On 27 Jan 2006 at 12:31, Phil Daley wrote: > At 1/27/2006 11:40 AM, dhbailey wrote: > > >It's time we start celebrating the LIVING composers, those who are > >chronicling OUR TIMES in their music, reflecting OUR LIVES in their > art. > > The trouble with LIVING composers is that they don't write music that > the "average" concert goer wants to hear.
I think you're about 30 years out of date on that commentr. > You may not think that is a problem, but, in reality, the "average" > concert goer likes to hear music they are familiar with. There was a point in all their lives that they weren't familiar with the music they know well now. For every piece of music and every composer, there's a first time. Those who refuse to listen to anything new and to stay with the familiar are not worth pursuing, in my opinion. I find that college-age students are *very* easy to interest in any kind of music, traditional classical, new music of all kinds, world music, even Schoenberg. They have very open ears and *like* to to hear new sounds. But who is trying to bring that music to them? They won't be getting it passively. When I've been teaching, I try to interest them in as many styles of music as possible, and I try to get them to think about what they are listening to, even if it's merely top 40. My experience is that once they start thinking, instead of just passively letting music wash over them, they find it easier to branch out into unfamiliar repertories. These young people aren't resistant at all. They often just don't know what's available. As to people who *do* resist anything but the familiar, I say forget them -- let them rot listening to the same old music played the same old way over and over again. They're mostly all nearly dead already. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
