missing the damned point...again...
Nov. 11th, 2010 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearOn An Overgrown Path: Classical music and the mass market fallacy:
What makes the other worlds of music different from classical is the that in the other worlds, and this includes rock and pop, the *recording* comes first.
Robert Fripp has even expressed this in discussing (recent) King Crimson releases: the CD is the "score", which is then performed live.
In order to "compete" in this market, the contemporary composer (and the label itself) needs to stop thinking about the score and prioritize getting premiere recordings out the door. Nobody "talks" about a score, because nobody can read a score except those few whose training it is to bring that score into life through performance.
The layman world can't discuss, debate, and enjoy orchestral music so long as it only exists on paper.
The rest of the music world works by 1) artist "writes" the material. 2) artist records the material. 3) artist releases the recording for feedback. 4) artist performs the material.
The classical (especially orchestral) world has this backwards - the performances come first and then...nothing...it may take *years* after a premiere for a work to finally be released, by which time it is forgotten or there's really no momentum to promote it by the artists involved (except maybe the conductor...maybe...) because they've gone on to different things. It is too late to ride that momentum that the rest of the industry rides when that CD is able to get in the hands of the public.
So THAT is (to my mind) what needs to change to rebuild a market for contemporary classical - getting the music released as "music" that people can listen to and enjoy and build up a buzz about, and not just as a piece of paper nobody can read and a rare concert in some obscure town nobody can get to...
Could it be that when classical music is homogenised for the elusive mass market it loses its essential appeal? Could the mass market fallacy explain why so much classical music today is bland and unappealing? Could it also explain why creativity continues to flourish in genres such as world music and jazz which have shed their mass market pretensions?By mentioning jazz, and improvisational (world) music, you've definitely invited an apples to oranges comparison.
What makes the other worlds of music different from classical is the that in the other worlds, and this includes rock and pop, the *recording* comes first.
Robert Fripp has even expressed this in discussing (recent) King Crimson releases: the CD is the "score", which is then performed live.
In order to "compete" in this market, the contemporary composer (and the label itself) needs to stop thinking about the score and prioritize getting premiere recordings out the door. Nobody "talks" about a score, because nobody can read a score except those few whose training it is to bring that score into life through performance.
The layman world can't discuss, debate, and enjoy orchestral music so long as it only exists on paper.
The rest of the music world works by 1) artist "writes" the material. 2) artist records the material. 3) artist releases the recording for feedback. 4) artist performs the material.
The classical (especially orchestral) world has this backwards - the performances come first and then...nothing...it may take *years* after a premiere for a work to finally be released, by which time it is forgotten or there's really no momentum to promote it by the artists involved (except maybe the conductor...maybe...) because they've gone on to different things. It is too late to ride that momentum that the rest of the industry rides when that CD is able to get in the hands of the public.
So THAT is (to my mind) what needs to change to rebuild a market for contemporary classical - getting the music released as "music" that people can listen to and enjoy and build up a buzz about, and not just as a piece of paper nobody can read and a rare concert in some obscure town nobody can get to...
