Classical used to chase kids away

Yet another sign on the endangered state of classical in our society.

A story on NPR this morning (Sunday) detailed a Boston subway stop with a history of violence with young people.

An area police chief decided to start playing "classical" music in the station during peak hours to calm people down (and it's hardly high brow most of the time, it's Boston Pops recordings they're playing).

He's got the best of intentions, that's for sure.
However, interviews with the teenage kids confirms that most have no clue about music.
"It's boring!"
"I hate it!"
"You can't dance to it!"
And the most telling comment of all:
"It's the same stuff they play on the phone when you're on hold!"

They can't distinguish between "elevator music" and classical. I guess it's no surprise, but it's really starting to piss me off.

It works, the kids leave and there are fewer troubles. They plan on using this form of crowd control at other stations.

Dan C

 

This is a disgrace. I am not the biggest classical music fan, but I am not a Boston Pops Orchestra fan. I like true classical more than Boston Pops.

 

Gee Dan, what a novel idea! I live in a high crime part of town, so maybe if I install some outdoor speakers in my eaves and play classical music thru them, the would-be burglars would move on to the next house.

Easy Listening stations in the area that play instrumentals 24/7 are what most folks here think is classical - not just the kids.

 

There is a difference between Easy Listening and Classical, big difference.

 

There's no comparison.
Most people don't know the difference between Kenny G and jazz either.

The fact that classical music, even 'light' classics, makes young people run and hide is very sad to me.

Dan C

 

I consider Kenny G more Muzak than jazz. Muzak is a perfect description for his music.

 

He is the musical equivalent of Fred Flinstone carving Mount Rushmore.



---See, Fred works in a rock quarry. He carves rock to make... oh, never mind.

 

I recall that recently a judge sentenced a young man to listen to Old folks" music" as he worked off a fine for disturbance of the peace with his loud rap music. I forget exactly what happened but perhaps someone here can clear up the details.

Anyway, we shouldn't bash kids for not knowing another style of music. They didn't grow up with it and classical probably isn't part of their culture. To them, classical music is the music of old, dead white men. They probably can't understand why we don't like hip-hop.

 

Classical kind of bound itself into this corner by never being relevant at the high school level. Yeah, great musicians got scholarships to study classical in college, but at the high school level, it was all about the stage band, so Jazz stayed relevant for the younger audience. Also, jazz drum breaks and bass lines worked their way into hip-hop. Classical doesn't have this luxury.

If I remember correctly, I first heard Ron Carter on A Tribe Called Quest's "The Low End Theory". Next thing I know, I'm grooving on Alice Coltrane's "Ptah The El Daoud". Classical also suffers from not being used in movie soundtracks as much. There isn't a Bernard Herrman on the scene (no John Williams is not even close).

 

Right but also, with the short attention spans of today's listeners I don't think there's much hope at getting them to sit down and listen to a 30 minute symphony.

Grant, there are a number of black and African-American classical composers and musicians. Columbia Records even did an entire series of LPs on these composers back in the 70's. I don't think Dan's original post mentioned race as an issue in this problem. Do you think it is?

 

Not at all, Steve. I was just suggesting what the general opinion of what many kids, regardless of race, think about classical composers. Saying "dead white men" is just a way of saying that is is a very old, form of European music primarily consisting of European composers. Sorry that phrase got you a bit upset. I hear it used all the time by everybody.

Chrisscross has a VERY good point, in that while classical may have been "forced" on us when we learned music in the primary grades, in high school it was more jazz ensambles and stage band. Why? The music is more vibrant, alive, youthful, if you will. And, when I was in high school, there were jazz artists on the pop charts like Maynard Furgeson, George Benson, Chuck Mangione, Narada Michael Walden, and artists/groups like Weather Report, Santana, Mahavisnu Orchestra, and Chick Corea were much more accessable. They often were closer to rock styles. Kids could identify with all of that. Classical? Yeah, right! That's what old, rich stuffy men listened to. Teenagers are the original segregationalists! When I was growing up it was the additude that old people listen to classical, blacks listen to disco/soul/rap/R&B, hillbillies listen to country and western, and white people listen to rock.

 

I'm not so sure about the short attention spans, and maybe my opinion is clouded by some punk rock musician kids I know that listen to classical, blues, jazz, etc. For instance, last night I went to a free all-ages show at a pizza joint where a bunch of 14 year-olds just rocked the joint for well over 30 minutes! And they weren't the only under-age band. During the show, I heard influences ranging from The Clash to Irving Berlin ("Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better").

I think what the media machine wants us (and the kids) to believe is that attention spans are short and pop music is disposable. Everything goes in cycles, some years NSync and Backstreet Boys are the world's oyster, and the next thing you know The Strokes push that aside.

 

How true! And the bizarre thing is how the culture reinforces the segregation. Growing up I lived in the city and listened to most everything (Stevie Wonder and Led Zeppelin). Move to the white suburbs --- now the only thing you can listen to is white rock!

I am in now full recovery from this experience (big shout-out to this forum!) But sheez, the burbs just about killed R&B for me.

 

This is not a new idea....
Loud classical music was used to successfully get rid of the homless people in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York 10 years ago..
They still play it.

 

When I was in junior high, none of my classmates could understand my fascination with "oldies" music. Sure, I liked what was happening at the time (1973 or so), but I also dug the Beatles, Elvis, "Louie Louie" et al. But for them, it was what their older brothers and sisters, or their parents, grew up with... it wasn't "their" music!

At home, classical music was used as a weapon of sorts. My dad loved classical music, especially stuff with loud endings (I think the "1812 Overture" was among his favorites). When we were young, if he wanted us to go to bed or leave the room, he'd put the classical music station on the radio. It usually worked.

It wasn't until college that I started to gain some appreciation for the form, thanks to its use in a couple popular movies of the era. "Ordinary People," which resuscitated Pachelbel from 300 years or so of obscurity, and "10," which gave Ravel's "Bolero" a whole new meaning, certainly helped. And at one point, I overheard the Rachmaninoff piece from which Eric Carmen "stole" the melody line for "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," and that piqued my interest, too.

Today, when I listen to music on the radio at home, it's almost always the classical music station. I play lots of rock, pop, R&B, country, jazz, etc. on my stereo from my own collection. But when I wake up in the morning, when I go to bed in the evening, and on Saturday morning, it's classical I listen to. Today, I consider Beethoven's 9th Symphony as one of my two favorite pieces of music (the other is George Jones' version of "He Stopped Loving Her Today").

When I was growing up, classical music was everywhere (and not just on my dad's radio or stereo). I just didn't know it at the time. Even today, I'll hear a piece on the radio, and I'll think, "I heard that on Bugs Bunny when I was growing up!" and I'll stick around to hear the composer and the title of the piece (one excellent thing about classical music radio: in 99 cases out of 100, they tell you what was just played, which I think happens maybe 1 time out of 100 on other formats).

Maybe a CD of "Bugs Bunny's Greatest Hits," consisting of full-length recordings of pieces used in Warner Bros. cartoons, might spur some interest in classical music. The problem, though, is that all those Looney Tunes characters are owned by Time Warner, and the Time Warner record catalog is by far the shallowest of the "Big 5" when it comes to classical music. Of course, if you turned younger listeners on to classical music, what would you use to scare them away that wouldn't frighten adults, too?