old posts 27

"It's time you and your new music brethren got it through your heads that by its very nature classical music, new and old, is and has always been an elite enterprise,"



Then again one might ask where we are talking about. The United States and UK? Perhaps. Canada, where pop musicians can be government supported through their radio? Europe? Certainly not today and even yesterday not entirely. Japan and Asia? I'm not sure about that one either.



Perhaps these other countries don't count. By the way, were their any Italian rock bands on the lists? That’s not snobbery that’s jingoism.



I remember how hard it was to convince kids of the fact that the Rolling Stones earned more money than your typical Orchestra member—they just wouldn’t believe it.



Also, there is a certain amount of controversy among “rock writers” over bands like ELP which are not considered “true” rock bands as they have too much “classical” technique.
So its ok to have an Ivey League degree in English literature and “rock” but if you have a performance degree in an instrument you can’t. Go figure.

Phil’s Page

Geographical complications

Not True! Toscanini, and through him, classical music was very popular in the 1940-1950.

An exception!

Not to sound nationalistic, but the strength of the American music scene is its variety and independence.

Misunderstandings can certainly happen when specific or professional knowledge collides with general perceptions. It’s the price we pay for an open forum.





Phil’s Page

Kyle, your comments make a lot of sense to me. Yet one form of ire continues for the non-university composer. Many grants and fellowships do not consider self- produced (un sponsored) public performances as important as a university sponsored concerts. Even if those university performances were by undergraduate ensembles who were required to perform and the audience required to be there. Sorry to say for some the self-producing composer, no matter how good, is just involved in vanity projects.
(not to mention jobs)

“That’s quite true, Colin, we’re not discussing how to raise children, but rather how gender is formulated and expressed in contemporary music.”

Actually William, that was not what Colin was discussing at all- rather that was what you were stating.




Phil’s Page