The effect of modern technology on the audience for classical music.

[Ella Beck]

"But in music and on the internet this can lead to a whole new layer of snobbery and sneering."

This also can include the purposeful neglect of others who post on a thread you started.

I am free to reply or not, as I wish.

It was you yourself who suggested a couple of months ago that I had the option of ignoring you, and as I told you at the time, I considered it good advice.

You see, I didn't like the way that you kept disregarding MIMF's terms and conditions by commenting adversely on my posting style (as now), and also, I am simply not interested in many of the topics that you post about - guitar amps, Jimi Hendrix, Canadian politics and drugs.

I wish you well, but I joined MIMF to learn and read about classical music.

[Ella Beck]

One effect of the spread of technology is that many people are no longer satisfied with the readily available versions of classical music favourites. They become picky and some try to collect all manner of different versions of the same work. Connoisseurship - well, it's always been there - vide book collectors. But in music and on the internet this can lead to a whole new layer of snobbery and sneering.

Since this earlier post of mine appears to have been misunderstood, I'll rephrase it.

I was not writing about anyone on this forum.

I was talking about the thread title issue - the effect of technology on the audience for classical music.

One effect of the new technology is to encourage 'connoisseurship' in classical music, which is good in that it encourages people to collect cds and if a market is thriving, that will help musicians and composers.

But it can also put off people who might become interested in classical music. I've seen this happen on other music forums that I belong to. Someone posts about a popular Beethoven symphony and people come on, in a sneering or snobbish way, to suggest that the novice should have a more rarefied taste - that they should admire lesser known Beethoven works, or go for a more recondite performance of the famous symphony.

In this way, 'connoisseurship', encouraged by the new technology, can discourage a potential audience for classical music.

[John Watt]

Hey! I've gone along with your postings, while you're the one who complains about not enough members posting.
If you're trying to define me with your interest in "classical music",
I can only say that classical music is not only an immense historic tradition, sheet music and all,
what is now seen as classical music can be anything that's been popular, not just what's seen as antiquity.
I just made two new threads, one in classical music and one in progressive rock, requesting a new forum.
I'm calling it "symphonic-electric", seeing so many memorized electric guitar versions of written classical music.

You've accented "sneering or snobbish" way, and you're doing it again with me, accenting "drugs".
I don't write about drugs. I have to mention the word because it's a big part of North American society.
It's in movies, TV shows, and here in Welland, I'm smelling pot in the air even when I walk down the middle of a street at night.
One of my constant lines to use when I'm posting in YouTube about American politics,
is that new American statistics show that 90% of the people in Ohio have used crystal meth.
For sure, that is using drugs as a statistic, but as I do here, I'm not talking about them or using them to be entertaining,
not as a user, but as a showman, and not as a writer trying to sell, and not as a typist making click-bait.

If you want to talk about classical music I am more than able to hold my own,
and as a player, not as a composer or recording artist or video content provider,
I know I could jam along with Frederik Magle and hopefully, inspire him as we make music.
That's my only disappointment with Magle.dk, it's so far away, over the ocean.
TINKICKER, with a lead guitarist who used to post here regularly, are also from Denmark.
He knew Frederik Magle from the music business when they were younger.
He's offered a place for me to stay if I ever was able to visit Denmark.
That's a happy thought, but I know that's all it is.
TINKICKER might not be reproducing already written classical sheet music,
but having met Frederik Magle is an even stronger connection for me.
He even mailed me a copy of their new CD, something I play from time to time.

I remember you typing that you can improvise while your husband can't.
I see that as being the same way here, on these music forums owned by a musician.
Just like playing that first note without knowing where it's going to go until you get playing,
you should realize the same thing can happen with font.
A new member, and you seem to be looking for them yourself,
said two replies ago that what he likes about me is how I can take a conversation,
and turn it into something else, being more informative and widening his knowledge of his world.

I always say I type a lot, and the weight of my font shouldn't make you feel like you have to type a lot.
That's what my life is like for me. I can talk about music and equipment and recording in a way that enchants others,
just like I can sing to imitate or sing songs like other singers would sing them,
when, during those quiet moments on the road, traveling between gigs or waiting backstage,
I'm the entertainer, the musician other musicians turn to when they need some inspiration,
or proof of what a human being, a Watt, a Son of the Gael, can do when left alone,
even if everyone else just goes back to being and doing the same old thing.

If there is a big difference between us that might make what I say irrelevant to you,
I'll use your comment "it encourages people to collect CDs", as an example.
How on topic is that, if I'm quoting you?
Here, VHS cassettes, CDs and DVDs are no longer bought and sold even in buy and sell stores.
Owners can't give them all away to others who collect them.
Almost everyone has a hand-held device, some watching movies on those in coffee shops, etc,
and almost everyone is streaming online or watching anything they want to watch on Netflix.
No doubt, the instruments and electronics that get left out beside the curb wouldn't be like that where you live.
The Region Waste Disposal has a program of retail stores and schools who sign up to receive them,
as a form of recycling.
If I was going to be sneering and snobby at all, it would be talking about the wealth of the Niagara Peninsula,
the site of the first commerical hydro generation in the world,
in a land that didn't get bombed to the ground in the First and Second World War.

If it means less lead guitar talk in any classical forum or thread here,
I would think you would support my idea for a new forum,
especially if I'm thinking, as a long time member, that it might attract new members and more comments.
I log in here every time I'm on this computer, and if I'm not looking around or replying,
I minimize it, sometimes for hours, just to pump up the stats for the admin and Mr. Magle.
That's like me volunteering to pay a cover charge to see another band,
when everyone is so happy I'm there they are trying to hustle me in and take me backstage.
I don't like that kind of rarefied air, as to my tastes and as my actions,
because the air is too thin up there and I like to be a part of humanity,
not just dancing with the stars. That's an awe-full way to live,
and just because I'm wandering doesn't mean I'm lost.

I hope this helps you tighten you bow for another round at me.

I'm also saving my ideas about the evolution of the human musical mind,
how classical music such as Beethoven and Mozart is being played by young electronic musicians,
from memory, having that feel and expansive technique, with added modern technology,
just like how blues and rock music began with the same three-chord progression,
from everyone thinking they can sing like Elvis back then, to everyone thinking they can play virtuoso solos now.
yeah... I'm saving that for a "symphonic-electric" discussion,
along with my personal output about starting to do that in 1970.

I'm calling it "symphonic-electric" to be specific, but it is part of "A New Way Forward".

aah... the fontitude after clicking "save"...

[Ella Beck]

There is no doubt that the internet provides a great education in classical music. If I want to find out about a lesser baroque composer like William Boyce - no problem!

[Ella Beck]

On the one hand, people don't have to go out to concerts any more - they can enjoy concerts in their own home. Here's Jordi Savall!

[Ella Beck]

On the other - there is more chance to be a famous classical musician nowadays, and this must stimulate demand to see one's favourite performer live.

[Ella Beck]

Graphics can add a lot to one's understanding of classical music - as in this representation of Bach's Crab Canon.

[Ella Beck]

And it's easier to make progress playing classical music for oneself with all the 'how to' videos. If I need to change a string, for example, I always refresh my memory - there's a whole range of helpful videos on YouTube.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ho...w=1280&bih=882

[Ella Beck]

Last but not least, an audience for classical music is created by the many music forums on the internet. I belong to four classical music forums and two folk music forums. Of course, some are more helpful than others, and all are subject to fashion. This forum, looking at past posts, was a friendly place to share experiences and learn about music - once upon a time.

[Ella Beck]

The downside of the new technology is that it also creates a market for more fashionable music and this may absorb people who could have been classical composers and musicians.

But my opinion is that in many ways the new technology is helpful - there's never been a better time to learn about classical music.

I think I've had my say now, and will post no more on this thread.

[Ella Beck]

Oops - this forum is The Open Debate Forum and the rubric states -
For non music related topics. State your opinion about anything you like, but please keep a civil tongue. (English)

I now realise, too late, that this particular forum was for 'non-music-related' debate. I'm sorry for that, Krummhorn!
Still, at least I managed to obey the other injunction.