You don’t need a PhD or a specific
gift in order to appreciate classical music. All you need is ears, and an open
mind – things every child already has
Is the end
of classical music approaching? The media is full of stories of doom and gloom: established
orchestras and ensembles face closure or are being forced to merge,
the audience is ageing, recordings don’t sell, copyright is dying and, worst of
all, music education in schools is dwindling. Even in
How to attract
audiences in our pluralist times? Some suggestions seem to me worthwhile,
some double-edged, and others rather harmful. It’s a complex matter, for sure,
but what has been proved is that pandering to the lowest common denominator, à
la “classic goes pop” won’t work – and market research tools often seem
about as helpful as asking a small child who is the world’s best mum.
For my
part, I tend to think that the potential audience for complex classical music
is much larger than commonly expected, and that it does not depend on class or
education or knowledge. Since everybody has auditory skills, we’re all
potential listeners. I’m convinced that there is an evolutionary encoded thirst
for artistic complexity and beauty, which can, and will, wither if it is not
being nourished.
Advanced music, as a whole-brain activity, can elevate us
from our daily routines to a higher sphere. I believe it’s a source of
contemplation direly needed in our times of information overkill and
consumerism – it is a health product whose effect is profound, even though it
can’t be easily measured. Exposure to an advanced piece of classical music
might be laborious in the beginning, but – not unlike in sports – there are
flow experiences and the equivalent of runner’s highs as soon as one has
overcome their baser instincts. Lofty words like these are not in high fashion,
I know, and perhaps not very helpful. Neither is tiresome lamenting or
scapegoating. Nor is cynicism an option. How refreshing, then, to read
something such asJoseph Brodsky’s An Immodest Proposal, a
1991 lecture given by the great exiled Russian poet and Nobel prize for
literature recipient at the Library of Congress. I am fascinated by the trust
Brodsky places both in the common audience and in the communicative power of
complex art. For him, access to the arts is a vital part of civic rights, and
poetry should be as omnipresent as electricity or cars:
“It should be sold in drugstores (not least
because it might reduce the bill from your shrink) … It certainly cannot reduce
poverty, but it can do something for ignorance. Also, it is the only insurance
available against the vulgarity of the human heart. Therefore it should be
available to everyone in this country and at a low cost … For cultural matters,
it is not demand that creates supply, it is the other way around … Perhaps not
at once, but gradually, over a decade or so, the books will sell. And if they
will not sell, well, let them lie around, absorb dust, rot, and disintegrate.
There is always going to be a child who will fish a book out of the garbage
heap.
The last sentence reminds me of my own childhood in the
Of course, I don’t wish to draw too close
comparisons. The problems back then were completely different than those in
today’s affluent and information-driven societies. And yet, something remains
universally valid: the natural, hard-wired inclination children have towards
complex classical music. Perhaps they won’t yet grasp its intellectual
dimensions, but the emotional impact is all the stronger, and this is what
counts: for one doesn’t need a PhD or a specific gift in order to appreciate
classical music. But this innate curiosity and understanding can vanish: as is
known, children’s aesthetic tastes form before the age of nine. Consequently,
music must become more visible in schools – last, but not least since “training
in the arts prepares a growing child just as well for a scientific or technical
career as does training in science, technology, engineering and maths, if not
better.” (Thomas Südhof,
2013 Nobel laureate in medicine)
No matter how little
access grownups might themselves have to classical music, they should at least
give kids a chance to form their own taste and knowledge.
• The Philharmonia give the
Unsuk Chin
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/21/classical-music-just-give-children-the-chance-to-love-it