There seems to have been quite a bit of talk about the future of classical music lately.
Does it have a future? Will there be an audience as the ageing classical music audiences die? There have been predictions about the end for as long as I can remember, but with declining audience numbers, is this finally it?
Before we make a judgement, let’s look at some figures. In 2004, 1.06 million tickets were sold to classical music events in Australia. In 2014, 1.02 million. Not a huge decline you might say. What’s to worry?
Consider this: in 2004, contemporary music sold 2.74 million tickets. In 2014, 6.39 million. In 2014 there was a 13% drop in Classical Music performance attendance. The issue isn’t just localised to Australia either.
“Who cares?”, I hear some ask. Well, apart from the job losses and economic impacts on individuals and the businesses that surround classical music, let’s just think about the art for a moment. The western classical music tradition has, over the space of centuries, created some colossal works of art ranging from exquisite beauty to all-out visceral audio assaults. Some of the artistic ideas explored, boundaries pushed, and technical and theoretical innovations were (and still are) extraordinary for their time.
They led directly to where we are now, and have had an enduring influence that continues in contemporary music. It’s a cultural heritage that we should celebrate and keep alive. More importantly, it’s a cultural heritage that continues to evolve and influence through the work of contemporary classical composers. The collision of modern contemporary music with its cultural heritage in this space produces some very exciting work. But, audience numbers are decreasing, and orchestras are closing down.
Nevertheless, experts like Trevor Kowalski in the USA claim classical music is very much alive and thriving. He believes classical music has simply moved on, and it’s just that nobody’s realised it yet. I think he’s right.
Going to a classical concert can be an intimidating experience for the uninitiated. There are unwritten rules about when you can talk, cough, clap, how much you can move your head, when you can get up and move around and when you can’t, whether you can cheer or whistle or even take a photo. You might be surprised to learn, however, that these strictures are a relatively modern phenomenon. It’s bad enough for adults, for kids it’s bewildering, nonsensical and probably sends their bullshit radars into overdrive.
Protests from classical aficionados that society is at best ignoring the best of it’s liberal-arts heritage and at worst trashing it don’t help bridge the gap between old and new audiences.
Now’s the time to look into why, and work how to get around that. Classical music, for a long time, has been an impenetrable ivory tower for all except the few initiated insiders. To survive, it needs to open up, to branch out.
Kowalski says what classical music doesn’t realise is that the style has transitioned out of the concert hall and is thriving in different spaces: film, media, and gaming. Thank God it is!
Thanks to a few forward thinking performers and organisations it’s also starting to move into different physical spaces. Orchestras are moving from the concert hall to the nightclub, chamber music is returning to people’s homes where, let’s face it, it both came from and belongs, and classical music pubs are opening.
What’s the common thread in all of these examples? It’s that they are returning the music to where the people are, and where they want to go. Music is a social thing. It brings people together. When the audience is dwindling for an entire genre of music, that genre needs to reconnect with people, to go to them and the places they go, to meet them on their terms. Those audience members are in pubs, small bars, night-clubs, lounge rooms, and pop-up bars all over the country. Interested in hosting a gig in your backyard or lounge? Here’s a good place to start!
What about all the people who learnt an instrument in school, but stopped as soon as they left? It’s another conversation, but I’d hazard a guess their music education either wasn’t relevant, or there weren’t the amateur music-making opportunities for them to keep playing. Finding a way to re-connect with those people might be a good start. Let’s get them playing again. Let’s get them involved again. Lets get out of the concert hall, meet them over a beer, and play them a tune. Even better if they dust of their instrument and join in too!