Did the half-time spectacle with instant wardrobe changes and dancing sharks represent 'music' to several generations?
You bet!
Will most Americans remain for their lifetimes unaware of the long rich tradition of Western music or assume that was outmoded in their lifetime?
Sure.
Modern technology brings 'music' to more Americans than ever. Music is all around us. We no longer must make it ourselves (or go to church) to hear it, and are freed from the necessity to pay for sitting quietly through a long "recital" by a pianist or violinist, or even a single symphony.
And we are now blessed with 'visuals' to combat boredom from having only one sensory system activated: fireworks, smoke, provocative costumes, frenetic movement, small dramas. We are unrestricted by stiff concert decorum and can join the musicians in dancing, shouting, arm waving with others -- or walk out to buy a beer and a hotdog. Alternatively, we can do other 'useful' activities at home alone while portable music is delivered into our ears.
The few remaining stalwarts who still assemble to listen to Bach and Mozart may be urged to keep up with the times. Classical music 'providers' (Is Gretna Music a "provider" of music like doctors who provide healthcare?) are urged to be more creative (as if Schubert or Stravinsky weren't creative enough).
But, indeed, we should heed both urges. There is an enormous amount of 'new' music (and musicians) worth hearing. That has always been so. If we don't hear them, we may miss the Schubert and Stravinsky of our generation.
We can choose to listen to the kind of music that speaks to us (usually resembling what we discovered as teenagers, see "My Music" 8/11/2014), but should ever seek to broaden our personal canon. Sometimes that happens in small steps over a lifetime; though it can happen with an unexpected revelatory bang: I can remember the first time I heard Mahler, Jordi Savall, Cleo Laine, and Pink Martini. Sometimes the 'new' music we discover is newly written; other times it is a discovery of music written centuries ago. The classical canon is vast, and few of us have heard more than a fraction of it. Musical paleontology discloses that our ancestors could make very good music that will never be outmoded by audio technology, though now it can be distributed by it.
One of my guiding principles is to listen to musicians who have invested their '10,000 hours of practice' to acquire the ability to connect with me. An honest and sincere musician who has sacrificed and studied to perfect his/her talent and 'plays well with others' or alone, speaks to me far more than a narcissistic loud and flashy celebrity-of-the-month through megawatts of audio-visual accessories and backed by a studio full of 'producers.'
And let Gretna Music be a guide. We have "good musical ears" to choose artists and compose programs. More than 1000 musicians have played on our stage.
The moral of this silly story is perhaps: "Only Listen. . ." Listen widely, not to just a narrow range of what you know or your friends think is cool and hip, but sample the vast new and unknown too.
Despite the fascination of each new generation for the pop stars of their teenage years, an increasing number of children around the globe every day discover their fascination with a violin, a piano, or a trumpet. I'm with the late Charles Rosen who saw in their passion and large numbers a strong future for classical music. The good news is that very few people will in the future lack the opportunity to hear ANY music whenever and wherever s/he chooses.
The fulfillment of high talent, the just exercise of power, the celebration of human diversity: nothing so redeems these things as the recognition that what seem like personal triumphs are in fact the achievements of our common humanity. .. They flow from E.M. Forster's injunction in Howard's End: "Only connect..."
--William Cronnon
