Steve Schwartz wrote:

>Karl Miller responds to me:
>
>>>It's hard to fault composers as a group, at least for me.  I blame an
>>>indifferent, incurious public,
>>
>>For me the question is, why might the public be indifferent and incurious?
>
>I have no exact idea.  I do note that this indifference doesn't apply
>just to music, but to any serious art.  How many people in the entire
>country have read even someone as well known as Galway Kinnell or Anna
>Akhmatova?  How many people have seen a painting by David Hockney or
>Julian Freud, let alone Turner or Constable?

No doubt there are probably books on the subject...I wonder if we all
are not curious about something...but then I wonder...to what extent.

I wonder if there is a difference about being curious about those ideas
and facts that are most closely tied to our survival, versus those which
are enriching.  I have known many people with what seems to be relatively
low IQs who are curious.  For a time I thought that there might be direct
proportional relationship between the two.

If any out there have some suggested reading on educational psychology
to suggest, please do let me know.  As a teacher, I always wondered if
there would be a way to stimulate curiosity...and as someone who considers
the notion of trying to bring classical music to others...is there any
relationship between curiosity and a potential for interest in classical
music.

Karl