Posted by Rick Denney on May 05, 2003 at 13:32:07:
In Reply to: Re: Saving Orchestras posted by unpopular opinion on May 04, 2003 at 19:56:10:
You have only restated the original poster's question. I didn't see anything in his post that demanded subsidy of classical music.
Personally, I think people are interested in things they participate in. Who watches golf on TV? Golfers. Nobody else could stand the boredom. So, how to you make more golfers? You take your kids to the golf course. You give them lessons, and you play golf with them. You do it for Fun, not for Accomplishment. You share laughter at the slices, tramp in the woods helping them find lost balls, and smile a lot.
It's the same with music. Kids who participate in music grow up to appreciate it, even if they don't continue to participate. How to you get that participation? You do it yourself, with your kids. You give them lessons. You share laughter at the bad notes, and you play with them as a family. You do it for Fun, not for Accomplishment.
Neither of my parents were particularly musical growing up. My father played cello for a while, until he got to the point where he had to own one. My mother learned a bit of piano as did all girls of her period. When my sister and I came along, they gave us lessons. My sister took piano lessons, and I spent a year on piano, followed by a summer proving utter incompentence on guitar. No standards were set by my parents: it was a done for fun as a gift; it was not school. I didn't continue the piano and (thankfully) the guitar lessons, until school made playing in band possible so that I could find my voice. But the result is that I have a lifelong commitment to music, despite incompetence, and my sister, who doesn't play anymore, nevertheless passed that gift along to her daughters, one of whom will be studying music at Ohio State next year.
But you can't participate in family fun when everyone is glued to the television, or off in their own private sanctums doing their own thing.
Rick "thinking the loss of music reflects the loss of more important things" Denney