Laura Morley
Back when I was sixteen, I habitually spent five hours of my week at various orchestra rehearsals, an hour at my violin lesson, and numerous additional hours practicing for my grade eight examination. I was often met with funny looks from my non-musical friends on their discovery of how just demanding my hobby really was. Why did I do it? How did I do it? Well, the truth is, I loved almost every minute of it. I adored equally the concertos and the symphonies, the sonatas and the partitas. Classical music was my niche, and I had Vivaldi on repeat far before I discovered, much to my dismay, that according to the majority of my peers, he just wasn’t “cool”. But why was it only my instrument-playing friends who enjoyed listening to classical music? Why wasn’t it right up there with Lady Gaga or The Beatles? And how could I prove that they were all horribly, horribly wrong?
The much derided orchestra (and ginger kid)
Well, let’s face it; classical music is often associated with old people. Everyone knows you’re not going to visit Granny in her nursing home and leave an hour later with a Snoop Dogg song stuck in your head. There certainly isn’t going to be any geriatric gyration to the dulcet tones of Black Eyed Peas, and you’re most definitely not going to catch a glimpse of Grandad breakdancing on the dining room table. But before we get to accusing the poor, defenseless elderly of being boring, or having “crap” taste in music, let us take a second to reflect. Young people, the group who constantly deem classical music “dull”, are the very same people who think that the music of bands like The Script is the greatest thing ever. Take Grafton Street buskers, for example. Everyone crowds around the gangly teenage boys croaking out Mumford & Sons, but what about the poor soul across the road, belting out Czardas on his violin? There definitely won’t be a gaggle of spotty school girls drooling, hanging on his every note. Why? Because he’s a loser for not playing something more up-to-date. I mean, get with the times like, God. And he wasn’t even hot anyway.
Unlike many of our modern-day genres, perhaps classical music doesn’t offer enough instant gratification for some of our youngsters. All they want is the wherewithall to shake their booties, to bump ‘n’ grind, to fistpump. They want promiscuity, something casual and informal, and they certainly don’t want to be bound by the rules and restrictions which many presume to come with both playing and listening to classical music. Attempting to appreciate classical music sounds like far too much hard work and anyway, they’ve never been taught how. A good start would be to use a Graham slee hifi system to improve the sound quality. Peer pressure has taught them that classical is lame, or boring- modern music is fed to us from a young age, while classical is not. However, many of you might be surprised at the sheer volume of classical works with which you are unaware of being familiar with. Why not type ‘Peter & The Wolf’, ‘The Thieving Magpie’ or ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ into YouTube? I’d put money on it that you’ll find yourself humming along. Classical music is not strictly for those who play it, it is there for people, young and old, to enjoy.
In my opinion, many opera houses and concert halls have sort of withdrawn themselves from the lives of many an average Joe. Many see them as “posh”, or there to cater exclusively for a certain clientele. In actual fact, this is not true. Speaking from experience as a customer that many organisers would be delighted to see in their concert hall (ie. I’m under 60, and am someone who could potentially be around to supply loyal custom for another seventy years) I would definitely encourage anyone who has a passing interest to try to attend a performance or two, because contrary to another popular belief, liking classical music is not pretentious. You’re not being a dick by tagging along to the National Concert Hall, or listening the odd bit of Bizet on your iPod. The only difference is that you’ll be waiting forever for his new single to hit the shelves., and you can’t go to see him playing The Academy next month.
A young Laura Morley?
So, just because Mozart didn’t make expensive, x-rated music videos featuring 18th century hotties shakin’ their money makers in denim hotpants, does not mean that he isn’t “cool”. It is clinically proven that listening to his piano concertos will make you smarter, and you will certainly notice a drop in your stress levels- I mean, what’s not cool about that? Classical music, like all other genres, is readily available and there are still many active composers, who are still a long way from the grave- it’s such an attainable art form. As French conductor Henri Rabaud once said “musical compositions, it should be remembered, do not inhabit certain countries, certain museums, like paintings and statues. The Mozart Quintet is not shup up in Salzburg: I have it in my pocket.” So give it a go, you won’t regret it, even if the only time it comes in handy is to get in there with that hot double bass player; “baby, you’d better lower your pitch, ‘cause right now, you’re lookin’ sharp”.
