- Classical music has been circling the drain for years, of course. There’s little doubt as to the causes: the fingernail grip of old music in a culture that venerates the new; new classical music that, in the words of Kingsley Amis, has about as much chance of public acceptance as pedophilia
Ouch.
As a fan of classical, it's sad to see this decline. It's really not that stuffy or complicated once you get into it. I don't really have much of a musical education. I was in my band and know a bit of trumpet and flute, but none of those were at a level to truly understand all that goes on in a work. I mentioned before about how I got into classical, and had to thank the always fantastic Erik Satie for that:
I can only keep recommending classical and posting about it. If I could get some people into it, then I've done my part in keeping it alive. I also think Game music and Film music are good enough. If classical does die, then those can live on and maybe take the place of classical, as many people already know Koji Kondo, Nobuo Uematsu and Koichi Sugiyama from their works in video games and they are nothing to scoff at:
I really dig Koichi's work in the dragon quest games the most.
But in any case, sad article to read.
I haven't been to the symphony in at least three years. A lot of that is probably due to the birth of my daughter three years ago but still if people don't go symphonies die. I've seen programs that I would have enjoyed, I just haven't made the time. I haven't gone to many shows in general in the last three years. At least half of the shows I've gone to have been ones I can bring my daughter to. I will absolutely take her to see classical music performances when she gets old enough to sit through them. There aren't as many outdoor performances where I live now as there were in the place I grew up. Outdoor symphonies are fantastic shows for kids. Lawn seating, the chance to bring your own picnic lunch and lots of things to look at make them great for exposing kids to culture. My mom would teach me about a composers we would be hearing before we went to the performance. We'd listen to some of the pieces. I really enjoyed the whole experience. This piece has inspired to me to take Hazel to see a full Portland Symphony perform before she turns four. I've taken her to see some small ensemble stuff in parks and she seemed to like it Ok but I bet she would be thrilled by the power of a full orchestra. thenewgreen have you taken your kid to the symphony? Do you actively expose your daughter to music for her own benefit (play stuff that you might not have put on if it weren't for her own benefit, and I don't mean Raffi). I've been trying to play a bit more stuff with Latin rhythms and some calypso for her, I think it's hard to understand some of those vibes without early exposure.
I beg to differ. Also a fan of classical here. While many stations have their Mozart and Bach hours and are still living in the past, there is plenty of great music that has come out this year. Here's a list from my local one. You'll notice that much of it, like academic articles, hides behind a paywall. Hilary Hanh is a popular violinist that commissioned composers to write pieces for her encores. She also worked with Hauschka for an album which turned out to be a little more avant-garde.
I linked to the article from my feed prior to reading your text here. I was going to mention, or ask you about whether you think classical music is being well represented in the gaming world? Much like films, it seems that a number of games have classical scores. Would you still say it's in decline or perhaps are the media that brings it forth just changing? Again, thank you for the introduction to Erik Satie and for deepening my knowledge of classical music. I look forward to checking out these links. I'm going to put that Satie link in my comment so that people can listen as they read what you wrote... and so I can test out the new video embedding :)
Classical music in the gaming world... In the past, I would say yes. The NES and early days, for whatever reason, had an unusual amount of 8-bit transcriptions of famous classical pieces. Maybe composers were lazier back then in composing pieces for quick games or something and just opted to use the public domain with careless abandon, but there was a lot of exposure to classical. I played a lot of NES games and loved the music only to realize at a much older age that they were from classical composers. In any case, here are some examples with the NES transcription being first and the real version afterwards: Binary Land Stage theme: Erik Satie's Je te Veux: Winter Games (Famous for being skewered by the Angry Video Game Nerd): Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers: ....And I could go on. The only reason I don't is because I'm forgetting the NES titles. The latest gaming device I own is a Nintendo DS. Since then, two console generations have happened with me not being a part of them, and as such I can't really say if modern games are helping to expose new generations to classical music, since I haven't played any modern games. I can guess that it is, and that gaming helps, though. There's Eternal Sonata, the Xbox 360 game where you can play AS Chopin, and has some music from him as such: I guess GTA III did have that opera station, but most people probably never even tuned into it. I do know that Saints Row fares better and has a classical station in the latest one, because my sister played the game and enjoyed doing crazy stuff with classical playing, lol. So those some more modern games with classical presence, so that's a positive sign, especially since my sister doesn't listen to classical, and she talks about enjoy Beethoven, even if it's in the context of the wacky world of saint's row. I would say Gaming helps with classical representation, although I suppose there hasn't been many big games where classical takes the forefront like a film would. Maybe I'm just forgetting them or not aware of any, though.