Robert Peters replies to me replying to him:

>>>>Most classical listeners can't even read the music they listen to.
>>>
>>>So what? Do you have to be able to paint to love art?
>>
>>No, you don't.  But you do have to be able to look, and it's also nice if
>>you can look intelligently.
>
>My ability to read music is not very good but I think I nevertheless have
>a good ability to listen intelligently.  You don't have to read music, you
>need a sense for structure - and an open mind and an open heart.

Agree.  However, the ability to read often makes learning the piece
easier, and I would say that most people who don't know how to read have
great difficulty with new work.  Of course, people who read often have
difficulty, but it's not the same difficulty.  Billy Joel can read, but in
none of his comments do I find an understanding or even an accurate sense
of history.  I've said before that most people who truly hate modern music
actually know some classical music.  Often, the "blank slates" respond
positively to the music that those who know the Period of Common Practice
resent.

As for electronic keyboards, most of them really don't help one learn
classical music from the inside out or, indeed, keyboard technique.
There are so many bells and whistles on the thing, you can sound pretty
extraordinary simply by pressing down one note.

>>>And classical music is meant to be discipline and pleasureless work?
>>
>>No. Why do you believe such work is pleasureless?
>
>I don't think so.  But it bothered me that you spoke so low about the many
>charming gadgets of the electric keyboard which are simply fun -
>and fun is a very good thing.

No question.  I'm all for fun.  But I've yet to figure out how the charming
gadgets lead one to the understanding of music from the inside out, which,
as I recall, was the topic of discussion.  The point was that gadgets like
the electronic keyboard, the sequencer, and the recording have allowed
people to become passive listeners instead of active participants and
possibly active listeners.  There's no guarantee, of course, that actually
learning to play, say, Berio's Epifanie will allow you to understand it.
However, I've noticed that composers and works I've disliked (like Mozart,
Beethoven, and Brahms, as well as Webern and Schoenberg) opened up to me
when I went through the discipline of rehearsal and performance.

Steve Schwartz