Don Satz suggests reasons for the young preferring popular music to classical:

>1.  Having their own music - this abstract "ownership" factor is very
>significant.  It creates a common bond among young persons.
>
>2.  Peer Pressure - Although young persons like to give off the appearance
>of being independent and rebellious, I've always noticed that they really
>are strong on conforming with what other young persons are thinking and
>doing.
>
>3.  Young persons have high energy and relatively low attention spans.
>Those characteristics do not lend themselves to serious music which lasts
>substantially longer than a typical rock song.

I wonder if enough attention is paid to the extent to which the young are
prisoners of the commercial culture.  It seems to me that they are assailed
on all sides by the pressure of advertising, which creates all manner of
"must haves" - whether it is Nikes, Tommy Hilfiger clothes, the latest
pager, etc.  And this also applies to their music, which is pushed on
MTV and other outlets.  This must partly explain why teenagers are so
conformist in their outlook: they don't have to go out and seek
satisfaction - possibilities are dangled in front of them all the time.

Of course the classical record business is a commercial operation too;
but it has never targeted the young.  It seems to me that a young person
today has to be very independent in his/her thinking in order to break out
of this overwhelmingly commercial teenage culture and develop interests
(musical or otherwise) which are not dictated by it.

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA