Don Satz writes, in a moment that makes me wonder what he's been smoking
lately,

>Overall, I feel that classical music naturally appeals more to mature
>adults.  A fine appreciation of classical music takes patience and some
>degree of insights gained by life's experiences.  I don't expect young
>people to care much for classical music; actually, I think it goes against
>the grain of the typical teenager who wants quick gratification.

I have a rather different set of expectations of adolescents.  Admittedly,
my interaction with the rising generation has been a bit selective in
recent years (OK, OK, decades:), with an interest in CM being one of the
selection factors.  And I'm almost sure that an interest in this genre of
music among the young correlates with playing an instrument, for which the
decision to start is typically made when children tend to do what the
signficant adults in their world tell them to.

But implicit in Don's argument is the notion that as many people progress
along life's highway, they will be drawn to CM.  And yes, I've seen that
happen.  Only I think that by and large the interest was something in the
nature of a reawakening- someone in their formative years had introduced
them to the the genre, so they had some sort of base on which to build.
I've known several adults who developed an interest in CM, but when I
queried them, I got answers like, "My mother played the piano", or "Aunt
Thelma dragged me to the opera when I was a child." I am suspicious of the
notion that people whose musical background contained nothing more enduring
than what passes for popular culture will be attacted to CM as they get
older.  My impression is they regard CM as offering nothing that would
interest them, and tend to regard it with suspicion.

Finally, I will note one anomaly in my experience with people who come
to CM as adults.  I've known a couple of folks who had no background in
CM but were raised on jazz as a musical ideal who, as adults, developed
at least a casual appreciation of CM.  As in many areas, definitive
conclusions are elusive.

So, here's my question.  Have there been any studies along of this issue?
Can anyone offer citations to the studies? Do people on this List have
experience with this question? Are people whose musical tastes are formed
by "rock" or whatever musical perversion predominates in their formative
milieu able to make the transistion to CM as adults?

P.S.  For Americans, I offer two anecdotes.  Seiji Ozawa, who I think
has lived most of the time in the US in the past 40 years, reportedly
made this comment about his own children.  He was once asked if he would
bring his family to live with him in the US.  He replied, no, American
culture offered too many "opportunities", many of which he did not want
his children exposed to.  When they were older and could discriminate a
bit, he would have no objection to their embracing what America had to
offer.  Second, I have some Russian immigrant friends whose children are
now in college.  Their mother commented that the one thing she wished she
had done differently after immigrating to the US was to have shielded her
children from popular American culture.

Larry