Klarinet Archive - Posting 000001.txt from 1998/08

From: Dodgshun family <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: [kl] Classical Music and Young People
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 03:00:00 -0400

At 08:21 PM 31/07/98 -0700, you wrote:

>I don't know. Maybe it's just the area I live in, but around here, it's more
>improtant for teens to enjoy music they enjoy, and not what's popular. There
>definately are Rock fans, Jazz fans, Rap fans, Contemporary fans, Swing fans
>(hey, Swing is on a revival), need I go on?

That's right. That goes here too. A lot of people also listen to a real
range of music; if you look at my CD collection, or some of my friends'
collections, you'll find everything from jazz to Beatles to Radiohead to
Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.
(Sorry to be picky, but I would have classed swing as a division of jazz,
not a seperate form)

>Further, I think classical, though not exactly coming back in it's orginal
>form, is definately coming back, especially into the Rock and Pop scene.
>More bands are employing a larger variety of instruments (most notably the
>violin and the different flavors of clarinet). One that comes to mind would
>be Madonna's new CD, and though I'm not a fan of Madonna's music, I am aware
>that at least one of her songs (possibly more. i haven't heard the entire
>CD) employs an entire orchestra.

The Verve (Bittersweet Symphony, Sonnet, Now the Drugs Don't Work) and
Radiohead are also using orchestral instruments, mostly strings, but
sometimes whole orchestras. And what about that Coolio song (I forget what
it's called) that has the Pachelbel Canon underlying it?

>Basically, I feel that musical barriers are really falling for the next
>generation of music, and it wouldn't be fair to judge people by musical
>tastes as music itself is a something that can be shaped and reshaped, as
>things like "Country Rock" and "New Age Jazz" and, especially in the music
>of Gloria Estefan, where she unites a Latin beat to a contemporary feel.

Yeah, and it's happening more and more. Results can be interesting when a
classically trained musician turns to rock; my brother has done this, and
his songwriting, though severely Radiohead influenced, has a few little
quirks which could only be due to his classical training. I think that
classical training gives you expectations; chords have to be logical and
can't just go anywhere.

>Isn't Music all about enjoyment? And if classical isn't popular, doesn't
>mean it's bad, just as similarly as rap is popular, doesn't mean it's bad
>either. Just remember, in 30 or 40 years, today's rap fans will be telling
>their kids or grandkids about "Those Dank 90's" or whatever they'll be
>called, and about that genre of music found in the oldies section of the
>virual music store called rap, and how classic it was. <g>

Some things will never die; look at the Beatles. Jazz also seems to be
pretty long-standing. I get the feeling that Radiohead is going to last,
and maybe The Verve. Classical music has survived this far into time, and I
really can't see that anything is going to change. Who knows, we might even
see a huge revival.

Anna
(who is fairly obviously a Radiohead and The Verve fan, as well as a jazz
fanatic and classical musician)

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