Mike Morgan replies to Karl Miller:

>>Once again I am reminded of the notion of dumbing down art music so it
>>will attract new listeners.  I wonder, how many years has that notion
>>be applied to programming concerts and the media, and is there any
>>evidence that it has accomplished any good?
>
>This is certainly not news.  The question is: where do we go from here?
>If you don't think what people are currently doing works, then offer
>alternatives.  And by alternatives I mean ideas likely to result in the
>continued life of orchestras.  Or do we take some higher road even if
>it means the whole thing collapses?  So far the good that has been done
>is that there are still orchestras in existence when, in purely economic
>terms, by all rights there shouldn't be.  Everyone in the business is
>looking for this magic bullet.

I'm afraid I'm with Karl on this one.  The dumbing down of classical
music is a symptomatic of the culture at large.  Music isn't the only
thing in trouble: serious art, serious literature, serious criticism
all suffer from the same malaise.  I think it stems from the notion that
revelation should require no effort whatsoever.  You have the same trouble
finding decent political commentary (from anywhere on the spectrum) as
you do finding intellectually challenging music.  Does anybody who's
read, say, Dickens actually watch TV news?  How much of what they put
on is actually news - that is, something that no sensate organism would
remember past a month?  Obviously, real news is important, just as music
beyond a five-minute attention span is.

The culture in general (I speak only of the US, since it's the only
country I know) simply doesn't value intellectual effort unless it's
directed toward making a buck.  The current President at one point early
in his term (before his handlers sat on him) actually bragged that he
hadn't read a book since college.  If you don't think that has results
which affect all of us, you're not trying.

Another sad consequence is that human beings actually need art.  People
need music, but they're willing to accept Hillary Duff.  People need
drama, but they'll settle for Seventh Heaven.  They need poetry, but
they'll settle for Nashville hacks or for most rappers.  The problem is
that the substitutes satisfy only momentarily.  Does anybody still listen
to, say, Melanie?  Can anyone imagine somebody listening to Madonna ten
years from now?  On the other hand, every time I put on something as
straightforward as Eine kleine Nachtmusik, it engages me, and I've known
that piece for over forty years.  I don't think I'm alone.  Serious art
offers itself for a lifetime of meditation and engagement.  People who
read serious books, mainly re-read serious books.  And they don't do it
out of duty.  They do it because they like it.  They get enjoyment from
it.

In the US, it takes the sale of 25,000 copies hardcover to make a
best-seller.  In the Netherlands, it takes 30,000 copies.  Most Americans
don't read even a book a year, and "book" includes self-help and romance.

It's going to take considerably more than a candle to stave off (in
Jane Jacobs's phrase) dark ages ahead.  For one thing, it's going to
take a serious commitment to public education, to training and retraining
teachers, to somehow make thinking something other than a burden in
people's minds.

Steve Schwartz