Classical Music in Ten Easy Pieces

Here is a worthy initiative: the BBC is going to help out music education in the UK through an educational program that, by means of a film, performances, workshops and other curriculum materials, will use a selection of ten pieces to introduce school children to classical music. Here is the story. Here are the ten pieces:

1. John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
2. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (1st movement)
3. Britten: "Storm" Interlude from Peter Grimes
4. Grieg: In the Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt)
5. Handel: Zadok the Priest
6. Holst: Mars (from The Planets)
7. Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 4 (3rd movement)
8. Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain
9. Stravinsky: The Firebird ­ suite (1911) (Finale)
10. Anna Meredith: Connect It

The tenth is a new body percussion piece by young composer Anna Meredith and has been specially commissioned for the project.

This seems a lovely project, perhaps akin to Disney's Fantasia. Perhaps too akin. Were you introduced to classical music via that film? I wasn't, but perhaps I'm the exception. The problem with Fantasia, if there is a problem at all, is that the music was perfectly chosen to accompany cartoon animations. I'm unclear as to the real education value of this. It looks great, but does it actually teach anything? Perhaps the goal is just exposure--better that the kids hear a bit of classical music than not.

But looking at the list, what I see is a lot of innocuous, colorful, but mostly undistinguished music. The John Adams is fun, but it is like a trivialized version of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man without the drama and harmony. Beethoven, yes, of course, pretty much an unavoidable choice. Britten, ok, but the Grieg is just another colorful orchestral bon-bon. Handel, but no Bach? Who are you kidding? Holst, sure, if you want yet another British oriented colorful orchestral showpiece. Mozart, ok, but a Haydn finale would have been better. And then, yet another sample of orchestral fireworks from Mussorgsky followed by much the same from Stravinsky.

Honestly, this is what Taruskin means when he says we have to save classical music from its supporters and advocates! There is nothing here, apart from the Beethoven, that is going to make the kids take classical music seriously. It is all ear candy. If you want to actually educate children instead of just amuse them, then you need a different list of pieces. This one is patronizing and shallow.

Try a list like this, and I'm just going to post the clips:

Etc. You think this is too heavy? C'mon, these kids are listening to Jay-Z, Eminem, Metallica, Katy Perry and god knows what else on a daily basis. You play them a bunch of pretty bon-bons and you are just giving them a reason to have contempt for classical music. If you play them the kind of stuff I posted above then they may love it or they may hate it, but at least they will take classical music seriously.

As I said, the lord preserve us from those who supposedly support and advocate for classical music, but in reality just trivialize it.