Young Musician winner Sheku Kanneh-Mason is just what classical music needs

[A Lark Ascending]

This is nice:

The comprehensively educated black cellist shows that classical music doesn’t have to be the preserve of a tiny elite. It should be placed back at the heart of education

Quote from the writer of the article: 

"I love all forms of music; but why is it that classical is so restricted to a tiny elite? It has an energy and depth that people of all backgrounds can get into, yet it is so often portrayed as something that needs to be studied rather than enjoyed, and that only “top people” can appreciate.

This is our challenge now: to put music back at the heart of our education system. At stake is the happiness of the next generation, because a small and shrinking elite cannot sustain this music as a viable art form. The alternative, of raising a nation without the benefit of this music, is something too terrible for me to contemplate."

A single swallow, perhaps, but lovely just the same. 

[David Ayers]

 Newsflash: I am pretty sure the winner of the competition had to study music as much as anybody else, to get where he is. Notwithstanding demographic.

 

meanwhile I am studying this. What do you think?

[HutchFan]

Bev,

I hear you! Many people deny themselves all sorts of experience because they think certain types of music -- including jazz! -- are only for cognoscenti, people who have special training or abilities. That's a shame. People mistakenly think that it's an intellectual exercise, and that keeps them away.

From my point of view, the best music -- whether it's classical or jazz or whatever -- is powerful because it's visceral and immediate and personal. It always speaks first and foremost to our feelings.

It reminds me of a quote by Hermann Scherchen: "Music does not have to be understood. It has to be listened to."

 

[JSngry]

The more I understand enjoyment, the more I enjoy understanding...or is it the other way around?

No matter. Running up against imposed barriers and feeding into programmed limitations might look alike, but they aren't. 

 

[A Lark Ascending]

It's nice because it is quite unusual to see someone from the state sector succeeding in the world of 'classical' music. Music is marginalised in British state schools - specialist teaching has been withdrawn over the last 30 years as part of wider cuts; Music GCSE no longer counts towards the indicators on which a school is judged and inevitably loses space to those subjects that the school's survival depends on. The private sector don't have those concerns - they select by wealth and ability and thus have a much shorter journey to exam success, leaving space for those other skills (learning an instrument, knowing the correct dead maestro to be seen appreciating) that carry social value in the world they are destined for. Clearly there is much more to this story - the cellist will have had specialist coaching and the influence of the school itself will have probably been limited. It's just good that once his talent was realised he wasn't moved to a 'better' school. 

As for 'enjoyment' and 'understanding' - thinking purely of the listener (things are different for the professional where understanding becomes more of an imperative) to my mind the fundamental reason for listening to music lies in enjoyment; but as you enjoy it more you tend to want to understand it a bit better and as you understand it a bit better you enjoy it more. The point of the article (and the reason I highlighted it) is that 'classical' music can still be presented as something difficult and worthy that requires 'work' to be properly 'appreciated'. It's not nearly as bad as it was when I first started listening in the '70s - outreach programmes, BBC presenters with normal accents, unstuffy performers who actually talk to the audience have all helped break barriers.

And yet...when I go to a classical concert it's a very different experience from when I go to a jazz, folk or rock concert*. You can't miss the cut glass accents around you; and I've never heard anyone bray 'Bravo!' in any other type of concert (happened in 4 of the 5 most recent classical concerts I attended....I won't even begin to mention (O.K. I will) the Cotswold set behind be at a Handel opera in Birmingham who spent both intervals pulling apart the quality of the singing. Being unimpressed is something else you need to learn in order to enter the cultural world of the refined.). Not welcoming at all. 

The unfortunate thing alluded to in the article is the way the democratisation of 'culture' seems to have gone into reverse in recent years. Not really an issue of music at all but a wider one of politics. The dominance of neo-liberal ideology has seen the advances of the mid-20thC halted in their tracks. The increasing dominance of a social elite in a wide area of 'culture' and sport seems a direct result of the systematic dismantling and privatisation of the welfare state. In that environment Sheku Kanneh-Mason's success is a welcome swallow in a summer that is unlikely to materialise. 

There's another article from the last few days by Graham Vick exploring similar areas. It's a bit 'Luvvy' (he is an opera director!) - bangs on about 'Art' too much for my liking - but the point is there too:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/10/graham-vick-opera-rps-awards-keynote-speech

"I see 40 years of work towards the democratisation of art being swiftly reversed by its privatisation. I keep hearing “mixed economy”, but make no mistake - we are hurtling towards the American model, where the wealthy pay even less tax in return for a stranglehold on cultural institutions - a phenomenon we see across our society and one that risks driving division ever wider. I can’t be the only one who feels a sense of collusion - of appeasement?"

[I'm fully aware that the audiences at the jazz, folk, rock concerts I go to are very different from those at most rock pop concerts. I feel comfortable because I'm surrounded by retired teachers, social workers, civil servants etc! I'd be petrified at a heavy metal concert!) 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[David Ayers]

Meanwhile quite a few of the Proms are sold out, several others nearly so, just over a week after general booking opened. So get on your boneshaker.

Meanmeanwhile, the Rupprecht will be in paperback eventually. I think you might 'enjoy' the historical/cultural commentary if not the musical examples which you may have to feed to your ferret.