Monday, March 24, 2008

Things They Should Invent: don't ghettoize classical music

There's been a bit of a fuss in the Globe and Mail lately because CBC Radio 2 is going to be playing less classical music.

It occurs to me that the real way to be bold and innovative about classical music programing is not to ghettoize it. Just play classical mixed in with all other types of music. It's music too, and anyone can enjoy it. At this point, some people will argue that classical is more advanced and complex, and involves a greater intellectual commitment. I can't address this point, because as a result of the way I slacked off and the stopped slacking off and then slacked off again in my musical education I learned how to do proper analysis and Music Appreciation of classical genres only. I know there's way more to other genres than I know how to process academically, but I don't know how much. But even if it is true that classical is more intellectually complex, it can still be enjoyed casually. As an adult, I enjoy early Beatles because I'm trying to analyze and internalize the vocal harmony with the goal of eventually being able to improvise vocal harmony myself; as a small child, I enjoyed early Beatles because it was fun to dance around to in my own little six-year-old way. The fact that I didn't even know what harmony was didn't hinder my enjoyment of it then, and if I hadn't been exposed to it then it may well have never ended up on my ipod today. Similarly, someone who can't tell Bach from Cage could still listen to and enjoy a piece of classical music just because it's nice or it's interesting or some totally benign reason, and may then be moved to learn more about a kind of music they normally wouldn't have touched. To ghettoize and isolate it on the basis that it's too advanced does the whole genre a disservice.

Radio 2's playlist should be something like Diana Krall, followed by Tragically Hip, followed by Glenn Gould, followed by k-os. (Of course it should all be less mainstream, more innovative up-and-comers, etc. but I'm too lazy and ignorant to come up with good examples.) The usual objection to intermixing classical like this is that classical pieces tend to be longer and radio stations need to hit their scheduled commercial breaks. But the CBC doesn't have this problem, so it's the perfect venue for this kind of open-minded, innovative programming! This is the 21st century, we're already doing the same thing on our ipods, the public can handle it!

3 comments:

laura k said...

I was going to post something about the CBC2 fuss. Thanks for adding this. Good idea!

impudent strumpet said...

You still should post something, Radio 2 seems to be doing a blog search on itself rather frequently, so they'll probably see whatever you write.

laura k said...

I should, and I might. (I have such a long list of topics I want to get to, I don't know what I'll manage to crank out.)

But I damn glad I waited. I was really behind the curve.

I just started listening to CBC2 recently in the car, the only time I hear radio. It's now my alternative to Jazz FM. And I thought what I was hearing was the already-changed station, and I was wondering what everyone was complaining about.

When I read Russell Smith's column about it (you probably saw that in the G&M this week), I was like, shit, no wonder everyone is angry. I'd be royally pissed off too.