Bill Hong responds to Me:

>>Look at many orchestras - Korean players, Chinese and Japanese.  Both
>>native born, mixed race and second generation.
>
>I do see some possibility of this changing in the future, at least
>with regard to the prevalence of classical music in the cultures.
>What Anne says may have be true, but there is the competition brought
>on by a much more internationalized Pan-Asian pop music culture (such
>as the popularity of Korean artists in China etc.) as well as a
>rapidly growing internet gaming sub-culture.  I saw evidence of the
>latter especially during my most recent trip to Korea, a trend which
>is being accelerated by the high percentage of broadband availability
>there.  Changing demographics toward a younger population which has
>become more assertive as to their societal presence could also become
>a factor.  None of this is necessarily incompatible with a strong (Western)
>classical music presence, of course.  Only that the drivers for it may
>need to be nurtured from elsewhere, given the new activities competing
>with it. We'll see, I guess.

Perhaps, as in the case of the west.  But there is a deep seated
cultural respect for learning that is ingrained in most East Asian
cultures.  Learning and improvement in general, not just classical music.
There's an anecdote that if you park your Mercedes on a building site
in China the labourers won't "accidentally" damage it because one day,
their son might drive one.  Too idealistic, of course, but the sense
that learning brings rewards prevails in societies where scholars were
revered.  Pop music, gaming and violent movies/comics have been part of
the scene for decades - you can pick up the latest bootlegs of Cantopop
in Outer Mongolia, apparently, within weeks of release in Hong Kong.  Of
course they pose a threat.  However East Asian parents still push their
kids towards advancement, and if that includes clasical music, it's a
good thing.

Interestingly, in the last thirty years there has been a renaissance of
interest in East Asian classical music.  There are Chinese instrument
orchestras, new music is written, research is done into old instruments,
new instruments developed, old masters revered.  (and I don't mean stuff
like Tan Dun) There was a festival of Ming Dynasty operas (rather like
an early opera revival in the west) which sold out almost immediately.
When I was a kid, this was what grandad used to listen to.  Now, it's a
younger, modern audience, similar to the kind who like western classical.
In fact the overlap is significant.  So maybe there is hope.

Anne
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