'The Ageless Audience' and Classical Music

Robin is now in Istanbul and settling into the Queen Victoria, which will be home for the next week, and I'm waiting to hear which day will be concert day.

When he does perform his concert, the age of the audience is likely to be, but not exclusively, 40 +.
There are many reasons for this, and it is often an area debated in a very negative way.
So I was very pleased to read a recent report by Diane Haithman in the Los Angeles Times, 'The ageless audience.'

The report challenges the view that the audience for live performing arts is aging, and suggests that this is in fact nothing new.

It's so refreshing to read a more optimistic take on the whole area.
Rather than the doom and gloom of the decline in interest in classical music by the younger generation, it focuses on the more logical issues that prevent younger people attending concerts.
Finance plays a part along with having young children.
When in your 20's you may well choose to spend any available money in a different way, and by your 30's, are often caught up in life with small children.
By your 40's onwards, the situation starts to change, and coincidentally, that is when people tend to start attending classical concerts...

There's also the argument that listening to classical music requires a higher level of concentration, something that is achieved over time, and with more life experience.
It's all there in the report, and is well worth a read.

But we shouldn't sit back and assume that people will naturally move towards classical music as they get older.
They do need to have some early exposure to encourage the transition.
This is one of the reasons why I blog, Twitter and run a MySpace page.
MySpace in particular highlights the need to interact with the younger generation in a way that is familiar to them.
Many of our 'friends' on MySpace are young, electric guitar players, who can see and appreciate the skill required to be a classical player, even though they don't do it themselves.
I have even had messages from some saying they would go and see Robin perform live, as they hadn't before realised how exciting it can be.
All that achieved from just 5 tracks on a MySpace page.

It is also why I have often mentioned the need for more access to classical music on mainstream television.
Then there will be more opportunities for the younger generation to hear and see performances, even if by chance.
A good example of this was the recent 'Maestro' series on BBC 2, which I wrote about here.

A worrying development I recently heard about in the UK, although I've not confirmed this information, is that for GCSE Music you no longer need to be able to read music.
If this is the case then it is absurd, and maybe they should re title it GCSE Music appreciation.
How on earth can you be given a qualification suggesting a certain level of ability has been obtained, if you can't actually read a note of music?

As I mentioned the other day on Twitter, our youngest son, age 6, took his violin into school and played a few pieces.
One of his peers went home and told his mum that our son could read that funny language!
Even at the age of 5/6 children appreciate that 'notes' are indeed another form of communication.

Would you give someone GCSE French if they couldn't speak a word of it?
I hope not.
This is not completely off topic.
The point being that 'early exposure' is vital.
We need to reinforce the importance, and influence, that music can have on our lives at an early age, to give children the chance to discover it in more detail later on.

In the words of G.K.Chesterton:

"Education is simply the soul of society as it passes from one generation to another."

Daydreaming and the Theory of Relativity

For any of you readers that take the time to check out this blog, whilst at work, I have some good news.
I found an article in the 'Los Angeles Times' that could give you the power you need if your boss finds you surfing the internet.

The author, Eric Weiner, has written an article about the results of a survey carried out in America.
Apparently, the average American worker 'wastes' slightly more than two hours a day, not doing their job.
The number one culprit is surfing the internet and sending personal emails.

However, Weiner points out that Americans shouldn't feel guilty about this, as they lead the world in worker productivity.
He also says that as jobs are increasingly intruding on our leisure time that the 'blurring' of the work/play divide should become equally hazy.

Weiner uses an excellent example of how workers need time to dawdle and dream to be productive and creative.
In 1905 Albert Einstein worked as a clerk in a Swiss patent office, and was a self-confessed slacker, or, as he himself put it, "respectable federal ink pisser".
But it was whilst gazing out of the window that he had the insight that led to the 'special theory of relativity'.

So, according to Weiner, we shouldn't feel guilty about daydreaming and broadening our minds by distractions at work, as who knows where it will lead.

In fact, Weiner has a book out in January, published by 'TWELVE', 'The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World'.
I'll be getting a copy.
Anyone who tells me it's OK to take a coffee break, surf the net and daydream, are certainly worth investing in.

I'm not sure how that all equates to the UK work ethic,or anywhere else in the world for that matter, but I'm prepared to over look that minor detail as the theory fits in very nicely with my general way of thinking.

So whilst I have been gazing out of the window to fuel my creative tendencies, Robin has been over at Leeds University, working hard with a number of guitar students.
As far as I know, he hasn't been looking out of the window, but only because there aren't any in the teaching room he uses.

But now I'm off to gaze out of the window, surf the net and generally daydream in a completely guilt free manner.
Thank you Eric.