Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I do agree. I think we have to blame several trends and people. The >first is the educational system, which cut music programs as "frills" >but kept the football team and the marching band. Consequently, you >have people with expensive educations who are nevertheless cultural >ignorami. Similar to the way Latin is rarely taught in schools anymore, leading to folks believing that the plural of "ignoramus" is "ignorami".:-) >You hear more about what a genius Beck is than about what a genius >Brahms is. That could just as well be due to the fact that one is alive and the other is not. A fairer comparison might be Beck vs. Philip Glass, or John Williams vs. Stephen Foster, say. I'd wager that you hear at least as much - if not more - in the media about the "genius" of Glass or Williams than either Beck or Foster (brewskies excepted). >Brahms. By the way, serious jazz also has a small, neglected audience. >I've not met all that many people who recognize the name of Ornette >Coleman or Bud Powell. Even in Cambridge, MA ... I once ran into a woman with a dog named Mingus. When I complimented her on the choice of name, she was pleased that I recognized its significance; she said most people's reaction was "Mingus? What's that?" - seb