The Joshua Bell experiment was certainly interesting. What maybe some folks didn't consider is that fact that many people simply do not like Western Classical music, no matter the music or the instrument nor the player! It's often used to drive teenagers out of malls and coffee shops when they hang out too much. Why do you think so many symphony orchestras around the USA are struggling so much? Because many folks don't care about that music and don't support it.
A friend of mine, an ethnomusicologist (and old time musician amongst many other things), has spent a lot of time documenting the music and dance cultures of very remote regions on forgotton islands around the world. In one rain forest, where he lived on and off for two years, they had no electricity, but he had a solar rig to charge his batteries for his video camera and he also had a cassette player. He played for various tribes of natives all sorts of music he had brought with him - folk, Bluegrass, big band, all sorts of music from around the world, including several types of Western Classical music. They responded positively to almost everything except the Classical music! Why? NO RHYTHM, of course! Oh, sure, you could argue that there is rhythm there, but often it is too buried beneath the emphasis on melody and harmony and thematic structure. Some guy in an orchestra playing a few rolls on a set of timpani or doing a couple of crashes on some hand cymbals is hardly my idea of rhythm. (Don't get me wrong - I like much Classical music, just usually in smaller combos.) People respond to rhythm, so why hide it? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
