Bob Draper wrote:

>But you ... have to ask why people are so reluctant to listen to classical
>music.  The main reason is that it is seen as being "High Brow".  I used
>to find that classical music stores and concerts are full of condescending
>snobs and they still are!  Just like BMW cars seem to attract lunatic
>drivers so classical music seems to attract those who think they are
>superior.

This may be a bit simplistic, although it comes from something that
has a germ of truth.  Keep in mind that if someone comes off as being
a snob it's generally because they are trying to cover up some imagined
inferiority.  And pretending to love classical music so that one can appear
highbrow is no love at all.  Like you, I am sure I have no patience for the
quasi-knowledgeable classical music clerk who is all too willing to let you
know his (I use that gender because most of them I've encountered are male)
opinions, which are usually a hodge-podge of somebody else's reviews.
Typical remark might be:  "Oh, don't get that version of [x]...  Maestro
 [y] takes the last movement 50% slower than everyone else.  It lasts
forever!" Well, so what? Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.  But it's bound
to give you a new perspective on the music.  And even if you sell the CD to
someone else, you've learned something on your own, and not just taken some
jerk's word for it.

One way to deal with people who use CM as an accoutrement of "class" is to
show them up in the knowledge dept, but that is generally more trouble than
it's worth.  It's usually better to make your point by saying something
polite like "I really appreciate your opinion about this.  I still think
I'd like to give it a try!"

>I wear a baseball cap and I swear that for this reason I get inferior
>treatment by shop assistants in record stores and bad looks by the snob
>shoppers.  I have no hair at all.  When I take my hat off most people take
>me as I am.  But the classical fraternity is full of the small section of
>the population that glare.  This fact puts me off going to concerts these
>days.

Well, if you really wanted to test that hypothesis you would have to dress
differently for the same clerks and see if their attitudes changed.  But
I guess the bottom line is appreciation of CM SHOULD depend only on the
degree of mental work required to become knowledgeable, not on economic
status or one's chosen mode of dress.  If you really want to go to a
concert just go.

Chris Bonds