Classical music definitely has more than its fair share of naysayers. Unfortunately, most of the arguments they put forward as they insist that classical music is dead have a certain element of truth in them. This is because the decline of classical music has been observed in various forms.
Classical music has been circling the drain for years, of course. There’s little doubt as to the causes: the fingernail grip of old music in a culture that venerates the new; new classical music that, in the words of Kingsley Amis, has about as much chance of public acceptance as pedophilia; formats like opera that are extraordinarily expensive to stage; and an audience that remains overwhelmingly old and white in an America that’s increasingly neither. Don’t forget the attacks on arts education, the Internet-driven democratization of cultural opinion, and the classical trappings—fancy clothes, incomprehensible program notes, an omerta-caliber code of audience silence—that never sit quite right in the homeland of popular culture. Via Slate
On the other side of the divide are those that acknowledge the challenges that classical music faces, but also recognize the increasing opportunities for the genre to become relevant today. One of them is Julie Dobrow, who discusses how technology is offering classical music a new lease of life.
She describes how the Boston Symphony Orchestra is exploiting technology in the hopes of drawing a younger audience into the classical music concert hall.
As part of its ongoing effort to reach out to younger audiences and different demographics, the BSO has launched “Casual Fridays,” a series of themed concerts that offer lower ticket prices, an opportunity to come to the symphony dressed as you are, and a chance to use technology in a fascinating effort to connect with the music and the performers in different ways. A number of seats are in a “designated technology” section. The BSO loans patrons iPads loaded with multimedia content and seats them behind large flat screens that give audience members the same view of conductor Andris Nelsons that the musicians have. Via Huffington Post
The audience can access full scores of the music on the program via their loaner iPads, as well as short interviews of professional musicians, performers and even composers discussing the music. However, once the concert began, the audience members could no longer keep their attention on their iPads because the flat screens stole their attention.
There have been times I have gone to concerts and closed my eyes so as to concentrate more deeply on the music. I was not tempted to do so at all during this concert. Watching Conductor Nelsons was simply too riveting. Via Huffington Post
Anthony Rudel, station manager of a classical music radion station, believes that technology is a good way to break down the boundaries between the stage and the audience.
“The 30-year-old and younger generation grew up with technology 24/7 and show no desire to escape that. So using technology to bridge gaps and to make them feel more at home with music and performance will only help to bring them in.” Like the BSO, Rudel and his team at WCRB are always looking for innovative ways to bring more people to classical music on the radio. It seems to be working: in the past two years their audience has grown. Via Huffington Post
Further, school music educators are finding that technology is creating a means through which children can effectively be introduced to classical music. The reason why technology works is that it adds that visual dimension to classical music that triggers immediate interest among children. Laura Deutsch is one of these educators:
She sometimes utilizes content on websites like those developed by the San Francisco Symphony and the New York Philharmonic that have games designed to teach children about instruments and styles of music, but says that content that actually shows people making music is the thing she believes resonates with children the most. “Showing kids close-ups of an orchestra gets kids to pay attention,” she says. “Kids are interested when they can see the body language of musicians. It brings them into the music in a completely different way.” Via Huffington Post
Regardless of the negative publicity it receives, classical music continues to find new ways to beat the odds and survive in the world today. We can only hope that the innovations of today, whether technological or otherwise, will continue to guarantee that current and future generations will enjoy the benefits this rich genre offers.
ANNA GOLDSWORTHY, an Australian pianist and festival director, wrote recently about her fears for her art-form as she played Chopin’s funeral-march in B-flat minor. Though we are all headed towards our own funerals, “it is difficult to escape the fact that my audience is several decades further down the road than I am. And I am less and less confident that a new audience will come marching in to replace them.”
Her fears are not outlandish: a 2010 study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found the largest proportion of classical concert-goers are aged between 65 and 74, and the same problem is bemoaned far beyond Australia. So promoters and classical-music venues are keen to do anything that will lure in youngsters. Via The Economist
PHENICX – How technology brings us closer to classical music
Through smart use of technology, PHENICX intends to use this richness to build a whole new classical concert experience. A concert experience that can guide you through a performance, with information tailored to varying expertise levels. A concert experience that allows you to get an impression of a piece before a concert, and lets you revisit the concert after it was played, allowing you to discover new things about it. A concert experience that even may initiate a social discussion based on your impressions and the impressions of other attendees. All of this is not meant to defy the traditional concert experience, but to offer you new engaging experiences on top of it. Via European Commission
Tech innovations that changed music forever: the classical edition
Today, when we think of musical technology, we picture Spotify, smartphones and dubious Neil Young-endorsed luxury products. But the notion of technology being “what’s new” obscures the fact that all music is produced with the aid of technology.
I mean, sure, humans come with a built-in musical instrument: a voice. But anything else we use for musical purposes is tech: violins, tuning forks, printing presses. We have generations of science to thank for the fact that we can go to a concert and hear 300-year-old music. Via CBC