Christina Barrett
Professor Christian Sydney Dickinson
ENG 152 N – Intermediate College Composition
April 4, 2020
Research Paper - Rough Draft
Music as One’s Parental Generation Disappears
People do not realize that, if things stay how they are, classical music will disappear. The composition of the music itself is very important, and any problems there might lead to technical difficulties elsewhere in the field. Its importance in the classroom is also to be emphasized, and people enjoyed it as a family, sorta goofing off and having fun. However, to get right down to it, classical music can be very hated and was even used in bad ways during World War I and World War II, probably by Germany. While classical music is considered a necessary ultimate cultural and life treasure, it seems as though things like teenage or young adult rebellion will cause its demise, along with suggestions of the past wherein interest in it has been cast down because of things like racism between the US and the different countries of Europe.
When the progress of classical music composition regresses, this affects the whole world of classical music because it’s the first thing you’d go to to blame. If you want to know a little about this, then I will tell you. On page 1 in Chapter 1 - “The Classical Revolution: The Shock of the Old” in The Classical Revolution : Thoughts on New Music in the 21st Century, John Borstlap says, “Contemporary composers who try to regain something of the glory of the musical art of the past … reflect a tendency … to see ‘progress’ and ‘modernity…’” It is true people favor Bach over newer composers like Beethoven and Mozart. This quote is funny because Bach studied the past to apply to his compositions rather than progress forward. Some people do believe in making a relic of the past, as Borstlap also says in the same chapter on page 2, “The same could, however, be said of extreme forms of conservatism like the so-called ‘neoconservatism...’” Art is an easy example of the times to compare classical music with, and he also says here in the same chapter on page 3, “In the visual arts, many painters returned to figurative styles as composers (somewhat later, as usual) began to reconsider their own past…” I have always been interested in the past of what was made before, having used to wanting to be an artist and becoming a musician in college. It’s where you get the good stuff. The fact that people have a tendency to focus on either new things that fail or old things in questionable ways seems to have not helped sell the program when concerts are given.
The 1900s is probably the most significant time in history to talk about progress, and that affects classical music because people started in a certain mindset and exerted a lot of effort in that direction. On page 77 in Chapter 5 - The Enduring Presence of the Past” again of The Classical Revolution : Thoughts on New Music in the 21st Century, John Borstlap says, “If we put last century’s notions of ‘old’ and ‘new’ in a broader historic perspective…” In general in society, people tend to sum up the past and in the new time make it seem like it’s no longer enjoyable, like children’s cartoons. They refuse to take the blame for this sentiment yet blame others who are not guilty of this. He says in the same chapter on page 77-78, “In the twentieth century, progress was understood as a confident leap into the future: a projected utopia…” and in the same chapter on page 83, “The break with the past not only destroyed a living tradition, but also gave form to what now can be called the ‘museum culture.’” So, in the 1900s, I also remember people constantly idealizing about a utopian culture, like maybe imagining comfort in more modern-looking, carefree designed buildings. It seems people have given up on that. “Museum culture” accurately describes the success of music composers, as Bach is more praised than any other and also any other composer from older times, compared to not having as many famed today. This century has been a failure in morality while a success in technical progress, and the state of classical music seems to have similar effects.
The root of the problem can be found in schools, and classical music probably takes a dump there from prejudiced, saucy Generation X teachers, and because of that classical music has suffered. In Classical Music in a Changing Culture : Essays From The American Record Guide Donald Vroon says on page 7, “Everyone says that the root problem that threatens the future of classical music is ‘education.’” Vroon says on page 12, “It’s certainly true of our educational system: if the parents have largely lost the ability to reason, why should our children be forced to?” So, it is not confined to just the classroom; somehow, the home life is also affected negatively in the field of classical music. Okay, what do today’s generations of young and middle aged adults think? Vroon says on page 79, “Do we love Mozart because he is white like us? … Do I have to be German to respond to Beethoven…?” So, we feel almost like this is how music education follows us home and doesn’t do its job. Later, we’ll have to pay for it, though, when classical music crumbles. Only old and rich people seem to enjoy it. Vroon says on page 80, “Naturally, then, any person from any culture can discover and acknowledge the greatness of classical music.” However, he also says on page 169, “‘Multiculturalism’ has made some people, including teachers, apologetic about Western cultures and values. There is no valid reason for this at all.” So, classical music is there, but we’re well fed, fat pigs when it comes to the availability of good culture including via online. We feel compensated for when he says, “teachers, apologetic about Western cultures and values.” People can just blame things like music education for classical music not being as popular.
Even if things like music education are considered unimportant to schools, many people will send a different signal about their belief in the existence of classical music, and because of this classical music got to make its mark in history. In Why Classical Music Still Matters, Lawrence Kramer says on page 1, “Classical music has people worried. To many it seems on shaky ground in America.” It seems mostly old people attend these concerts. He also says on page 1, “And classical music is long, long gone from the television networks that once upon a time maintained their own symphony orchestras and broadcast such fare as Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts—in prime time, no less.” 89.9 used to be a popular family station which played classical music, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to do that anymore. It seems like that helped kill classical music, like it was done for that reason. Musicians themselves enjoy playing music, but people don’t get to hear it much on the radio or TV. It is actually like “The Mickey Mouse Club” how Disney has a youth orchestra, something not everyone grew up with as important. So what if some people hear it more than once? Kramer says on page 37, “To enjoy a melody, we need to be able to hear it more than once. A melody that vanished forever after one hearing would remove itself from the sphere of pleasure to the sphere of regret or indif-ference.” He also says on page 37, “Most of us encounter music first as song, above all as sung by those who care for us as children; many writers have testified to the power of the mother’s singing voice, or the singing qual-ity of the mother’s voice, in early childhood.” So, it would be good to experience things like 89.9 as a family in the car and kill some time. On page 111 he says, “The German Lied was one of the best-loved art forms of the nineteenth century, but it was too closely linked to private andamateur performance to compete for prestige with the “greater forms” of symphony and sonata.” Germany seems to have saved the future of classical music in ways no one else may know or like. Europe indeed is the god of classical music. In Neoclassical Music in America : Voices of Clarity and Restraint, R. James Tobin says, “Without Europe, America wouldn’t be the same, including in classical music,” and, “Europe seems to have had the biggest influence on classical music in the past, like, 500 years.” Still, he also says, “However, we have composers such as Aaron Copeland who wrong Appalachian Springs, with a famous tune from folk America, ‘Simple Gifts.’” Europe is definitely the place for classical music, Germany, France, Russia, England, etc. However, there is greatness in the U.S., as well.
Classical music may have been destroyed with society with the Baby Boom following World War I and World War II, and, because of this, classical music is something people can point their finger at if they are not a fan of it. So, some people actually hate classical music. In The Hatred of Music, Pascal Quignard says on page 144, “Music harms.” On page 133, he says, “Conductor, performers, followers, such is the structure put in place by its execution.” It is true people get upset that they can’t play an instrument and try to quell their feelings by joining a choir. I actually went back to majoring in music and started violin at age 29. A lot of Americans only play piano and never know the joys of playing with an orchestra, maybe piano being overly competitive and like a lot of classical music boring, hard to play when you haven’t played as much as others, like European children. On page 140, her reiterates this in saying, “Prenatal hearing prepares for the postnatal recognition of the mother.” That means the U.S. is not as good with classical music as if you are from Europe, even very young. In page 152, he is so glum as to say, “Music enchants the soul and accentuates actions like the signals that Pavlov addressed to his dogs.” That may be how many musicians feel in the U.S. So, people do generally hate classical music, and because of this many people may try to impress people like that by being popular for looking glamorous dissing classical music.
Classical music is shamed in Germany during war time, and because of that people probably discontinued classical music composition. Quignard also goes into World War I and World War II, saying on page 129, “Of all the arts, music is the only one to have collaborated in the extermination of Jews organized by the Germans between 1933 and 1945,” and, “To the detriment of this art form, it has to be emphasized that it was the only one capable of adapting to the organization of the camps, the hunger, the destitution, the work, the pain, the humiliation, and the death.” On page 130, he says, “Since what historians call the Second World War, since the extermination camps of the Third Reich, we have entered a time in which melodic sequences have become exasperating.” Somehow, classical music was used in World War I and World War II in a bad way. So, because of World War I and World War II, people can blame Germany for a lack of interest in the continuation of classical music and in some ways classical society. In Jewish Experience in Classical Music : Shostakovich and Asia, Alexander Tentser says on page 4, “Rimsy Korsakov said, ‘Jewish Music exists - this is beautiful music…’” He says on page 6, “Shostakovich lost many friends to war and repression…” On page 36, he says, “Shostakovich joined the military during Nazi attacks.” That’s really too bad. It is proof of Jewish people contributing to society in classical music and being discouraged for not being German. Perhaps one of the worst reasons classical music is getting less popular is the downfall of Germany, an attack on a great form of work.
One might project apprehension that classical music could take a turn for the worse because only old people and rich people with their families seem to flood concert halls maybe, as a general picture of who really “gets it.” The field of music composition turns out to be no picnic, and people move forward rather than going back and it becomes abstractly modern. Many people feel it is prejudice and lack of education. They feel societal pressures not to engage in classical music. In a bit darker of a tone, some people find music bad for personal reasons or because German, a leader in the field of classical music, might have used it in a bad way during World War I and World War II. The world was involved. So, classical music as it stands has went through a lot of turmoil especially during the 1900s and is in danger of losing any significance or popularity if things don’t go right.
Citations
Borstlap, John. “The Classical Revolution: Shock of the Old” and “The Enduring Presence of the Past.” The Classical Revolution : Thoughts on New Music in the 21st Century. Lanham, Md : Scarecrow Press, 2013, pages 1, 2, 3, 77, 78, 83.
Vroon, Donald. Classical Music in a Changing Culture : Essays From The American Record Guide. Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014, pages 7, 12, 79, 80, 169.
Kramer, Lawrence. Why Classical Music Still Matters. Berkeley : University of California Press, 2007, pages 1, 37, 111.
Tobin, R. James. Neoclassical Music in America : Voices of Clarity and Restraint. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014.
Quignard, Pascal. The Hatred of Music. Series: A Margellos World Republic of Letters. New Haven : Yale University Press, 2016, pages 129, 130, 133, 138, 140, 144, 152.
Alexander Tentser. Jewish Experience in Classical Music : Shostakovich and Asia. Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, pages 4, 6, and 26.
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