Donald Vroon, editor of American Record Guide (ARG), has been addressing
a spate of issues that directly concerns the dumbing down of classical
music.  Many remember his contentious article about a year or two ago,
which generated a great deal of reaction.  Sadly, this near err on his
part may have diverted further interest in reading his subsequent
comments.  Though his ideas verge on what would generally be identified
as "conservative," most of his conservative ideas have been thoughtfully
presented and well-argued.  Since I share some of his many concerns, let
me adumbrate some of our mutually-shared conceptions.

First, classical music is elitist, and we have no need to make apologies.
Just as computer programming and architecture requires a high degree of
specialization and appreciation by those relative few, so too classical
music is appreciated by those relative few who take the time, effort, and
inspiration to embrace it.  Classical music just isn't a populist or mass
byline.  It's affecienados are required to take a silent stance against
many of modernism's pop highly-charged culture, especially silence,
something which Vroon rightly observes is not enculcated into today's
television markets.  Yet silent reception is a vital and essential stance
by which to encounter, evaluate, and enjoy classical music.  Silent
reception is the antithesis of most of our current cultural paradigms.

Second, there are many things about the presentation of classical music
that works against it.  The recent appeals to narrative accompaniment to
"explain" a piece detracts from the central mission of most listeners:
to listen to music.  The notion that one has to dress to the nines is a
historical anachronism.  T-shirts and tennies may not be the best dress,
but certainly something comfortable is to be preferred over heavy-laden
dresses and tight-fitting tuxedos.  On the other hand, musicians don't need
to wear a tuxedo, but it does serve as a "uniform" that diverts attention
from itself to enable attention to the music.  If tuxedos are replaced, it
would be wise to dress everyone alike -- not for some social statement,
but for the sake of the music itself.  We need no distractions.

Distractions are what today's pop culture is filled with.  Talking
heads at the performances are matched by talking audiences during the
performance.  How can one concentrate intensely on the music performed if
one is constantly distracted by audience conversation, beeping telephones
and pagers, and restlessness among attendees? A whole host of social graces
grew up with classical music, most of which still serve us well.  We
needn't have to apologize for what works, nor think we have to change
for change's sake.  Distraction is classical music's mortal enemy; if we
capitulate a little to some of it, we open the door to all of it.  Can the
"wave" be far behind?

The "wave" is perfectly acceptable behavior at sports and games.  It is
part of the thrill of the experience.  We don't insist upon silence upon
attendees, because any such move is contrary to the enjoyment of the sport.
Mutatis mutandi, classical music has its own acceptable behavior and
historically-determined protocols.  Those that serve the MUSIC ought never
change.  Team comradarie is not a part of the classical-music aesthetic,
even though it is deeply enjoyed in sport.  We ought to respect these
differences and distinctions, and stop trying to blur the lines.  The
lines have been drawn for good reason -- for the sake of the music.
Anything that distracts from the music must be suppressed.

Vroon and I could go on, but I think these paragraphs give the flavor.  I
admit to an initial reaction to Vroon's assertion that classical music is
elitist, which shocked my schooling in egalitarianism.  But the arts and
entertainments are not egalitarian issues.  They are personal affections,
each requiring differing skills.  Instead of taking the sport or television
aesthetic and applying it to classical music, maybe the application ought
to go the reverse direction!  In any event, neither should artificially
intrude on the other.  To do otherwise is to dumb down classical music to
its most important constituency:  The audience.

[log in to unmask] (D. Stephen Heersink)