Monday, October 27, 2014
Why Failing Orchestras Are the Problem of Every American
David Donnelly: As the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra faces a lockout between its management and musicians, we find a troubled industry in the news once again. Orchestras are falling like dominoes. The mood is tense and the forecast is dismal. An erosive force, continual and subtle, is eating away the core of a cultural institution. You may have heard this story before: classical music is in decline, music education is so important, but why should you care? Failing orchestras create severe economic, social, and cultural repercussions for our nation as a whole. This is very much your problem.
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3 comments:
As an avid violin and piano player, I find this article extremely important. The American culture is obsessed with increasing test scores on math and science to the point where it actually drove me, and other students, away from those majors. Not to say I do not enjoy science and math, but the extent of tests and lack of creativity allowed in those fields when in school made me never want to do chemistry or geometry again. We need a push back into the arts so that people can have fun in school. I loved playing in my school orchestra so much that it made me want to go to school. When students want to go to school, it makes them happier, and more productive in general.
Outside of high school orchestra concerts I have never been to a professional one. I agree with the article and I agree we as a people should make more of a effort to attend or support such a venture. Listening to classical music is something I have been doing for atleast 10 years. In the hay day of cd’s I remember having my few classical cds I would jam out to in my car when I was 16. Just love me some Bach, just powerful and also what is so much fun about classical music is how it ends up in all kinds of other music. Sound tracks, Bands and almost anything else it is just all over the place. It is everywhere. I love the power of a orchestra and how combined it is just a power that is unexplainable.
Bottom line, I need to take this as a personal responsibility and make sure I support them. Should not wait for someone else.
I can only remember two times in my life that I have gone to see an orchestra. When I was in fifth grade, my class went to the Rhode Island Philharmonic and my teacher fell asleep. I don't remember how old I was the second time, but my grandparents took me to Tanglewood in the Berkshires and we saw an orchestra. I would say that overall, I haven't personally been largely impacted by experiences of actually going to see a live orchestra, however I can definitely see where this article is coming from and agree with the idea that it is important and that everyone should care about orchestras failing today. The biggest connection I can personally make is to my little brother, who is a fairly serious jazz musician. Even though his interest isn't even within the same genre of music, I know that the opportunities he has had for music education are directly dependent on the survival of orchestras (for example, he takes lessons at the Rhode Island Philharmonic School). I know what a huge role music education plays in his life, and the idea that these opportunities could be lost if we don't support orchestras becomes very clear from reading this article. I'm not sure how it could be possible to ignite contemporary audience's interests in classical music, but it is an important issue to consider.
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