Klarinet Archive - Posting 000155.txt from 2000/07

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Re: Developing audiences for music (Was: A review)
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 09:21:38 -0400

On Tue, 4 Jul 2000 LeliaLoban@-----.com wrote:

> I have some thoughts about Annette Morreau's article about the Nigel
> Kennedy concert, but first I'd like to address her quotation from
> cellist Emanuel Feuermann:
>
> >"It has been my observation that the first step in teaching people to
> >appreciate good music is to over power them completely by sheer
> >majesty. You cannot acquire a love of music by listening to simple
> >pieces at first and gradually working up to more complex ones."
>
> My first impulse is simply to agree with Feuermann. But on second
> thought, has anyone proved that what he says is true?

I doubt that the statement has been proven, but I think its converse has
been pretty effectively disproven. Some 40 years ago, quite a few
orchestras started playing so-called pops concerts, at least partly with
the justification that it would eventually help develop audiences for
traditional orchestral music. It was thought that new or prospective
listeners could be "eased into" an appreciation of serious music by
initial exposure to more accessible forms of music. Obviously, this has
never worked. It was also thought that pops concerts would have more
appeal to younger audiences, who would then be the orchestra patrons of
the future. In fact, in my experience, the average age of the audience in
a typical pops concert today will be much older than in a concert of
serious orchestral music.

Now, most orchestras are at least more honest about it - the massive
increase in the playing of pops concerts is driven purely by the profit
motive. These concerts are cheaper to produce and easier to sell to the
general public. Therefore, they help to subsidize the orchestras' regular
concert series. However, they have little to do with what orchestras do
best, which is to play the standard orchestral repertoire.

Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
*****************************************************************

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