[mbhaub]

With the easy access of music via electronics, the general short attention span of people, and the continual devaluing of western culture this won't be easy to do. But in earlier times, many more people were aware of classical than now:

Go back to mid-century New York. The Philharmonic regularly played concerts at Lewisohn Stadium to packed crowds of 8,000 people. The Goldman Band was wildly popular for playing concerts to the masses. Leonard Bernstein gave a famous Concert in the Park (Eroica and Rite of Spring) that 100,000 at least were there for.

In mid-20th c America there were only three TV and few radio networks. Their leaders had higher aspirations for the medium and sponsored their own orchestras of which Toscanini's was the most famous. With only three channels out there, people had much more limited listening and viewing choices - so why not watch a concert? Nowadays, with hundreds of choices classical music is utterly absent on TV in the US. Some orchestras are streaming, but they're still up so many other entertainment choices.

Saturday morning cartoons especially from Warner Bros used both popular and classical music. It influenced lot of people to check out music.

Over 100 years ago, before radio and TV and even records, if you wanted music you played it yourself. Learning piano was far, far more common than today and what did they play? Chopin, Rubinstein, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff...many people with first heard the great symphonies in piano 4-hand arrangements. I still remember growing up hearing grandma pounding out Strauss waltzes on her upright.

Universities used to require students take humanities courses - to introduce students to the great works of art and music to students. Those days are long gone. All replaced with music appreciation for ABBA, Michael Jackson, Radiohead...

But there's still hope: in Japan, S Korea, Taiwan, China and other parts of the Orient, classical music is highly valued and sought out.

 

[mbhaub]

I've seen statements like this a lot - but are there actual data available? Does a larger percentage of the population of these countries listen to classical music and/or go to concerts compared to say Europe and the USA?

Let me tell you...I've had the pleasure of playing two month-long tours in China. Not only the famous places like Shanghai and Beijing, but in many lesser known, but huge, cities all over the country. The Chinese have built fabulous concert halls that are unbelievable. Some are so large they can have fighter jets on stage - and they do! In every place we played the audiences were large, appreciative and quite interested in what we were playing. The concert hall in Beijing has a record store in the lobby that puts the similar stores in Vienna and New York to shame.

On the last tour, I sought out a violin maker who gave me a tour of his factory. Massive - and it was only one of many. He told me something to really think about: in China, they have more students learning violin than America has students. The Chinese are also making every other instrument - albeit not always with the highest quality. Lark bassoons are godawful.

In Japan it's similar - classical concerts are broadcast and enthusiastically attended. Many record companies release things in Japan long before they show up here - there's a market for them there.