![]() ![]() ![]() I actually listen to music from a vast array of styles–rock, bluegrass, classical, jazz, early music, and more–but my total classical music consumption is probably pretty close to that 3% figure, excluding the listening I do for professional reasons. The vast majority of the time I’m listening to bad 80s music (let the tomato throwing begin) or P-Funk-era stuff. But they’re in the minority! Also, I’m not exactly classical music connoisseur #1 myself–I typically listen for research purposes, while I’m working, or once in a great while for fun. I have plenty of students that listen to classical music all the time, which is very cool. Now, I know that this doesn’t apply to all teens. Who’s to blame for this incredibly low number? Though schools, television, and video games can all be blamed for the lack of popularity for classical music among teenagers, it really boils down to one reason: it’s just plain boring to them. And you’ll be disappointed if you think that this low figure is made up for in concert attendance-only 3% of concert tickets sold in 2008 were for classical music concerts, the same depressingly low figure as CD sales. Only 3% of recordings sold in 2008 were classical, with the average classical music recording selling only 300 copies. The numbers for classical music consumption in general are, by any standard, frighteningly low. Even my music students, who I’d hope would know better, are astonishingly unknowledgeable about classical music, and if they don’t even know the names of these composer, you’d better believe that they don’t have an recordings by them. Teenagers I know can enthusiastically rattle off the name of a dozen bands on their current favorite playlist, but ask them if they know who Brahms was and a funny kind of glazed look comes over their eyes. When you see a teenager walking down the street, white earbuds firmly implanted, swaying slightly to their own inner grove, you can be pretty much certain that it’s not classical music they’re listening to. What follows is a bit of a contrarian rant… Learn more about this and many other such topics on my podcast. Update: I’ve taught music to teens for years in many contexts, and I firmly believe that a huge percentage of them do really enjoy and seek out classical music… just not in the way you might expect. ![]()
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