The Prospects of Classical Music in Modern-Day World - Essay Example

number 03 May The Prospects ical Music in Modern-day World The declining interest to live performances of classical music pieces has become a fact over the past few decades. The average age of concertgoers willing to listen to orchestras performing classical music live is constantly growing. These facts are backed up by statistical survey. There is a widespread fear of a slippery slope towards unprofitability of orchestras playing classical music. The global tendency indicates that the segment of radio stations focusing on classical music is constantly shrinking. There is absolutely no doubt that classical music in the twenty-first century might not be as popular as it used to be in the nineteenth century, for instance, but it would surely be a gross exaggeration to say that such art form as classical music is dead or being pushed on the brink of extinction within the context of evolution of modern society. Clearly, classical music is pearl of great price within the context of cultural heritage of mankind despite the fact that there is a lack of its acceptance by the modern-day popular culture. The fact that the base support of classical music is considerably lower than that of some popular music genres, especially when it comes to younger audience, make many critics and experts, such as Mark Vanhoenacker, for instance, argue that classical music, as an art form, fails to meet the challenges of time and is being exposed to a threat of becoming a cultural anachronism with no loyal following at all in the years ahead (Vanhoenacker 3). Other critics admit that classical music experiences certain difficulties in general cultural positioning and fails to adequately address its own image problems within the context of present-day popular culture, but at the same time many of them express the belief that challenges could become possibilities that might as well be an impulse for a positive change, which will bring classical music back in the center of cultural dialogue in the twenty-first century (Gilbert 4). Alan Gilbert in his article titled as Orchestras in the 21st Century - A New Paradigm makes attempt to analyze how altered musical traditions made classical music adjust to challenges of time as exemplified by the way orchestras, which play classical music, introduce new fresh ideas without compromising their artistic essence incidental to performance of classical music (Gilbert 2). In order to reach their audience orchestra leaders often have to redefine the way their orchestras position themselves within their communities. As matter of fact, Internet made classical music available to larger masses of population, which gives a chance that the listenership of classic music might increase in future. On the other hand, without exposing youth to the experience of visiting live performances of orchestras playing classical music pieces starting from school age the chance that the attendance rate of classical music concerts will keep on dropping is quite high. It must be noted that today Americans listen, create, record and perform more classical music to be played by orchestras than they have ever done before. Nowadays there is a steady tendency to incorporate classical music in the movies and video games and, thus, a huge chunk of listenership of classical music pieces are shaped by the breakthrough of classical music into mainstream through the entertainment industry (Dare 2). This is obviously a positive moment that contributes greatly to the dissemination of classical music in the popular culture and improves the current state of classic music that is not that popular these days as it used to be back in the nineteenth or the first half of the twentieth century before such influential music genres as rhythm and blues, jazz and rock n roll emerged. It must be also noted that the way concertgoers behave at live performances of classical music pieces today is strikingly different from the way an audience used to listen to classic music at the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth, for instance. The New York Times describes the atmosphere of the concerts where classical music was performed by orchestras as quite lively, which might often be interrupted with a whirlwind of applause and cheers when concertgoers could weep, shout, and "flapped unrestrainedly" (Dare 1). Such a relaxed atmosphere has a strong resemblance to that of modern-day gigs of rock or pop music artists and has absolutely nothing to do with the way the audience tends to listen to live performances of classical music nowadays and, in fact, is quite the opposite. Such inhibited atmosphere during live performances of classical music by modern-day orchestras with silence reigning supreme does not attract young concertgoers these days. However, classical music is far from being dead. As Will Robin, a famous blogger from New York City, noted, "There is a creepy bloodlust to the doom-mongering of classical music as though an autopsy were being conducted on a still breathing body." (Gabler 2). Nevertheless, one cannot ignore the fact that there are a number of signs, which indicate that classical music is experiencing a certain crisis in the present-day society worldwide. It is undeniable that nowadays classic music neither shapes nor dominates the cultural landscape. First of all, the median age of its target audience, especially when it comes to the category of concertgoers, is constantly growing across the world. Back in the 1930 the average age of concertgoers regularly visiting live performances of classical music was around thirty years old, while by the end of 2000s it was already 49 (Vanhoenacker 1). But, it must be said that at least the rate of classical music instruments sale is not decreasing, and, according to statistical data presented by Marc Vanhoenacker in his famous article titled as Requiem: Classical Music in America is Dead, there is one classical music instrument for each of 50 kids at every American school. Thus, a number of children who can get a chance to learn playing classical music instruments and get a musical education is constant and does not decrease with the passing of time, which makes all the forward-looking statements of some music critics as to grim prospects of classical music quite overcharged. Secondly, a number of bankruptcies amongst orchestras playing classical music tend to increase year after year, at least in the United States. Thirdly, the market share of classical music records sale is decreasing. On top of that, live orchestral music does not enjoy commercial success and a great number of symphony orchestras in the United States have to struggle with performance deficit (Vanhoenacker 1). But those who take on responsibility to claim that all of the aforementioned facts indicate there exists a long-term tendency of turning classical music into anachronism are either prejudiced against classical music per se or feel nostalgic about times when classical music was more popular than it is today. Nevertheless, it would be untrue to say that classical music is being pushed towards extinction within the next few generations just because there is some running at loss when it comes to conventional live performances of classical music pieces, a slump in classical music concert attendance, downfall of classic music album sales, or decline of listenership of classical music radio stations. In fact, even music observers arguing that classical music is dying nowadays admit that there is a number of statistical surveys that show considerable year-on-year increase of non-commercial air and online radio stations focused on classical music only (Vanhoenacker 1). It is undeniable that such music genres as rock or R&B enjoy a millionfold commercial success and popularity as compared to classical music these days. However, classical music occupies a certain niche either and sustainable interest for it does not seem to go away. It is impossible to overstress the importance of its role within the context of global cultural dialogue. Furthermore, it is difficult to believe that just because classical music is far from having mainstream success nowadays the hour will arrive in the near or distant future when classical musics audience will shrink to a narrow circle blessed few being able to appreciate its beauty. The success story of such orchestras as Louisville Orchestra (which is famous for introducing of a number of progressive innovations in their performance that helped the orchestra to overcome a crisis of identity and redefine the role of classical music in shaping cultural landscape of a community), Aurora Orchestra (which is widely known in Great Britain for playing classical music in nursing houses), Detroit Symphony (which is famous for extensive use of possibilities that world wide web provides by streaming all of their concerts online and picking up unusual locations for their live performances) or New York Philharmonic (which is internationally known for unprecedentedly long list of repertoire that incorporates contemporary classic music pieces, such as Senza Sangue by Peter Eötvös) prove that the way orchestras connect themselves to the audience and position classical music might increase the base of support and enrich the impression that audience get from classical music (Gilbert 4). Another important factor that might help making classical music more significant within the context of its cultural relevance is a widespread exposure of classical music to children. According to Andrew Staupe, a well-known pianist, the importance of such initial exposure to youth cannot be overstated as it is a musical background that contributes greatly to shaping of a future audience (Gabler 3). Moreover, there are some prominent youth organizations, such as Youth Musicians of Minnesota, that help promoting classical music and improve its positioning within the framework of popular culture. Youth Musicians of Minnesota, for instance, is a group of more than 700 teenage musicians that are united within the framework of one huge organization in order to play classical music pieces at high schools, colleges, universities and opera houses of their state and show that classical music has a lot to offer to young people demonstrating how diverse, inspiring and thought-provoking it can be, what careers it can create and how it helps to bring people together by giving an opportunity to play and hear classical music alive (Gabler 3). Works Cited Dare, Richard. The Awfulness of Classical Music Explained. Huffington Post. 29 May 2012. Web. 03 May 2015. . Gabler, Jay. Reasons to be Excited about the Future of Classical Music. Classical MPR. 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 May 2015. < http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2014/02/28/future-classical-music>. Gilbert, Alan. Orchestras in the 21st Century - A New Paradigm. The Guardian. 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 03 May 2015. . Vanhoenacker, Mark. Requiem: Classical Music in America is Dead. Slate. 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 03 May 2015. . Read More