrease in popularity of classical music is the evolution of entertainment. In olden days, the radio did not exist. Neither did television. So, their entertainment was a night at the opera. As television has grown more popular, modern music has taken the cake for entertainment with programs such as MTV (back when they did music). As a result of this trend towards modern music (due to reasons previously stated) it was amplified by television.
Common Misconceptions (In My Opinion)
I remember watching an interview of Leon Fleischer, who taught my piano teacher, last year. Mr. Fleischer was asked what he believed to be the reason for the lack of classical popularity amongst modern generations. He felt that the reason for this decline is the decrease in funding towards public school music programs. I felt then and still feel now that this is a misconception. I have been going through a public school's music program since first grade. I can tell you that we discussed classical music in this program from first grade to fifth. Even though we discussed this, those who were interested remained, and the rest bailed at the first attempt they got, despite the education they received. Children only learn what they wish to learn. You can throw all the tax dollars you want at them. If they don't develop these ideas on their own (with a little bit of guidance), they never will.
"Classical music is boring and repetitive and long." This statement is a common one from my generation. I can say that anyone who makes it clearly has not taken the time to research the music, or at least listen to it. And if they have, then they missed something in the process. Whether or not you like classical music, you should still retain a respect for the vast amount of complexity that goes into writing it (look up counterpoint, figured bass, and sonata allegro form if you wish to know more). I can tell you, of all the genres, classical is the least boring and the least redundant. As to the length, there are a lot of long classical pieces. But, there are also a lot of short ones. Look up art songs such as "Der Erlkönig" by Schubert, or "Ich Liebe Dich" by Beethoven. Then look up a harmonic analysis of them (You probably won't find one for Ich Liebe Dich)(I can upload one if anyone is interested). Both of these pieces are short yet harmonically and structurally(ish) elaborate. If you want an example that isn't an art song, look up a Chopin nocturne or etude.
"Classical composers were a bunch of old dudes who sat around a table deliberating exactly how to make our lives miserable due to the fact that they only cared about writing boring music." It is actually very interesting how immature a lot of the composers were. A lot of them were just as young and rebellious as modern rock stars (and just as stupid). Don't believe me? Read up on Mozart and listen to this piece. Then look up a translation of the title and lyrics. Either way, many of the composers died young (they were not old men). For example: Mozart (35), Schubert (31), Mendelssohn (38), and Chopin (39) to name a few.
Solutions
While I don't think there is any one way to get classical music back into the main stream, here are some ideas I've had (or things that have already helped).
#classical-music here on Steemit, the #classical-music community is very friendly when it comes to anything having to with classical. I think having a community to promote classical really will help in the long run. Especially since it is promoting classical on a social media platform, removing the stigma that classical fans don't use modern technology and live in the stone ages. I think that what @bengy has been doing with this community will be really beneficial in the long run IF steemit succeeds.
I think shows like the Looney tunes really took a step in the right direction by incorporating classical music. Looney tunes literally made the music a part of the show. I think that for classical music to become popular again, someone will have to try to bring it back to mainstream (children's) entertainment.
I think the most important thing towards the popularization of classical music is the support of everyone who believes in it. We as a community need to be creative in our tactics of introducing "noobs" to classical music.
To all of my composer friends, I think there needs to be a shift away from avant-garde. We need to find a way to incorporate the ideas of old (and maybe even cherry picked avant-garde ideas) into a new and innovative style. I hope one of us (whether it is me or you) can find a way. I wish you luck in those regards!
Conclusion
Thanks for reading this! I hope that you have found at least some of my opinions interesting. I hope to read any other ideas that anyone may hold. If you have any ideas, please comment them. See you later! (Also happy Summer!)
Also remember to check for: My weekly 7 post, As well as my composer birthday posts (Note) In order to encourage meaningful feedback on the platform, I will check comment trails of users who leave superficial comments (ie "Awesome post," or "Upvoted.") and will mute any users who exhibit a pattern of leaving "spammy" comments.
"Classical music is boring and repetitive and long."
Au contraire, while most classical compositions are longer than popular ones, they are certainly not repetitive, outside of Philip Glass and his boring repetitions. Even seemingly repetitive pieces change from repetition to repetition. Ravel's Bolero is an example of this. He alternates between two similar themes, with subtle changes in orchestration accompanying each change.
Rock and much folk music are built on repetition. Tchaikowsky had a challenge when composing the last movement of his Symphony #2, the "Little Russian," i.e., Ukrainian. He wanted to capture the feel of repetitive folk music without constant repetition. He solved this by repeating one theme, varying the orchestrations and interrupting with other themes.
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Yes, that is a point I often bring up with my friends who make the claim that classical music is repetitive. I also make the argument that forms such as Sonata Allegro were invented in order to avoid repetition in music. You bring up a good point about subtle changes in orchestration. Strategies used by Bach and his "peers" were ideas such as "Augmentation," "Diminution," and "Inversion" of themes. These ideas are very much demonstrated by his Inventions and are certainly demonstrated in all of his music (specifically fugues). Composers make as many attempts to avoid repetition as they possibly can. Thank you for the feedback!
I've seen mathematical work that suggests that classical music relies on partial predictivity. Schoenberg fails on this account, because of the arbitrariness of his tone rows. The sample I heard with the paper sounded like he had spent time playing high notes, so he had to throw in some low notes. He claimed that he was organizing music through time, but it all sounds unmelodic to me.
Apart from my earlier comment (via @classical-radio) that the concept of playing old music from past eras is an unusual phenomenon in history, I really think that we (the classical music community) have shot ourselves in the foot in the past century or so...
The concept of Classical Music was pitched as an elite, cultural thing. We placed the idea of high art above the idea of entertainment. The original intent of the music was as entertainment, and yet we put it up on a pedestal to viewed as art akin to a museum. The unspoken "rules" of the concert hall, where newcomers where humiliated for clapping in the "wrong" place was just downright hostile to those who were not in the clique.
More recently, after seeing the success of the pop and commercial music, you have the idea of "selling" classical music. So, you get packaged groups and soloists who are generally easy on the eye... despite the fact that music is supposed to engage the ear first! In fact, you now start to get music festival organisers who have no idea about music but will just pick out packages that have been put together by their promoter friends.
Then, as musicians, you see many (especially in orchestras) musicians who are just there for work. Their passion is gone... In addition, you see a spread of the "don't stick out, don't get fired" mentality which leads to brainless and uncommitted performances...
All of this translates to the idea of a hostile concert atmosphere where I think the audience can sense the lack of commitment and "realness".
I probably have more to add, but I'll stop ranting... Of course, this is all spoken in a general and stereotypical sense. Not every musican and group is like this, but there is a disturbing section of the community where this is unfortunately true....
PS: Thanks for the mention! and thanks for the your continued support of the @classical-radio account!
You have made a lot of great points in this comment. One which I had not considered is the business behind music. You are right that people may be selected based on more than talent due to the idea that records need to be sold. I have a feeling that this problem is going to go away as ideas like Steemit grow in the public's eye. Now there is a way to juke out the music industry and get our "product" straight to the public. So I have a feeling that we are both in the right place. I also feel like Steemit (or something like it) could solve the problem of musicians mindlessly looking for work. Steemit creates an incentive for creativity, and I feel like that will cause these people to be much more hopeful about the impact of their musical creativity. Anyway, thanks for the feedback! What you are doing with this community is incredible!
I would not have expected this statement, the world is more and more into dance music, going to club evenings and festivals. In the Netherlands, it almost seems the only thing late teens and early 20 year old are doing in the weekends. And to be honest, I know quite e few styles in Dance music that sounds much more repetitive than classical music. But yeh, on the other hand I also can understand the statement.
I always like to see music promoted at events where the people are. So what about bringing in a classical stage at some big dance festival. I've seen different styles of music being more and more accepted by the young people by doing so. People getting more and more lazy I think, but they are still susceptible to learn, but one need to bring it too them.
I have also noticed that the dance music played at homecoming is very much redundant. I am going to remake a point I just made in another response. Composers have developed methods in order to avoid repetition much more so than modern dance composers. I used the example of Sonata Allegro Form, which helps you by providing guidance for writing longer works without sounding too repetitive. I don't know if it is necessarily laziness that causes people to write repetitive music. I think it is a lack of knowledge in how to write a longer work and not sound redundant. However, I am sure that when classical was first starting out, composers were much more redundant. I feel like repetition is an issue that may be solved for other genres as they are given time to develop their own methods of avoiding repetition. Classical composers have centuries of knowledge and experience under their belt. Thank you for the feedback!
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I agree. Avante-garde classical is very esoteric and unreachable by your typical audience today.
Another point to consider is the lack of audience education, for lack of a better term. Maybe this falls under your first point about time, but I’ve found, through my years of being a gigging musician, as well as during my time performing in classical groups at college, that by and large, people don’t understand or support the etiquette today, that they once did. There’s less appreciation, almost, as if music has become so cheap (through ipods, movies, TV, and radio), that the value has decreased. It’s become so easy to obtain music, there is less and less regard for its beauty and the skill of those who create it.
I was walking into my local Walmart a couple weeks back and had the privilege of listening to a church school orchestra performing to raise funds for a summer string camp. I was the only one who stopped, the only one who applauded (and one of the few who donated). Granted busking is a different kettle of fish from the concert hall, but the point remains: everyone was so busy on their phones, listening to their own ipod, and arguing with one another to even pause and appreciate. It’s not limited to there, either; I’ve played venues where I had to compete with the big sports game (“we won’t turn off the game,” “turn down your sound, the game is on”) and I’ve played in concert halls (happened during my college days) where people not only forget to turn off their cell phones, but proceed to carry on a LOUD conversation for the duration of the concert!
(On a side note, I am glad your area maintains music funding, where I live, music education funding and related arts programs are being cut left and right.)
It breaks my heart, because we are seeing a huge epidemic now in our society of suicide, depression, and anxiety disorders, and I feel like they’re related. We’re not living from the heart, we’re shutting ourselves off from beauty, we’re forgetting we’re human... and only the arts (music, art, literature, theater, dance) can show us the way back home.
You bring up some excellent points in your comment. Throughout my high school experience, I have noticed that there is a large lack of appreciation for music in general. When the marching band performs during our Friday night football games, I have noticed that the student section just talks over us. I once heard them blast an air horn during a girl's solo. The students also make noises at the pep rally during the national anthem to sound like cymbals (to be fair though, they are listening). I agree with you that art is one of the best ways to express humanity. Maybe society needs to teach values that emphasize an appreciation for art as well as an appreciation for life. Thank you for your feedback!
I have no real idea about music much less classical music......... but I have had this image or a perception in my mind that classical music is meant for live performances which perhaps decreases it's reach.
Then there is this another perception of mine. One that indicates a certain hint of elitism in this art. I haven't really ever shared these perceptions with anybody but I found that they are both mentioned in your post. In a different wording though.
Thank you! I am glad to know that my ideas are similar to yours. It is never too late to learn about something new!
10 Simple rules for learning to enjoy classical music ; -)
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The older I get the more I enjoy classical music. Before I started to listen to it regularily I actually had to tear down some of the walls you mentioned. I felt old and weired listening to classical music in a world full of very catchy pop songs like "Shut up" by the Black Eyed Peas for example.
Now I really like it, I especially like organ music and choirs.
Did you by any chance hear about that modern music does not have any real harmonies anymore but classical music does? I got this theory by a former DJ. He claims, that in modern music (pop, rock, jazz etc.) the harmony can not be singeled out anymore, because the rhythm of the bass is layered on it. He says, the songs thereby do not have an inherent logic anymore, we are not guided through it in a logical but emotional way. Well, I don't know, if this is true, but many composers like Bach wrote very "logical" songs, I heard. Anyway, I also think that children nowadays could profit from listening to classical music. In my view it sharpenes the mind a lot. I always felt very stimulated by it.
PS I: When I am back on my PC I'll send you a link with the source of the thesis I was talking about. It's in German though.
PS II: Here's the link to the source of the thesis:
https://youtu.be/e2xUiawGGoQ?t=219This is definitely something that needs to be addressed, although it has to be said that idea of playing music from the past is a bit of a more modern phenomenon...
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Hello @cmp2020, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!