What kinda elitist bullshit is this?
An essay on mainstream, elitism, Ariana Grande and a meme that’s just got it all wrong - Philipp is fuming again.
There is a common fear in the classical music community, and that is that it is dying out, because the main audience consists of elderly people. I don’t think that’s really all there is to it, though, just like I don’t believe that it is dying out. I believe that young people want to go, but simply don’t have the money to go to classical concerts, because they are absurdly expensive! That’s why initiatives like Club20 by the Musikverein or U27 by the Staatsoper are so good. The underrepresentation of middle-aged individuals might be because of the lack of time, due to work. With all that said, yes there are probably still less young people listening to classical music, than there are elderly people, and that has multiple reasons, some legitimate, some avoidable.
You like Ariana Grande? Good!
It’s pretty simple: Everyone listens to music of their time, or rather, music that is popular in their time. So in our case that means pop-music, in all its variants. This doesn’t mean that everyone listens to the same music. Some like Ariana Grande, some like 80s pop, some prefer Elvis to Ella Fitzgerald, and some the other way round. It’s all fine. Of course, I would be lying if I said that our peers are always accepting of the music we listen to, I probably couldn’t be any more wrong. Music is a very personal subject, and some take it very personal if you don’t like what they like. If you’re unlucky, they even think it’s weird that you like what you like. For example: Classical music. I have gotten my fair share of weird looks when I told my peers about how many concerts I went to (pre-pandemic times). That stigma that classical music has, it being boring, for old people and so on, it’s much too big for me to wholly address in this essay. That is why I will stick to my point: elitism.
So the other day I saw this meme in a Facebook group called „contemporary classical music“, which left me fuming in my room at 12am. It was so enraging because it is the reason we, the young generation, often get scared away by classical music, or rather the community. The meme suggests that the „bad“ music gets unwarranted attention by the masses, whereas the „good“ „proper“ „CoMpLeX“ music gets no attention, because the masses are too stupid to understand it. In my opinion, this is hugely problematic, not only because it suggests that there is little to no amount of work in popular music, but also because it is the perfect representation of elitism in classical music.
(c) Kevin Stafford
Honestly, who gives a shit how complex music is, when it’s just about enjoying it? Would you call Gregorian chant bad, just because it’s not complex? No, for what it’s meant to do it’s perfect. It would be a pretty shitty symphony, though, I’ll give you that. Just like Abba songs would not pass as a string quartet and Post Malone will probably have a bad time trying to convince us, that his songs are a sonata for violin and piano. The thing is, they aren’t even arguing that, because that would be pretty absurd.
Have you ever heard anyone say that Mendelssohn was a shitty composer, because he didn’t have the greatest of hook-lines? Probably not, because, again, that would be absurd. So why do some people, who have an affinity for classical music, always have to make everyone feel bad for not listening to their „superior“ classical music? Is it because they feel threatened by classical music becoming irrelevant? Maybe, but by attacking others for liking the music they like, they’re only making it worse. If you attack someone, do you think they will join you?… Or do you think they will shut down and not only stay with what they have, but away from you?
For heaven’s sake, don’t force people to like something!
Of course, every music community (or maybe even every community) has similar problems. Even elitism within the classical community is very much there (Originalklang-people for example…). If there is one thing that I want you to take away from this, then that you should not try to force people to like what you like. Rather, you could show them your favorite music, maybe take them to a concert you have a spare ticket to, and show them the acceptance of most of the classical community. Yes we have our fair share of bad-eggs, who will throw shade at you for not wearing a suit, or god forbid, not liking X or Y’s music. I, however, have faith in us, especially in the younger generation, that we can make the concert halls a more tolerant place for everyone, which will, in the end, ensure that classical music can’t die out (which I don’t think it will anyway). If you like Tupac, great. If you prefer Shostakovich, you go King/Queen. And even if you like the impeccable composer Philipp Steurer, you should be accepted for that.