Another Classical Convert. Almost.
Over at the Guardian, Sean O’ Hagan is trying to convert from rock to classical, or at least dip his toes in a bit. Mostly he seems frustrated by the eliteness and standoffishness of the classical crowd – all the old people looking bored in the concert hall. He says that he can kind of feel that aloofness steaming off the music even when listening over the radio.
I definitely agree with the stuckuptitude of the typical classical audience (though it’s not too bad here in Ithaca) and it’d be great to be able to, you know, shout a bit and stomp your feet and stuff instead of politely clapping for 10 minutes at the end of a performance. However, I reckon that cold, detached feeling he is getting when hearing a CD or radio performance is just there by association. It’s a societally inherited, “everyone knows only old/boring/pretentious people listen to classical” sort of deal. He say that classical is a “well behaved form”.
Tristan Jakob-Hoff then wrote a follow up piece contesting that classical music is not a “well behaved form” as Sean claimed, giving examples of Stravinsky (of course), and Jean-Baptiste de Lully. I think he missed the point a bit though, as I said above, I don’t think Sean is claiming the music is not emotional or wild.
I think he is, quite rightly, claiming that the general classical audience is completely the opposite of emotional and wild.
That general perception probably stops a tonne of people from actually listening to classical music properly. People associate listening to classical with the stereotypical audience member, which is bloody unfortunate. Perhaps if that conception could be changed, more people would get drawn in.
And that’s a bit of everybody’s fault. Especially the media, in which classical music is about as stereotyped as the English speaking villain (who probably listens to classical).
Fortunately he’s not letting his preconceptions turn him off, but I bet he’s a rare exception.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:32 am
The problem I always have with those would like to see classical audiences getting up and dancing, stomping their feet, and generally behaving like rock audiences is that it would make it impossible for those of us who want to hear the music to hear it.
The simple fact is (I hate to be this simplistic, but I think its true) that classical music, almost without exception, is a completely different beast from rock (and most jazz, as well). Rock and most jazz was meant from the start to be dance music, and not polite, waltz-type dancing, either. While some classical music originally derived from dances such as minuets and sarabandes, these were not rock-type dances or the jitterbug or the Lindy to begin with, and the actual dance aspects they originally had were leeched out of them by the time the baroque composers used them in suites.
I’m afraid that O’Hagan and other converters will just have to get used to the idea that the nature of classical music is such that they need to sit down, be quiet, and listen (and careful with those cough drop wrappers, too!). At least at public concerts. At home, there’s no problem with rocking out to Stravinsky, of course, but at a concert you have to be considerate of the other audience members.
At least, if it’s a standard concert situation. Virgil Fox of course did his rock-style organ recitals, and the last night of the Proms is another exception.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Hmmm. Thanks Jon, Interesting point. It would definitely irritate me if anybody tried, like, screaming and cheering and stuff in the middle of a piece in the performance hall. It’s annoying enough when people loudly turn over the pages of the program.
I was thinking more of the applause at the end… often it seems like people are just clapping because it’s part of the routine, that they aren’t actually expressing any genuine emotion. If people new to the experience feel that also, they might start to see the whole concert-going extravaganza as a stuffy, play-by-the-rules kind of grind instead of the powerful and emotional performance good music should be.
I guess in the end there has to be some kind of balance between the standalone respect that the music needs to breathe (especially when compared to other genres) and a hearty emotional response. I guess I feel like there’s maybe a tad bit too much of the former, but it’s not obvious how to better even it out.