Who Needs Classical Music?

[Markyboard]

 

Sorry if this hijacked again--I'm happy to delete.

 

Speaking as the OP...please don't.

[GovernorSilver]

I came across the Adam Neely video via another forum thread.

 

I now understand the negative reactions that I got when I was in university and making some inquiries about Heinrich Schenker. The mildest reaction I got was "Schenkerian analysis sucks for blues" - meaning it just doesn't work for analyzing the blues or just about any music that falls outside a narrow window as explained by Neely.

 

I'm guessing Jackson will end up the loser in the Jackson vs. Ewell fight.

[GovernorSilver]

Oh, the last live classical concert I went to before the pandemic was at The Anthem in DC. First, I was enjoying the novelty of putting on a classical show at a place that would normally be a rock/pop/etc. music venue - a beer-and-jeans kind of place. Then I started wondering why this wasn't happening more often - taking classical music out to beer-and-jeans places.

 

It was a fine concert, with nice tie-ins to NASA. The main event was The Planets by Holst, performed by National Symphony Orchestra. There was an opening act but I forgot what pieces were played - I just remember there was a lot of singing by NASA employees.

 

Another pre-pandemic concert I enjoyed was Diane Monroe with PUBLIQuartet at National Gallery of Art. I think somebody asked her about her background, and she did mention that she was advised multiple times to give up trying to land a spot in a prestigious orchestra, because being black put her at a disadvantage. That aside, I enjoyed her compositions and their performance.

[CEB]

Brahms played in a whorehouse. Liszt was a rock star. Women got in fist fights fighting over gloves he tossed into the audience.

 

This great music belongs in beer halls. When people are present at sound checks they do not seem to mind Grieg or Rachmaninov or Chopin. I implement classical and romantic quotes into shows. I would intro a Lady Gaga tune with Bells of Moscow for example. I keep getting gigs. We don"t know why. ð

[Bobadohshe]

Neely video is excellent.

[pinkfloydcramer]

I'll never forget that Sunday evening when I was 7 or 8, watching a weekly show about classical music. I don't remember much about the show other than it was hosted by a middle aged bearded man whose (grand?) son was always with him- it seemed they were always eating Jello brand gelatin so that must have been the sponsor (and the reason both were pretty hefty). But on that night he played an orchestral selection that filled the room through our black and white TV's small speaker and I had an intense reaction. No good, non-corny way to describe it but it was so terrifyingly beautiful the bottom seemed to drop out from under me and I felt indescribably sad. I remember feeling sick to my stomach and having to go to bed immediately, hoping that when I woke I would feel normal again.

 

Maybe I can chalk all that up to just being a weird kid, but it definitely had nothing to do with "nostalgia for the dominance of European culture"- I assume* you have to be of a certain age, corrupted by a racist society, before your musical choices or your choice of what music to support is affected by that. I say, hold open the possibility that many genres of music have universal appeal. To suggest that a certain genre (that you're not really into) only survives because it's propped up by racism does raise my hackles, so I hope that's not the real point. But nothing that academics can cook up from within their bubble, seeded with grant or taxpayer money, can surprise me anymore.

 

* "assume" because I have not watched the video. Like all working musicians I have profound hearing damage and struggle with videos unless they are subtitled. But it also seems that it is so complicated and nuanced that is is not possible to summarize briefly in print.

[Jazz+]

I thought Schenkerian analysis wasn't so big in music theory education, that his stuff was somewhat esoteric. He was very late in the picture and came up with his own rationalizations of what came before in counterpoint analysis, pitch theory, and form... he didn't theorize about harmony. Music theory concerning17th and 18th century classical music was developed well before Schenker came along and wrote his thoughts about "tonal gravity", "foreground, middle, and background." He wasn't so important or influential, imo.

[Joe Muscara]

Thanks for sharing the video, MoI. I don't always watch his stuff simply because time and YT and more videos and ⦠but this one was worth watching and gave me lots to think about. Right off the top, the metaphor he states that it's like using a 300-year-old grammar book to teach Spanish and ignoring all that's happened since is a damned good one.