I understand (and have seen photos & lithographs of the burlesquing audiences); do you also recall where Shakepeare put his theatre? (in the middle of the town square, the marketplace, the middle of the friggin road.) SO WHAT! People came looking for it. THEY SOUGHT IT OUT. They heckled, they drank, threw mash, spat, all of that. Romantic view, my ass; that's just the optimal perspective on the need of music by humans. I have spent over 30 years performing in every imaginable venue, none of this relevant to the point I was making about SHOVING A CONSTANT BARRAGE OF STIMULUS INTO SOMEONE'S EYES AND EARS TO THE POINT THEY BECOME NUMB TO THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT AND THEY CEASE TO HAVE THE ANTENNAE TO HEAR/SEE IT. (The spiritual import/impact is there, whether they get it or not. Sort of like the tree falling in the forest.) This has nothing to do with respect or lack thereof by the patrons WHO SHOW UP BECAUSE THEY ARE SEEKING IT OUT.
> >>when in days of old, people wanted to hear music (because they >>recognized that their lives were barren without it), they would go >>to the town square.... It was considered a special event, an >>important ingredient in their lives, and the ears and mind were open >>and ready to invest to this pursuit of spiritual adventure. > > that's a bit of a romantic vision of things; the reality is that > there were other periods than ours where the concert experience was > similar to what you deplore, with people talking, socializing, > playing cards etc. while the performance was going on, and not just > in the theatres, also in the aristocratic salons, which are usually > assumed to have the pretention of a "high art" experience. and in > the case of "attentive" salon listening, social convention or even > social politics was quite often the main concern, to a far greater > degree than the "music" itself. very early in the 19th c. this > changed, of course, but at varying speeds and to varying degrees > according to the centre, the proportion between aristocratic or > public control of the local scene, and social layer you view the > problem from, but the modern era is not the only one plagued by > inattentiveness. the reasons are quite different, admittedly, but it > certainly isn't as black and white as you are suggesting. > > do you really think the drunk saloon patrons in the late 18th were > more respectful of the musicians' playing than the drunk jazzbar > patrons of today? > > -- > > shirling & neueweise ... new music publishers > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] :.../ http://newmusicnotation.com > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
