Subject: | |
From: | |
Date: | Fri, 21 Jan 2000 12:02:29 PST |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
John G. Deacon told us, through the writer Clarles Osborne, that the
Royal Opera cancelled a school matinee performance of Birtwistle's
Gawain. Osborne thought that the child-Birtwistle combination was horrible
and would ruin opera for children.
John adds:
>I must confess to agreeing with him totally. How can one possibly
>start children off in life at quite the wrong end of the spectrum?
Who determines which end of the spectrum is right or wrong? Sorry, but I
can't agree with John. I think that he and Osborne are just taking their
personal preferences and biases and projecting them on to children; that's
not reasonable.
I have first-hand experience with this mind-set. When I was a child, my
dad took his preferences and biases and decided which pieces of classical
music I would concentrate on. The only problem was that I disliked most
of what he kept throwing at me. Although my dad meant well, he clearly
left his common-sense and insight at the front door.
If adults are going to expose children to classical music, there's only one
reasonable way to do it - expose them to as great a variety as possible and
let nature take its course.
By the way, and I don't deny that this had something to do with my opinion
of Vivaldi's music, my dad had me transcribe for piano a few Vivaldi pieces
and play them day after day after day. He thought this was a great idea;
I thought it sucked, and I still do.
Don Satz
[log in to unmask]
|
|
|