The future of classical music is already here. New ways of doing things are springing up everywhere. It’s exciting, and tremendously hopeful. Many of these new things have proved themselves. They’re no longer experiments; they’re a concrete look at the future. But one problem is that not enough people know about them. These things sprout up individually. There isn’t anywhere you can go — no website, no institution, not even any individual — to find out about them. Information spreads by word of mouth. Often enough, even the people doing these … [Read more...]

This came in an e-mail from John Steinmetz, who’s often made comments on blog posts. John had trouble posting it as a comment (sorry, John), and I thought it might as well be a post by itself. I love its good sense, good cheer, and also the necessary dose of realism. Maybe there used to be a sense that there was One Right Way to present classical music—one right repertory, one right standard of quality, and one right way to be an audience member—but there is no longer one right anything. Shifts like this are happening … [Read more...]

Faithful readers know I’ve said a lot in this blog — here, here, and here, for instance — about the drastic problems that the mainstream classical music world is likely to face in the not so distant future. But I’m always looking for a shorter way to say it. Especially when I’m speaking in public, or semi-public (to a conservatory class, for instance) — not many people want to hear complex statistics. It’s better to cut to the chase. And at last I’ve come up with something. Here it is: The classical music audience is going to shrink, and … [Read more...]

Here's something I'm told (by a highly reliable source) that Peter Gelb said, at the press conference last week, at which he announced what the Met will do next season. He said that when he started his job, the Met's subscribers were 65 years old -- and that this age this age had shot up from 60 in the five years before that. This, Peter said, he took as a wakeup call. The audience was aging, rapidly; something had to be done. And of course if anyone has such data -- please let me know! I'll post it here immediately. … [Read more...]

The Apple Store A month or so ago I went to the Apple Store in New York to buy a new iPod. (I dropped mine in the toilet. Don't ask!) And the store was a revelation. It's not just a store. It's a destination. It's packed with people. Some are shopping. Some are just trying out computers and iPods, which are available in great numbers for people to play with. And some people are just hanging out. Some bring their computers, and seem to be sitting on comfortable padded benches, working. When I bought my iPod, I didn't have to wait on a checkout … [Read more...]

From Marie Finnegan, a classical music fan "in snowy Maine" (as she says): HI Greg, I found your blog this morning and wanted to share a few thoughts. I am a 39 beginning flute player. I played tenor sax back in high school so music isn't completely new to me. Classical music as an interest is, however. My band instructor wasn't a great motivator or teacher of classical music. (Actually he lacked many talents and the band sadly shrunk because of it.) Our "band" also lacked a string section. (we were 12 to 20 strong on a good day) I came … [Read more...]

In the old days -- which I used to think meant the 18th and 19th centuries -- pianists used to improvise introductions to pieces they played. This was called "preluding," and gave rise to the short, freeform pieces we call "preludes" (like Chopin's), which were written-out versions of the kind of music pianists might improvise. But now I've learned that pianists preluded well into the 20th century. And that there are recorded examples, from old-time like Josef Hoffman and Wilhelm Backhaus! I guess I'm late in learning this, because many people … [Read more...]

Something wonderful in Andrew Druckenbrod's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece on applause...and no, not simply what he and various Pittsburgh Symphony musicians say about how people in the audience should feel free to clap between movements. And maybe even during the music. No, what struck me even more was Andy's many links to musical examples, which bring to life so many things he talks about. He even includes both live and studio recordings of "Un beldi," from Madama Butterfly, to show what happens when people applaud over the orchestral … [Read more...]

My 80 gig video iPod, and my Shure E5-C headphones. I've had Etymotic headphones, which I'd swear were the best in-ear earbuds I could possibly hear, but the Shures (a Christmas gift) outdo them, both in how well they isolate outside noise, and in their sound. It's so rich and detailed that at first it sounded almost phony -- too real, too rich. But then I got used to them. Perfect for planes. Two downsides, though. To get them to stay in place, you have to loop the cord over your ears, which takes a long moment, and can be a little cumbersome. … [Read more...]

I should apologize for my silence on this blog for the past -- can it be? -- two weeks. Or maybe not. I'd have preferred to post, but (to bring up an issue more important than music, both for myself and others) I realized this fall that I'd been very stressed. My paying work, traveling, my teaching, this blog, meetings on future projects, composing, my online book...I've had a lot of balls in the air at once  and I noticed a lot of classic symptoms of stress. My mind racing at night, back pain, irritable bowels; and throughout it all, a … [Read more...]

I'm sorry that I haven't posted all the recent comments yet. There were so many that I haven't been able to keep up with them. Many asked the questions I answered in my last post. And here's another question that people ask. Isn't the classical music audience larger than the concert audience? Don't many people buy recordings, and hasn't there been a surge lately of younger people downloading classical music? Yes to all of that. But none of it generates much revenue for classical music. Or, very crucially, much pay for classical musicians. … [Read more...]

It's going to take me a few days to go on with my "Where We Stand" series. I've had to deal with the start of the courses I teach on the future of classical music at both Juilliard and Eastman, which includes a lot of work preparing materials for each course. Every year I teach this course it changes, in part because I keep on learning more. The Juilliard course outline, for anyone curious, is here. (The Eastman course is shorter version of the Juilliard course, so it makes more sense to look at Juilliard.) Now's a good time, though, to talk … [Read more...]

Here I'll give the second of my reasons why I think the classical music era may be ending. The first was that the audience is disappearing. And the next reason is... 2. Classical music institutions may not be able to sustain themselves Prelude In my l last post, I showed that the classical music audience may well be disappearing. If that was really happening (or at least starting to happen), we'd expect to see a fall in ticket sales to classical events, and that in fact is going on. As I've said before, orchestra attendance has been … [Read more...]

My first post in this series got more comments, the first day it was online, than anything I've ever posted here. So now I'll give my argument in more detail. My thesis, as I've said, is that the classical music era -- which began around 1800, when the classical music world as we know it now began to take shape -- is ending. Why do I think that? Here are my reasons, starting here, and continuing in later posts. 1. The classical music audience is disappearing. The classical music audience is now, on the average, more than 50 years old. There's … [Read more...]

I've been doing historical research, as readers of this blog know. And finally I think I know enough to make some predictions. Or at least to speculate about the them. What I think I've found is that the present crisis is worse than most of us would think, and also that it's been brewing for a longer time than most of us have realized. This makes me think that the era of classical music is going to end. Not this year, not next year, maybe not in 10 years (though surely by then we'll see decisive signs of where we're going). But … [Read more...]