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"I know I like "classical" music, but I dont know what. The problem is getting to know it. The barrier to entry is so large." Decades ago when I was young the
by hilbert42 4y ago
"I know I like "classical" music, but I dont know what. The problem is getting to know it. The barrier to entry is so large."
Decades ago when I was young the percentage of people listening to classical music was much higher that the 1% shown here. I can't tell you what that percentage was exactly but as an illustration quite a few radio stations that now play pop or rock music were once classical music stations.
Also, when I was at school music was a compulsory subject and we didn't listen to pop or rock music in lesson time but rather classical music. And it wasn't just listening, I still recall us kids having to follow full orchestral musical scores in time with records. One such work that still sticks vividly in my mind is Morning from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x463zoWpiVI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x463zoWpiVI. This score was chosen for us kids because it's comparatively easy to follow.
What that amounts to is that we had much more exposure to classical music at a very early age and thus we had become familiar with it even though pop and rock were also completing for our attention. Moreover, we were deliberately exposed to the 'pops' from the classical repertoire at that young age specifically because these works were much easier for young minds to assimilate. For example, Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Ravel's Boléro,
Dvořák's Humoresques, Rossini's
William Tell Overture (aka the Lone Ranger theme music)—this was another score I recall following at school.
That classical music cultural background has now essentially all but died so it's little wonder that the classics are left to the 1% or so of Diehards like me.
The trouble is that the percentage of the population who has the potential to like classical music hasn't changed but rather, unfortunately, it's the opportunity to be exposed to it at an influential age that has.