New Music, Old Music

Just a brief post concerning something Bob Page said in a choral rehearsal this past Tuesday. He finished all he wanted to rehearse, with about 10 minutes to spare, sat down on his stool and brooded for a minute before asking who in the group had seen the 60-Minutes segment on Dudamel. Naturally, as the room was 90% full of college age vocal majors (sorry, had to say it) not a single hand was raised. Admittedly, I didn't see it either, my only excuse being that I have no interest in owning a television, so I rely on reading the New York Times Arts section on a daily basis. Of coure, when he asked who had read the article in Opera News OR Classical Voice about power-house mezzo Stephanie Blythe, he was met by the same sea of blank faces (or the Carnegie Mellon silent treatment, as he likes to say).

At any rate, Page launched into a fairly excited rant about how wonderful it was to see the enthusiastic youth taking hold of the classical music establishment, and, hopefully, breathing some life and interest back into it. He went on to pose the question of "why do we do this?" to the group, saying "Benjamin Britten: DEAD, Vaughn Williams: DEAD, Franz Schubert: DEAD... so why do we waste our time and energy doing this?" He pointed out that in Brahms' time, orchestras and choirs did not perform any music by dead composers, indeed, all music approaching the dawn of the 20th century was very much alive, and it was an afternoon event to go and hear the latest symphony by the young new composers, not always to the rave reviews ignorant and aging audiences praise them with today. After that reflection, he asked one of the sopranos in the front row how much live music she had seen in the pat year. She told him "I've only seen opera"

"Which ones?"

"Mozart, Verdi, Bizet..." her voice seemed to drop as she began to see his point, and suddenly she was almost embarrassed by the realization that she fit right into his criticism, even if as an accessory to the modern trend in concert going. Then, a rambunctious soprano a few seats over chimed in with "FLIGHT!" realizing that they had all seen the Pittsburgh premiere of Jonathan Dove's opera. Not exactly "new", as it received its world premiere in 1998, but still the whole front row came away terribly impressed with themselves.

In an attempt to be more honest, and not give the same "song and dance" (Dr. Page's term for kids who try too hard to supply "meaningful" answers or look more mature than they are) one boyish tenor chirped up and announced he had been to a Dave Matthew's Band concert a few months prior. Then another tenor joined in by pointing out that most of the class attends the new music concerts given by their peers in the composition department, which seemed to impress Bob quite a bit. Still, it only made me think of the number of composers, not voice majors, not novice music appreciators, who decline to attend legitimate public performances of new works. The young composers continue to exude this incurable attitude that if they suspect they won't like something, if they think it will be weird, or it's "not my style" they should avoid it. I raised my hand from the observation deck and supplied my opinion that as a musician, the first concert you should make it your priority to see is the one you think you'll like the least. It's called a challenge, and there is always something to learn. On that same subject, concerning pop music, I also couldn't help thinking about the Dave Matthews concert, which, by my assessment, falls victim to the same trends in listening as classical music does. We ran out of time, but later I couldn't help wondering how many "new" songs, meaning tunes that no one had heard, world premieres, do you think Dave Matthews performed at that concert? My assumed answer: zero. Even of his own music, he just gets up there and plays the "Bach and Mozart" that everyone wants to hear.

So why do I do it? Because I have to. Let's not over think it. As for anyone else... I hope they will learn to challenge themselves, or at least pick up a newspaper and become informed about the world they are making their parents spend so much money on preparing them for.