Classical Music is Dying

The syndrome is spreading. It is slowly killing off and suffocating various forms of art. The symptoms include staring vacantly at the person next to you for an explanation of a seemingly pointless film ending, having embarrassing laughing fits at a quiet interpretive dance recital, dawdling in an art gallery in boredom, reading a poem and in two minutes not remembering what you just read, or leaving a discomforting puddle of drool from a deep sleep at a classical music concert. One of this syndrome’s targets, classical music, has been suffering the past few years. Dr. Waldecker, Yale graduate and current music professor at MTSU, has a cure compressed in the single statement “You love what you know.”

If you browse through the average high school student's iPod, CD collection, or mp3 player, it's not likely that you'll stumble on a variety of classical composers like Tchaikovsky, Haydn, Mozart, or Chopin. Teenagers like music that they can relate to, most preferring music with words and catchy tunes. Ask high school students to describe classical music in one word and a good number will reply "boring.” But if you know classical music, you know that it's far from being boring. If students knew that the opening of the Rite of Spring in 1913 was so controversial that it caused an instant riot upon performance, they might listen to Stravinsky's music with more interest. If they knew little facts like how classical music used to be close to a form of religion or that people listened to it with such fervor and concentration that a man was once drenched in sweat after a concert, they wouldn't be so quick to label classical music as boring. It goes back to Dr. Waldecker's statement "You love what you know.”

One reason that a majority of students are ignorant of classical music is that it is usually portrayed in a negative manner. Because of this, students are less likely to be enticed to learn more about it. Music history and appreciation classes in schools are frequently taken by students as means of an "easy A" or as a filler class in the required art credits. Rarely will a student enroll in these classes out of sheer personal interest. But imagine if on the first day of school, the music teachers shut off all the lights, blasted classical music through stereo speakers, and used laser lights to match the rhythm. Students would more likely approach classical music with actual enthusiasm - not that “boring” music teachers would ever go to such extreme measures.

Music education is suffering in schools. Schools across America are cutting the budget on their music programs and there's an alarming shortage of music teachers. Society is stomping the fire cold, slowly killing off an important art form. One example can be seen in in my county due to the shortage of music teachers. Several students attending Williamson County schools play string instruments, but they cannot play in their school due to its lack of orchestra programs. Out of the eight high schools in Williamson County, only one high school, Centennial High, features an orchestra program.

According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the audience of classical music is growing older, bringing classical music to a threatening extinction. The survival of classical music lies upon the shoulders of the younger generation. We should step up and contribute to this aspiration through an expansion of music programs.

Hopefully, art forms can be saved with the cooperation of the younger generation. Everyone will be cured of this serious syndrome and perhaps then the following will be able to happen more frequently: an escaping gasp upon the sudden understanding at the end of a film; admiring eyes watching the difficult, intricate dance moves at an interpretive dance recital; art galleries filled with engrossed spectators; avid poem readers; and gentle sighs upon hearing the last note of a movement soften into silence.

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