Honestly, if I had to choose to listen to only one genre of music for the rest of my life, I’d pick classical. It embraces multitudes and goes places no other genre does. But I don’t have to pick, and so I get to love go-go, hip-hop, jazz, funk, soul, and any other music that grabs my little heart. No one else in this modern world has to pick either, and they’re not going to listen to anyone who tells them that they have to.
So can we get off this? Please? Forever? Instead, I pledge to tell people what I find so exciting about classical music, hopefully in novel and vivid ways, and celebrate performances that generate just that kind of excitement. That’s what it’s all about!
(Thanks to a tweet from “mlaffs” for alerting me to the blog entry.)
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. I’m tired of the “This is better than that” thing. I don’t mind “This is different than that”, because that’s just true. But comparing classical music to pop music to determine which is “better” just seems silly and unproductive to me. (It does go both ways; I’ve heard pop music lovers do the same thing, so don’t think it’s just us classical music slobs snobs who do this!)
What a goofy way to spend one’s time. It’s not like, say, comparing milk chocolate to dark and knowing full well milk is waaaay better. ;-)
But really now, if we could get off the comparison thing, and if we could get off the “it’s dying” or even, “it’s already dead” thing, and if we could just enjoy what we like and maybe even get others to listen a bit, well, wouldn’t that be a bit more enjoyable? Some will like what I like. Some won’t. My kids play “their” music for me. Some I like. Some I don’t. I can live with that.
