How do you reach people who are new to classical music and make them want to come back? One answer is to give them the very best you can and hope something sticks, and that, Noseda is doing to the utmost. Orchestras across the country are experimenting with this kind of outreach program, but you don’t always see your marquee music director leading the concerts. Noseda, however, who was introduced to NSO in Your Neighborhood when he was announced as the music director three years ago, has taken it seriously, carving out time for this school performance, and offering heartfelt spoken comments between the pieces.Well, that's what you are supposed to do, right?
Yet the connection isn’t quite there. Noseda himself, an Italian who lives largely in hotels, can’t be expected to gauge the context in which these kids live. He assumes they’ve seen “Mozart in the Jungle,” because he’s heard it’s a TV show; he assumes they’ve watched the Golden Globe Awards. A-plus for the effort to establish cultural relevancy, but as well-meaning and informative as his comments are, he isn’t telling these students why they should care about the roster of unfamiliar European male composers being thrown at them.The article continues with some further examples:
Connecting with people isn’t rocket science, but it’s an area in which classical music consistently struggles. One of the most famous illustrations of failed outreach was Joshua Bell’s infamous 2007 performance in the Washington Metro during the morning rush hour, during which almost no one stopped to listen to the famous violinist. In the wake of that controversial performance, one busker said something that stuck with me: Musicians who regularly play on the street, from violinists to singers to trash-can drummers, learn how to connect with passersby in such a way that this doesn’t happen. Classical musicians aren’t usually trained to establish this kind of rapport, and even a born communicator like Noseda can’t do it single-handedly.You should read the whole piece. She goes on to talk about how the project is sometimes approached:
Outreach risks taking on a missionary, self-satisfied glow, getting caught up in the innate value of sharing such great music with those who have not been privileged to have been exposed to it. Lurking within this well-meaning construct is the toxic view of music as a kind of largesse: the idea that this music is better than the music you already like. The school concert, with all the best intentions, to some degree demonstrated that if classical music is offered in its own bubble, without context, it has little chance of really connecting with new audiences — though, as some observed before the school show, if even one student leaves with new ideas in her head, the attempt will have been worth it.I have had a lot of experience as a bassist in a rock band, as a classical music soloist and even as a busker (one memorable summer in Italy) so I can make a few observations. First up, do not do this as a kind of virtue-signalling in a "missionary, self-satisfied glow." Virtue-signalling is virtually always a very bad idea as it is inherently condescending. Second, most people are not going to be attracted to classical music for a variety of reasons so don't try and force-feed them something they won't like. Offer them the option of attending the performance, but don't make it mandatory. That way you won't have to drag a student out, kicking and screaming. One thing I learned busking in Italy is that there are some pieces that just draw an audience to which a lot more people will come to see what is so attractive. I'm not sure that program was ideal for that audience (the one described at the beginning of the article). Third, you can't market or promote classical music as if it were frozen fish sticks or pop music. It is what it is: a highly developed art from with a long history and immense subtlety. There are some people who will find that very attractive and fascinating. Most won't. So if you try and force classical music on people you will just make it look like something that, well, has to be forced on people. I really can't think of a more uncool approach, can you?
Die Fledermaus overture would seem to be the right envoi:
2 comments:
Large amounts of ‘Classical’ use to be enormously popular. Why is it not now? Lowering of the overall societal UQ? And what happens when not enough people show up for expensive propositions like orchestra concerts? Do those groups wither and die? And why is Calssical more popular w/ young people in Europe? (Questions I try to answer)
PS check out Anne M.’s article on ‘hold’ music - quiet amusing.
Thanks, Patrick for your very a propos questions.
Yes, there was a lot of "middlebrow" appreciation of classical music, but I think that started to fade away from the 1960s on. The reason, I suspect, had a lot to do with the enormous growth of popular music. Up until then a major classical artist like Van Cliburn could actually sell as many records as a big pop star like Elvis. Things have reversed to the point that classical sales are a tiny fraction of the market. But that doesn't quite answer the question: why did popular music become so much more, well, popular. A decline of societal intelligence or intellectual formation at least might be part of the answer. And then we can try and find why that happened. The appreciation of classical music is, to my mind, a kind of cultural canary in the coal mine. If hardly anyone is capable of appreciating Bach or Mozart any more then that says something about the culture.
What happens with orchestra concerts is that they are subsidized. In Canada, I read once, that every seat sold to a symphony concert in the country is subsidized to the tune of a few hundred dollars. In Europe all classical organizations are subsidized, but this is with the widespread support of the general public who do attend a lot of concerts. In North America, much less support so arts subsidies are always fair game to be slashed by populist politicians. We have seen a number of orchestras wither and die or fight for survival in North America.
Classical is more popular generally in Europe because, I think, there is a deeply rooted cultural fabric. Culture in North America is still rather a thin veneer, historically.
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